Plot

A member of British Intelligence assumes a fictitious criminal identity and allows himself to be caught, imprisoned, and freed in order to infiltrate a spy organization and expose a traitor.

Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman) takes the fall for a robbery and winds up in the Scrubs. From there, he escapes in the company of a convicted spy and is taken to a remote manor at an unknown location where he is kept isolated. He overpowers his guard and flees, but nothing is quite what it seems in this drama of intrigue as Rearden pursues his quarry from Ireland to Malta.—Martin H. Booda <[email protected]>

British Agent Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman) is recruited by spymaster Angus Mackintosh (Harry Andrews) to impersonate an Australian criminal and infiltrate a mysterious spy ring in an operation so covert that no one but Mackintosh and his secretary, Mrs. Smith (Dominique Sanda), know the truth. Rearden robs a postman of a diamond shipment and allows himself to be caught and sentenced to twenty years in Chelmsford Prison, where he becomes acquainted with Slade (Ian Bannen), a notorious traitor serving a life term. Recruited by an organization that arranges escapes for high profile prisoners in exchange for half of their hidden loot, Rearden, along with Slade, soon finds himself out of jail and in a safe house in Ireland. Mackintosh makes the error of confiding part of his operation to his old friend and patriotic Member of Parliament, Sir George Wheeler (James Mason). Wheeler, a covert traitor, arranges to have Mackintosh meet with an accident and exposes Reardon to his captors. Finding himself on the run again. Reardon is aided by Mrs. Smith, who reveals herself to be Mackintosh''s daughter, They both pursues Slade to Malta, where they hope to expose Wheeler for the traitor he is.—duke1029

Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman) is going undercover for the British Secret Service. The only people who know about the undercover work are Rearden's Director, Angus Mackintosh (Harry Andrews), who he trusts implicitly, and Mackintosh's assistant, Mrs. Smith (Dominique Sanda). The set-up: Rearden, posing as an Australian tourist in Britain, will be caught and convicted of a one hundred forty thousand pound sterling diamond theft, the jewels, which are never recovered (since Rearden will pass them on to Mrs. Smith and Mackintosh). The "on the surface" plan is for Rearden to infiltrate a group known as the Scarperers, who assist long term inmates escape, the unrecovered diamonds as the financial bait. Things do not go quite according to plan, with a leak somewhere in the informational chain as Mackintosh and Mrs. Smith are supposedly the only people who know officially what's going on. However, in reaching the true end goal, Rearden is unaware of a second plan concerning Mackintosh and longtime Conservative Member of the British Parliament, Sir George Wheeler (James Mason), who is best known for his frequent political diatribes on the British government not doing enough to protect itself from foreign threats.—Huggo

Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman), a British Intelligence agent, arrives in London and makes a rendezvous with Mackintosh (Harry Andrews), the head of his organization, in a discreet office located just off Trafalgar Square. Mackintosh and his deputy, Mrs Smith (Dominique Sanda), inform him of a simple way to steal diamonds which are transported via the postal service to avoid attention. This he does, apparently getting successfully away after punching a postman, and making off with the diamond-filled parcel. However, that evening, in his hotel room he is paid a visit by two Metropolitan Police detectives who have received an anonymous phone call advising them about the robbery. They are unconvinced by Rearden's pretense to be an innocent Australian who has recently arrived in London.

The judge (Roland Culver) at his trial is angered by the failure to recover the stolen diamonds from Rearden, who he believes has stashed them away somewhere, and sentences him to 20 years in jail. Rearden is shipped off to HM Prison Chelmsford. He slowly begins to blend in with the other prisoners, and is assigned to laundry-washing duties. A few days after entering he encounters Slade (Ian Bannen), a former British intelligence officer kept in high security after having been exposed as a KGB mole. He makes innocent inquiries of his fellow inmates about Slade, but not a great deal is known about him.

A few weeks later, he is approached by a well-spoken inmate who offers to act as a go-between with an organization which can spring him from the prison in exchange for a large cut of the stolen diamonds. They are used to helping prisoners escape, and have another exit planned shortly, which he can join, if he is prepared to put up the money, to which he agrees. Two days later a diversion is arranged, and smoke bombs are hurled over the walls. Using the smoke screen Rearden and a fellow prisoner, who turns out to be Slade, are lifted over the walls by a cargo net and driven away at high speed. They are then drugged by injection, and taken to a secret location, somewhere in wild, deserted countryside. When Slade and Rearden awake, they are told they will be kept there for a week until the hunt for them dies down.

In London, Mackintosh discreetly monitors the progress of Rearden. His entry into prison has been a planned sting operation to smoke out the organization. It is now intended they will be raided, rounded up and Slade returned to prison. Following a speech attacking the handling of the Slade escape by an old friend and war comrade, Sir George Wheeler MP (James Mason) in the House of Commons, Mackintosh approaches him and advises him it would be better to remain silent or risk embarrassing himself. Wheeler, however, despite masquerading as a staunchly patriotic right-winger, is actually a Communist and an agent of the KGB. He immediately tips off the head of the organization where Rearden is being held. Mackintosh had suspected Wheeler and had used their meeting to try to flush him out. Before Mackintosh can act, he is run down by a car and dies soon afterwards.

In the meantime, Rearden falls under suspicion by the escape organization. Doubting his claims to be an Australian criminal, they beat him violently and savage him with a guard dog. Eventually, he manages to fight back and escape the building, setting it on fire. He makes out across country, pursued by his guards and the dog. He is finally forced to drown the dog in a stream to throw his assailants off the scent. He then makes it to a nearby town, where he discovers he is on the west coast of Ireland and has apparently been staying on the estate of a close friend of Sir George Wheeler. He contacts Mrs Smith in London, who flies to meet him in Galway. Realising that Slade has been smuggled out of Ireland on the private yacht of Wheeler, they now head to Valletta, Malta, where Wheeler is heading.

Once in Malta, they try to infiltrate one of Wheeler's parties and discover the whereabouts of Slade. Wheeler soon recognizes Mrs Smith - the daughter of his old friend Mackintosh - drugs her, and takes her aboard his yacht. Rearden tries to get the Maltese police to raid the boat, but they refuse to believe that a respected man as Wheeler can be involved in kidnapping and treason, so instead they move to arrest Rearden, who is still a wanted man for his earlier faked diamond robbery. So, Rearden is again forced to flee, but manages to follow Wheeler to a church where he and Slade are holding Mrs Smith. He pulls a gun on them, and orders them to hand over Mrs Smith. Presented with a Mexican standoff, Wheeler and Slade try to persuade Rearden to let them go unharmed, in return for which they will also spare him and Mrs Smith. Reluctantly Rearden agrees, but Mrs Smith takes up a gun and shoots Slade and Wheeler, avenging the murder of her father. She has fulfilled her orders and bitterly abandons Rearden, angry at the way he has not followed his own orders to kill Slade.