Confessions of a Nazi Spy is a 1939 American spy political thriller film directed by Anatole Litvak for Warner Bros. It was the first explicitly anti-Nazi film to be produced by a major Hollywood studio, being released in May 1939, four months before the beginning of World War II and two and a half years before the United States' entry into the war. The film stars Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, Paul Lukas, and a large cast of German actors, including some who had emigrated from their country after the rise of Adolf Hitler. Many of the German actors who appeared in the film changed their names for fear of reprisals against relatives still living in Germany. The film's story is based on a series of articles by FBI officer Leon G. Turrou, recounting his investigation of Nazi spy rings in the United States. Parts of the film are drawn from the Rumrich Nazi Spy Case, the first major international espionage case in American history. Plot A silhouetted narrator connects the film to recent events, beginning in a quiet corner of Scotland in 1937: The postman asks Mrs. MacLaughlin for stamps from the letters she receives from all over the world. MacLaughlin forwards the contents of one envelope to Dr. Karl Kassel in New York City. Cut to Kassel haranguing an audience of German-Americans at the Café Nuremberg. Most are wearing the uniform of the German American Bund. The Führer has declared war on the evils of democracy and as Germans, they should carry out his wishes and claim power. The crowd salutes, "Sieg Heil!" Kurt Schneider, an unemployed malcontent, is inspired to become a spy and writes to Hitler's personal newspaper. German Naval Intelligence knows that he is not a double agent because the Americans have no formal counterespionage system. Franz Schlager, a naval officer sailing to New York on the steamship Bismarck, is ordered to contact Schneider. On board the Bismarck, the power of the Gestapo is shown. Beauty operator Hilda Kleinhauer informs on her clients and carries material for Schlager. An American Legionaire challenges Kassel at a meeting. He and others speaking out for democracy are attacked. Schneider boasts to his friend Werner, a private in the Air Corps, that he receives instructions from Hitler. Werner gets the Z code, and Schneider obtains medical records that will reveal troop strength in New York. Schneider proudly