Libel
While traveling in London, Jeffrey Buckenham (Massie), a Canadian Second World War veteran, sees Baronet Sir Mark Sebastian Loddon (Bogarde) on television, leading a tour of his grand family home. Buckenham was held in a German POW camp with Loddon, and while watching him, becomes convinced that he is in fact another former POW, Frank Wellney, an actor (also played by Bogarde) who shared their hut and bore an uncanny resemblance to Loddon. Buckenham writes a letter to a newspaper, publishing his suspicion that Wellney has usurped the young baronet's place.
Loddon sues Buckenham and the newspaper for libel, but his mind is still battered by some terrible incident that occurred during his escape fifteen years before, and he has little memory of that time.
During the trial, Buckenham and Loddon tell their versions of what happened during the war. Buckenham liked Loddon very much and despised Wellney. The three broke out together and headed west in search of the advancing Allied forces. One dark and misty night, having gone without food for days, Buckenham left the others alone to try to steal some from a nearby farm. As he was returning, he heard two shots. He saw one man in Battle Dress lying on the ground, apparently dead, and the other, in civilian clothes, running away. Buckenham was unable to get closer because German soldiers appeared, but Loddon was the one wearing Battle Dress.
Loddon is missing part of a finger on his right hand, just like Wellney, but Loddon claims he was shot in the finger during the escape. Loddon is also missing a childhood scar on his leg. Then there is the fact that Wellney's hair was prematurely white, as is Loddon's now. Buckenham recounts how Wellney was always asking Loddon about his personal life; Loddon even joked that Wellney could pass for him. As the evidence mounts, even Loddon's loyal wife (de Havilland) begins to doubt him.
Hubert Foxley (Hyde-White), the defence barrister, produces a surprise. It turns out that the third man was not dead after all, only wounded. His face was horribly disfigured, his right arm had to be amputated, and his mind had become unhinged. He has been living in a German asylum all this time. Foxley produces the man (and the Battle Dress) in court. The man and Loddon recognise each other.
In desperation, Loddon's barrister, Sir Wilfred (Morley), puts Lady Loddon on the stand, but she testifies that she now believes that her husband is the impostor. That night, Loddon goes for a walk, trying desperately to remember. Finally, his reflection in the canal unlocks his memories. Wellney did try to kill him while his back was turned, but he - Loddon - saw Wellney's reflection in the water and won the struggle. Then he fled from the Germans. In court, he cannot provide any evidence, until he remembers a keepsake he kept hidden in the lining of his Battle Dress: a medallion his then fiancée gave him. He finds it, and wins the case and his wife back.
murder, flashback