At a World War II emergency hospital, a postman dues under anesthetic during a relatively minor operation. One of the nurses who was present announces that the man's death was no accident, but a murder -- and then she, too, is murdered. The police are called in, led by Inspector Cockrill (
Alastair Sim) of Scotland Yard, and he soon determines that any one of the five surviving members of the surgical team might have had a motive for the murders. In the course of his investigation, he also uncovers an array of both eccentric and ugly personal information about most of those present, but no killer that he can ascertain for certain. He must finally draw the murderer out by putting one of the suspects at risk. In the midst of the suspense are moments of droll comedy, of the sort that one would expect from a movie made by the authors of
The Lady Vanishes, along with a palpably rich late wartime atmosphere which, surprisingly, did not repel war-weary audiences on either side of the Altantic. Indeed, Sim is so beguilingly witty and charismatic in his eccentric way as Inspector Cockrill, that the wonder is that there was never a follow-up movie or even a series built around his character. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide