MovieChat Forums > 5 Fingers (1952) Discussion > Letter from Countess

Letter from Countess

posted 9 years ago by wireshock
4 replies | jump to latest

The letter from the Countess to Von Papen, read by the Germans in Istanbul, exposing Mason as a "British Agent:" this goes by so fast, but what is her motivation? We knew she'd written to Tayler, the British ambassador, exposing him as the source of the leaked documents. So why write to Von Papen?

Perhaps it's just a plot device to lend credence to von Richter's thorough discounting the plans for D-Day, ripping them to shreds. But it's plausible the Countess was playing some double game.

If anyone has a clearer understanding, would appreciate their sharing it.

[–] Toshi51 9 years ago

She skipped out of town with 130,000 pounds Sterling belonging to "Cicero". No doubt she wanted to insure he would not follow her to Switzerland.

[–] hobnob53 9 years ago

Right. She wanted to make him distrusted by both the Germans and the British and so help make sure one or the other killed him so as to leave her in peace. She had no concern for aiding either side in the war or with Diello's spying as such. Her only concern was herself. I never understood why Diello, who knew what kind of person she was, would have thought he could trust her.

[–] vestdennis 9 years ago

They both got what they deserved...I wonder if the money was actually fake or a ploy by the Brits to get back at both of them. By claiming it's fake both are left in ruins...

[–] superhet 9 years ago

According to the Wikipedia article about the real Cicero, most of the banknotes were counterfeit. He even tried to sue the post-war West German government to recover his losses!