The Secret Game 1917

Set against a wartime backdrop of espionage, Kitty Little, Florence Vidor, is a German spy working under Dr. Ebell Smith, [Charles Ogle]. Maj. John Northfield, [Jack Holt], leads the American effort as the plot threads tighten around a dangerous secret: the sailing dates of transport ships.

Spies and schemes illuminate every edge of the story as Northfield and his colleagues try to outmaneuver their mysterious adversaries. The German operation is tightly wound, and the intrigue intensifies when a clever Japanese spy, Nara-Nara, [Sessue Hayakawa], enters the scene. Nara-Nara is on the trail of the German spies and quickly grows suspicious of Northfield’s integrity, even as he finds himself drawn to Kitty.

As tension mounts, a telling letter becomes the fulcrum of suspicion. Northfield, who also loves Kitty and who suspects her, arranges a test: a blank letter that he tells Kitty to mail, hoping the document will reveal the truth about the transport dates. Kitty, caught between love and loyalty, takes the letter to Smith, the German mastermind behind the plot, triggering a dangerous pursuit. Nara-Nara follows close behind, and in a heated confrontation, he kills Smith in a struggle that shifts the balance of power in the espionage game.

After Smith’s death, Nara-Nara makes a desperate attempt to force Kitty to flee with him. Yet Kitty resists, recalling his own vow to keep his sword clean, which seems to momentarily temper his resolve and causes him to retreat. The danger isn’t over, though, as Northfield moves to the crime scene to examine Smith’s body, only to have Nara-Nara felled by one of Smith’s own accomplices—another twist that further complicates loyalties and motives.

With the danger momentarily behind them, Northfield reaches Kitty at a turning point in her life. She receives a letter from her brother, who is serving in the German trenches and states that he is to be shot for shielding women and children. This stark message crystallizes Kitty’s sense of duty and identity, nudging her toward a deeper, enduring allegiance. In the end, Kitty embraces a new sense of American identity and accepts the role of Northfield’s fiancée, binding their fates as the conflict resolves around them.