- Alfred Redl (Emil Artur Longen), a colonel on the Austrian General Staff, leads an extravagant private life. No one suspects that in reality he is passing information to Russian spies. To obtain further information the Russians station agent Levanzová (Marie Grossová) to him, but Redl resists the temptations of the beautiful woman. Levanzová discovers Redl's passionate letters intended for Lieutenant Dolan (Jirí Sedlácek) . Redl is transferred to Prague and he tries to prevent the lieutenant from marrying. The Russians threaten Redl with making public his letters to Dolan and they force him to give away the plans for an attack in Galicia.—NFA.cz
- The original book on which the film was based was not a novel, but rather a non-fiction reportage written by Egon Erwin Kisch, the reporter who broke the Redl case in 1913 and who came back to it after the war. The book, which has the same title as the German release of the film, was published in Berlin in 1924, and Kisch adapted parts of it for a cabaret drama titled Die Hetzjagd (The Pursuit), which was published as part of a collection in 1926. While the play deals with Redl's fatal and final day (May 24-25, 1913), the book covers a longer time-line and also addresses the topic of the serious consequences Redl's spying for the Russians had on major battles at the beginning of World War I, both in Serbia and Galicia. The book also covers the "lucky break" Kisch had in helping to unravel the General Staff's attempt at a cover-up (i.e., the story of Wagner, a locksmith, who missed a soccer game for Kisch's team because he had been conscripted to break open locks and safes in Redl's Prague quarters).—Terrence O'Keeffe
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