FBI agent William Sebold (posing as Harry Sawyer), and successful filming of members of Duquesne spy ring in the United States.
Aerial view of Christ Redeemer Statue on Mount Corcovado, Brazil. The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), John Edgar Hoover, narrates this 1944 clip and talks about enemy agents in the United States during World War II, before America's entrance into the war. German and Japanese suspects seen in South America. A German fleet carries German agents aboard merchant and cargo ships. German agents in formation on deck of ship, shown debarking the ship after receiving instructions. Japanese and Nazi German colonies being established in South America in large cities and in remote areas of Patagonia. Automobile industries, hotels, shops, and other industries established by Nazi German agents. German signs and Nazi Swastikas and Nazi flags shown on some buildings in South American countries including Brazil. A Nazi flag. A view of German factories in South America. Photographs of Adolf Hitler in a school building where young boys and girls are being instructed by their teacher. German pilot shown operating a passenger airliner; aerial view of from aircraft of Rio de Janeiro Brazil, including port and city areas. A dramatization depicts well planned accidents in the factories and sabotage attempts to slow production of goods bound for the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) receives reports about planning of German attack on the Panama Canal. A woman watching a teletype machine as a report arrives. A man in a radio room of the Federal Bureau of Investigation receives information and turns to type out a report on his typewriter. Men and women convicted as spies are seen together in a room with U.S. federal agents. The spies are taken in a police van. Man serving as projectionist seen running a film projector. A film of Fritz Duquesne case in the FBI office shows FBI Agents' successful secret filming of members of the Duquesne spy ring. The film is shown being loaded onto a projector and then played. FBI agent William Sebold (posing as spy Harry Sawyer) is seen with Fritz Duquesne and other spy ring members: Pedestrians and vehicular traffic on a New York street corner as Sawyer and Duquesne prepare to meet. German spies sit together in a hotel room in New York City, recorded by hidden camera. Heinrich Clausing, a spy ring member and former cook on the cruise ship SS Argentine is seen. Also seen is Hartwig Richard Kleiss putting on his hat and smoking a cigar. He's shown giving money to Sawyer for purchase of a spy camera, according to narration. J Edgar Hoover notes that German agents communicated through a Long Island radio station that was secretly controlled by the FBI. Hartwig Kleiss is seen showing the blueprint plans of the steamship SS America, including plans for its secret gun emplacements. Fritz Duquesne is shown in the film, removing diagrams of various American arms that he had concealed in his sock Japanese agent Takeo Ezima, of the Imperial Japanese Navy, is also seen meeting in the hotel with Harry Sawyer. Location: United States USA. Date: 1941.