You keep finding these good WWII films made during the war. That's one of the things that makes them compelling, to me. We know roughly how things are going to turn out, for the world in general if not for the individuals: it'll end in 1945, the Allies will win. The characters don't and neither do the filmmakers.

I'd definitely watch Laughton in this. I was just thinking of him in character for Jamaica Inn and realizing that I'm unable to picture him in any other mode than a cad eating a chicken leg and saying, "I'm in the mood for entertainment, let's visit the dungeons." (From The Strange Door, which is pretty good, incidentally.)