Berlin 1933: Natalie (Fay Bainter), an Englishwoman, has been working
in the city for years, in the most boring office job - but every Friday
she moonlights as a spy, nothing big of course, just delivering
information from one spy to the next in the most unconspicuous way. She
does it not so much out of patriotism but merely for the skills. Of late
though, with the Nazis' rise to power, her job has become more dangerous
(though also more important). And Natalie has picked exactly this time to
fall in love ... with a German, Hans (Tonio Selwart). She asks her boss
(Murray Matheson) to let her out of her job as a spy, to which he agrees
in principle, but also tells her what she does is like a drug ... It's
Natalie's last assignment, and her partner (Martin Brandt) is arrested on
the job before her very eyes ... and what's worse, Hans sees it all and
learns she's an enemy agent this way - but since he's no Nazi sympathizer
himself, he suggests they both leave Germany for good ... but then the
wife (Miriam Goldina) of the partner who's been arrested shows up on
Natalie's doorstep to warn her, and while Natalie rushes off to warn her
boss, the police arrests Hans whom they find in her place ... and
ultimately, that's the very reason why she cannot give up her spying ... Actually
a pretty decent episode of Suspense: The story is
captivating and involving (even if it seems overly constructed every now
and again), the actors are uniformly decent at least, and the direction
shows an extent of creativity rare in TV-series. That all isn't to say
this is one great piece of television, as the episode's ending lacks a
proper pay-off and the very limited funds of the show show up a few times
to often to really make the thing work, but in all it's a nice piece of
eary TV nevertheless.
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