Despite Hitchcock's effort to jazz it up with some clever framing and camera angles, the stream of exposition that constitutes the setup borders on monotonous. Once it clears that hurdle however, the movie grabs your attention and hold its tight, tracing with clockwork precision the intricate mechanics of the murder plot and Tony's improvised plan when things go awry. That it hardly bothers with character psychology and is essentially all expository dialogue is just fine since the performances are so strong, Milland especially as the quick-thinking, self-satisfied schemer, and the details are so carefully mapped out and (surprise, surprise) suspenseful. Less cinematic than Rope, the obvious point of comparison, but plenty of fun in its own way.