Oberst Alfred Redl heads the military intelligence department of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Frequent letters from the Russian Empire, however, make him suspect of sharing his knowledge with unauthorized authorities.
The film was made after a real-life affair which shook the Austro-Hungarian realm at the eve of the Great War.Oberst (Colonel) Alfred Redl (Balser) heads the military intelligence department of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. He leads a rather lavish life - more than than he would be able to afford from his salary, and even has a young male all-too-close friend (Werner), whom he supports; the young officer even blackmails the colonel by the threat to create a huge scandal by revealing their affair to extract even more money from him.A series of letters from the Russian Empire, sent poste restante to somebody in Vienna, alerts the Police.In fact, the real-life Redl had revealed Austrian army's mobilization and deployment schemes to Russia and had cashed in sums about ten times as high as his regular pay, causing huge damage, which would cost thousands of lives of Austro-Hungarian soldiers just a little more than a year later.Finally a shadow of suspicion falls on the high officer, who is in such an important and knowledgeable position. But the Police miss the person, who picks up the latest letter from Russia, by the blink of an eye. Redl, however, gives himself away by a silly lapse in the ensuing chase.As this is an affair of state and in those class-conscious days a higher officer is not just an ordinary citizen, the case is not left to the police; instead, a delegation of high-ranking officers turns up at Redl's hotel room and places a pistol in his hand, indicating, "you know what you have to do".
