A cardinal is arrested for treason against the state. He is a popular hero of his people, for his resistance against the Nazis during the war and his resistance when his country again fell to a totalitarian conqueror. In prison, his interrogator is determined to extract a confession of guilt, and thus destroy his power over his people.
Acting
Guinness's hands do more acting than most faces manage.
Direction
Glenville's theatre roots make every frame a stage of psychological warfare.
Director
Peter Glenville
Alec Guinness
The Cardinal
Jack Hawkins
The Interrogator
Wilfrid Lawson
The Jailer
Kenneth Griffith
The Secretary
Jeanette Sterke
The Girl
Ronald Lewis
The Guard
Raymond Huntley
The General
Mark Dignam
The Governor
Gerard Heinz
The Doctor
Percy Herbert
Soldier (uncredited)
Oscar Quitak
Cafe Waiter (uncredited)
Denis Shaw
Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during the Cold War but shot through with post-Nazi occupation anxieties — the 'totalitarian conqueror' is deliberately unnamed, letting audiences project their own fears.
Glenville directed Guinness on stage in this same role before filming; their shorthand explains the terrifying intimacy of the camera's close-ups.
GB
