Spy Hunt 1950

In Milan, Catherine Ullven, Märta Torén, an agent for the legitimate democratic government of an unnamed Central European country, hides top secret microfilm in the collar of one of two circus panthers being transported by train to America. Steve Quain, Howard Duff, an American stranded in Europe with no money, has taken on the risky task of accompanying the panthers so he can find a way back home. He meets Ullven when she poses as a reporter, and the two end up in the final car of the freight train. Unaware of the microfilm, they become entangled in a larger plot when saboteurs, in the pay of the usurping government, detach that car from the train in Switzerland. The car spirals off the tracks in a crash, Quain is knocked unconscious, and the panthers are freed, setting off a chain of tense, uncertain hours.

Quain wakes in a small mountain hotel operated by a non-practicing doctor, Dr. Stahl, Walter Slezak. News about the panthers spreads quickly, drawing a motley crowd to the remote refuge: Ullven, a man who claims to be a game hunter, a man who claims to be an artist, a man who claims to be a reporter, and soldiers from the Swiss army. The atmosphere is thick with suspicion as guests size one another up and the hotel staff keeps a wary watch over the unusual visitors. When Quain disturbs one of the men threatening Ullven, he knocks the intruder out, and the pair find themselves thrust into an uneasy alliance to protect the mission. The tension escalates as danger still lurks: one of the troops is killed by a panther, and another panther dies as well, but not the one carrying the microfilm. As night falls, the guests spill out into the darkness, turning the hotel grounds into a cautious hunt as they search for the remaining panther and the crucial microfilm hidden within it.