It is truly amazing what a few extra dollars could accomplish in 1936. While operating his own little studio in the San Fernando Valley, Nat Levine was better known for his corner-cutting than for providing solid scripts and directors with little more than journeyman ability. But when the bucks belonged to Republic Pictures, the producer suddenly saw fit to engage a couple of good wordsmiths (H.W. Hanemann and Endre Bohem) to craft a modern version of Meredith Nicholson's old novel, filmed several times during the silent era but never better. The result, according to the New York Times' discerning Frank S. Nugent, was comparable to Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps. That may be an overstatement, but the thriller does have its Hitchcockian moments and even includes that old Hitchcock device, the "maguffin." Bela Lugosi had to bow out of playing the Machiavellian Sebastian due to illness, but his replacement, Irving Pichel, makes the character of Sebastian his own and with the shades of gray that may have been challenging for the less subtle Hungarian star.