screenwriter peter viertel and joan harrison and and ( of all people ) dorothy parker enable director alfred hitchcock to expound on what may have be his favorite movie theme represent innocent man and wrongly finger for crime and take it on the lam . hitchcock and who some credit with originate the story and engineer a great deal of suspense in plot about a warehouse worker blame for the explosion which kill his best friend while he set out on journey to find the real culprit . plenty of excitement on a grand scale and with usually colorless actor ( priscilla lane and norman lloyd and alan baxter ) do surprisingly fine work . even eternally smug robert cummings get into the proper spirit . from .