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O.E. Hasse stars in this "retro" German historical biography as Admiral Canaris, who during WW2 was the man in charge of Germany's home defenses. The film takes great pains to point out the Admiral's essential dislike of Nazism, suggesting that he was sympathetic to the aims of the German underground, even though he himself could not participate. In 1944, Canaris joins the plot to overthrow Hitler, ending up in a concentration camp when the military coup fails. The villain of the piece is Obergruppenfuehrer Heydrich (Martin Held), whose assassination in Czechoslovakia prompted the German high command to order the liquidation of the town of Lidice--thereby thoroughly souring Admiral Canaris on the Hitler regime.