Morris Carnovsky

Literature professor Axel Freed is a gambling addict. When he has lost his money, he borrows from his girlfriend Billie, then his mother Naomi, and finally some criminals that chase him. Despite all of this, he cannot stop gambling. Successful college professor Axel Freed is addicted to gambling; he wins big but loses it all just as quickly. He borrows from his girlfriend then from his wealthy mother, and finally from a loan shark. It just gets worse and worse for him because he just cannot stop. But when his girlfriend decides to leave him, his mom decides to disown him, and the mob wants to kill him, he decides to make a big score to win big and pay off everyone so he can stay alive, keep his dignity, and come out ahead. —Wesley Benton Axel Freed is an English professor at New York College. He is also a gambling addict. Although he likes to win, it is only secondary to the excitement he feels in the possibility of losing. Within this mentality, he ends up $44,000.00 in the hole in one fell swoop. He does not have it, and those to whom he owes would not take kindly at all to delayed payment without some sort of retribution. He gets an up-close-and-personal view of the nasty things that can be done as a consequence as he tries to come up with the money through legitimate and not so legitimate sources. The former includes from his wealthy businessman grandfather, A.R. Lowenthal, who has had his fair share of dealings with the wrong side of the law himself, and from his physician mother, Naomi Freed; both could still be affected by his actions whether they can or can't, or will or won't, help him. Even if he can get the money, the feeling of his addiction may not allow him just to pay back the money as that, in his mind, is not winning, regardless of the consequence of being potentially deeper in with those he owes. The other person involved is his girlfriend Billie, who loves him but didn't sign up for this kind of excitement. —Huggo Axel Freed is a college professor who is constantly in debt and must rely on his former friends and associates to bail him out. As his habit becomes an incurable disease, Axel finds that the only people who will have anything to do with him are those to whom he owes money--particularly the polite but deadly loan-shark Carmine.

Jeff Cohalan (Robert Young) is a successful architect who spends most of his free time in an isolated modernistic cliff-top home he has designed and built overlooking the ocean. The reason Jeff spends his time alone is because of his responsibility for his fiancées death in a car accident the night before their wedding. When Jeff meets Ellen Foster (Betsy Drake), a young insurance investigator who has come to Carmel to visit her aunt, strange accidents begin to occur in his house with his horse breaking his leg, his dog eating poison, his house burning to the ground, and then having his business sabotaged. Ellen confers with family physician Dr. Hartley (Morris Carnovsky) who thinks Jeff may be suffering from a guilt complex involving the death of his fiancée and may be dangerous to himself and others. When Jeff starts doing strange things in the middle of the night Ellen steps in to prevent any more accidents, but runs the chance of endangering her own life.

In October 1942, a Nazi plane spots a Norwegian flag flying over the German-occupied fishing village of Trollness. On investigation, the Nazis discover that the entire Nazi garrison has been killed and the commander, Captain Koenig, is discovered in his office, shot through the head. The streets, which are filled with bodies, are apparently empty. The only living person found is insane and the Nazis quickly execute him. The rest of the film is told in flashback: Before the deaths, the villagers quietly resisted their Nazi occupiers: The resistance movement is led by a group of people including Gerd Bjarnesen, the owner of the local hotel, whose father was killed by the Nazis; Gunnar Brogge, the head of the fishermen's union; and his fiancee, Karen Stensgard, the daughter of the town's doctor, Martin. Gunnar is planning to escape to England to join the resistance there, but before he can leave, a wounded man from a nearby village brings news that the English are delivering guns to the Norwegian underground in preparation for a unified revolt against the Nazis. The following day, Karen learns that her brother Johann, a Nazi collaborator, is coming home, and she begs her father to keep him away. Later, there is a meeting in the church to decide if those sympathetic to the resistance movement will join in fighting the Germans. Pastor Aalesen is opposed to the plan, believing that murder is wrong no matter why it is done. Stensgard is also unsure about the planned action, but the villagers vote to accept the guns and attack the Germans. Karen, Gerd and Gunnar take turns waiting for the British to deliver the weapons. After they arrive, Karen warns the other resistance workers that her brother may betray them if they are not careful. While they are hiding the weapons, someone accidentally drops an English flashlight. Koenig's men find it and, suspecting that the village is up to something, Koenig confiscates all the fishing boats, hoping this will prevent the villagers from earning a living and force them to divulge their plans. Johann's uncle, Kaspar Togersen, the owner of a fish canning factory, pressures Johann to betray the plotters, and somewhat reluctantly, Johann questions the simple-minded shopkeeper, only to receive false information. The Nazis increase pressure on the townspeople, who have been asked not to take action until the British can arm the entire Norwegian coast. When Koenig tries to confiscate the home of Sixtus Andresen, the schoolteacher, Andresen resists and is beaten by the soldiers, who also burn his belongings. Although the townspeople are extremely angry, they refrain from attacking, but when Karen is raped by a German soldier, Stensgard is driven to murder. In revenge, Koenig decides to execute all the leaders of the resistance. The Germans force the group to dig their own graves, but before they can carry out the executions, the villagers finally can take no more and march on the square. Even the pastor opens fire from the church. The villagers fight through to the harbor and load the women and children on boats headed for England. They continue to battle the Germans at great cost to themselves. Finally cornered in the last remaining German stronghold, Koenig writes a note and kills himself. In the present day, even as the Nazi soldier reports that no one is left alive, another soldier is shot while lowering the Norwegian flag. Karen, Gunnar and the surviving villagers decide to stay to defend their town.