During World War I, a novelist declared dead is recruited by British intelligence and sent to Switzerland under a new identity to assassinate a German spy. Teamed with a fellow agent posing as his wife and an eccentric assassin known as “the General,” the trio close in on their target — until two of them grow ambivalent when their duty to the mission clashes with their consciences.

Madeleine Carroll
as Elsa Carrington

John Gielgud
as Richard Ashenden / Edgar Brodie

Peter Lorre
as The General

Robert Young
as Robert Marvin

Percy Marmont
as Caypor

Florence Kahn
as Mrs. Caypor

Charles Carson
as "R"

Lilli Palmer
as Lilli

Denys Blakelock
as Man (uncredited)

Sebastian Cabot
as Man (uncredited)
CinemaSerf
John Gielgud charmingly portrays the novelist-cum-officer dragooned by the British spy service into travelling to Switzerland on the trail of a Nazi spy. He is assigned two assistants - a rather naive, but keen, Madeleine Carroll "Elsa" and a suitable sleazy, but lethal, Peter Lorre "as The General"...