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Vienna, Austria-Hungary, 1913: Colonel Redl (Claude Dauphin) heads the
Austrian-Hungarian secret service, and successfully, too, because he
trusts noone, and he tells his employees to do the same. But of course,
especially men as flawless as Colonel Redl have their weaknesses, and it
doesn't take Russian spy Ramovsky (Robert H.Harris) long to pick one: Redl
is addicted to opium. Sure he does everything in his power to hide it, but
to the trained eye of a spy, this is as obvious as ... well, something
really obvious. Ramovsky threatens to expose Redl, but offers a deal: He
wants to know the names of the two Austrian-Hungarian head spies in
Russia, and he will keep silent. Of course, Redl refuses, and Ramovsky is
quick to offer a different deal. Now he just wants the tiny military
secret every now and again, and Redl remains unexposed. Still, the tiny
military secrets mount up, and eventually it becomes obvious that there's
a mole in the secret service. Now this is where Ramovsky can help out:
There is indeed another mole in the secret service ... so why not let him
take all the blame. It works, but not as well as planned, and for any more
help, Ramovsky demands the names of the top spies in Russia. Redl finds
himself cornered and gives them away ... too late, his betrayal has come
out. Redl flees, but his escape is intercepted by his own aide (Ernest
Graves), who has long suspected him, and now shoots him but makes it look
like suicide. Austria-Hungary and Germany might have lost World War I
(1914 - 1918) due to Redl's betrayal in Vienna ... On a story
level, Betrayal in Vienna is pretty entertaining, and even if the
twist ending is a bit forseeable, it essentially works. However, the whole
thing is seriously hampered by its inherent lack of budget, which never
allows the historical backdrops of the story to come to life. And the very
stagey, dry direction doesn't breath much life into the thing, either.
Sure, this was about standard in 1950's television, but then maybe a story
about the dawn of the first world war isn't such a great idea to film to
begin with. But I guess I'm making this episode worse than it is, it's ok
early television I guess, just don't expect anything much beyond some
rather ok writing ...
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