Here is one of the British period Hitchcock movie, while the director was slowly building his reputation for the jump over the water to become the most famous master of suspense of all times in Hollywood. Squeezed in between the earlier '39 steps' and 'Sabotage' and the later 'The Lady Vanishes' and 'Rebecca' 'Young and Innocent' tries to be easy entertainment, and certainly succeeded to be such at its time although the touch of Hitchcock is not completely missing.
There is less to make it through the time from this film. Maybe the British society changed two much after another big war, and we are nowadays too rough to enjoy the subtle humor and innocence in all meanings of the heroes. And certainly the plot here has too many holes if you take one minute to think about it - the background setting introduction scene has little connection with the rest of the film, there is no credible motivation given for the crime, and we have no clue why the criminal did not just throw away the coat that became the turning point of the intrigue rather than selling or giving it and building such the trail for his own catch. So, the two memorable scenes - the one in the abandoned pit kind of anticipating 'Indiana Jones' and the final orchestra - yes, another orchestra scene - are indeed very good, but not enough to satisfy today's viewer even for a 85 minutes film.
There is less to make it through the time from this film. Maybe the British society changed two much after another big war, and we are nowadays too rough to enjoy the subtle humor and innocence in all meanings of the heroes. And certainly the plot here has too many holes if you take one minute to think about it - the background setting introduction scene has little connection with the rest of the film, there is no credible motivation given for the crime, and we have no clue why the criminal did not just throw away the coat that became the turning point of the intrigue rather than selling or giving it and building such the trail for his own catch. So, the two memorable scenes - the one in the abandoned pit kind of anticipating 'Indiana Jones' and the final orchestra - yes, another orchestra scene - are indeed very good, but not enough to satisfy today's viewer even for a 85 minutes film.