The Small Back Room details the travails of a troubled research scientist and military bomb-disposal expert Sammy Rice, who, while struggling with a complex relationship with secretary girlfriend Susan, is hired by the government to advise on a dangerous new German weapon.

Following the ravishing ambition of The Red Shoes, Powell & Pressburger turned to a smaller proposition for their next feature. What The Small Back Room lacks in scale it makes up for in nail-biting suspense, as the duo mount a confined bomb-disposal thriller of which Hitchcock would be proud.