Betrayal from the East

When "Betrayal from the East" begins, it claims that the story is based on fact. However, how close it is to the truth is something I have no idea about...and suspect some of this might be overstated a bit due to the common narrative at the time that there were Nazi and Japanese agents all over the place trying to undermine America. Who knows the exact truth?

Eddie (Lee Tracy) is an ex-army soldier who is seen by Japanese agents as possibly being willing to spy for them. He quickly realizes what's happening and pretends to play along with them...and soon seeks out Army Intelligence to alert them about the Japanese plans. They ask him to keep playing along but also advise him that previous folks working for them all ended up dead! But Eddie is a true patriot and is going to see it to the end...especially after the Japanese kill a lady he really liked.

The quality of this film is pretty good and Lee Tracy is also good here....better than he was in most of his later outings following his years at MGM as a star. In particular, I appreciate that although the film was clearly a propaganda picture it was still entertaining and well written...and as a result the Japanese were not the usual sub-human, evil, sniveling sort they were in the more sordid films of the era.