Humble stamp dealer Otto Becker has little to do with international politics, so when he receives a surprise visit from his estranged twin brother and Nazi spy, Baron Hugo von Detner, his world is thrown into turmoil. Threatening Becker with deportation, Hugo forces him to use his shop as a front for espionage.
Acting
Conrad Veidt playing against himself with deliciously distinct body language.
Direction
Jules Dassin's debut—already showing the shadowy craft of his later noirs.
Director
Jules Dassin
Conrad Veidt
Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
Ann Ayars
Kaaren De Relle
Frank Reicher
Fritz
Dorothy Tree
Miss Harper
Ivan F. Simpson
Professor Sterling (as Ivan Simpson)
William Tannen
Ludwig
Martin Kosleck
Kurt Richten
Marc Lawrence
Joe Aiello
Sidney Blackmer
Arnold Milbar
Moroni Olsen
Brenner
Pierre Watkin
Grover Blaine McHenry
Rudolph Anders
Cab Driver (uncredited)
Jessie Arnold
Landlady (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Conrad Veidt, a German refugee who fled the Nazis, spent the war playing villains in propaganda films—his real-life defiance made every sneer deliciously subversive.
This was Jules Dassin's first feature; within six years HUAC would blacklist him, making this early studio work a time capsule of what Hollywood lost.
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