5 Fingers

Based on the 1950 book Operation Cicero by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch, Nazi commercial attaché at the German Embassy in Ankara (1943–44), this World War II film-noir reveals the duplicity of spy games. The book and film are based on the true story of Albanian-born Elyesa Bazna (1904–1970), a spy who worked for the Nazis in 1943–44 while he was employed as valet to the British ambassador to Turkey, who used the code name "Cicero." The film follows mercenary spy Ulysses Diello (James Mason), who poses as valet to Sir Frederic (Walter Hampden), the British ambassador to Turkey. Learning that widowed Countess Anna Staviska (Danielle Darrieux) is broke and offering her services as a spy, Diello persuades her to stash his ill-gotten gains for him in exchange for putting her back into the luxury she desires. Dreaming of a gentleman's exile in Rio de Janeiro, he pushes the espionage game to the limit.