Gerald DuMaurier is a prisoner in Dartmoor for manslaughter. Under the cover of a dense fog, he makes a break and tries to avoid recapture, with every man's raised against him, and every woman's outstretched to help him.
It's the first release from ARP, the production company established as a collaboration between RKO and Basil Dean. It would evolve into Ealing, although at this point they were still building the studio facilities and the interiors were shot at the British Lion studios in Beaconsfield. Dean had started out as an actor, become a writer and stage director, and had directed his first talkie movie, THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, for Paramount the previous year. This one starts out with the claim of featuring stars of the British stage and screen, and it does so, with players like Gordon Harker, Edna Best, Mabel Poulton, Ian Hunter and future stars like Madeleine Carroll and Nigel Bruce. More than that, it has an air of excitement, in the many sets, location shooting and crowd scenes impossible on the stage. If the camerawork seems a bit stodgy and the lines delivered in a mildly stagey manner, it's clearly meant to be a major production, and the talent involved makes that clear.
Dean would run the company until the outbreak of the Second World War, developing major talent like George Formby Jr. and Gracie Fields. Although ARP's output was rarely distinguished, its stars' popularity kept it in the running.
