Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin, Reinhold Schunzel, Moroni Olsen, Ivan Triesault, Alex Minotis, Wally Brown, Charles Mendl, Ricardo Costa, Eberhard Krumschmidt, Fay Baker, Fred Nurney, Garry Owen, Ramon Nomar, Gavin Gordon, Peter von Zerneck
Alicia Huberman (Bergman) is a young and beautiful American woman who, at the end of World War II, is troubled by the conviction of her father, John, as a German agent and his subsequent death. She escapes a sense of loss and betrayal by drifting into a life of parties and heavy drinking in Miami. Government agent T.R. Devlin (Grant) is assigned to a case involving a group of Nazi sympathizers carrying out suspicious operations in Brazil. The leader of the group is businessman Alexander Sebastian, an acquaintance of John Huberman (Nurney) and an admirer of Alicia. Devlin appeals to Alicia’s patriotism and her sense of guilt over her father’s treason and tries to recruit her to work for the Government on the case. Devlin succeeds when Alicia starts to fall in love with him. In Rio de Janeiro, Devlin arranges a “chance” meeting between Alicia and Sebastian. Sebastian’s interest in Alicia is rekindled and, following Devlin’s directions, she infiltrates his circle of friends. Against the wishes of his domineering mother, Anna (Konstantin), Sebastian asks Alicia to marry him. She stalls, hoping that Devlin will tell her not to go through with it, but he seems insensitive and only conveys the wishes of his boss, Prescott (Calhern), that she gain free access to Sebastian’s house. Alicia accepts Sebastian’s proposal and when they marry she learns that Sebastian and his circle of friends are engaged in a scheme of uncertain nature. Sebastian is devoted to Alicia, but Anna resents her presence and is suspicious of her. In brief clandestine meetings, Alicia tells Devlin what she discovers and he guides her investigations. Although Devlin appears cold and businesslike in his encounters with Alicia, he betrays his feelings in his sarcastic response to his manager’s cutting remark about Alicia’s character, “she may be risking her life, but when it comes to being a lady, she doesn't hold a candle to your wife, sitting in Washington, playing bridge with three other ladies of great honor and virtue.” Alicia finds that Sebastian keeps something in the cellar important to the plot he is involved in, but the key to the cellar is not in her set of house keys. During a party at her house, Alicia takes Sebastian’s key to the cellar and with Devlin’s help searches the underground room. They find something that does not belong there, but are unsure of its significance. Alicia and Devlin must find a way out of her situation, before Sebastian and his mother unmask her as a spy in their household. Screenplay by Ben Hecht. Based on the Saturday Evening Post short story The Song of the Dragon, by John Taintor Foote.
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