The Next of Kin

In this tense wartime thriller, a British security officer is tasked with shadowing Army personnel from the 95th Infantry inside England while civilians who mingle with them become potential sources of intelligence. At the same time, German intelligence sends Agents 16 and 23 to England to gather information from everyday conversations overheard in pubs, at railway stations, shops, and other public places. Agent 16 is caught, but Agent 23 presses on, reaching his contact, Mr Barratt, a bookseller at Westport, who assigns him the job of infiltrating an ordnance depot. After helping an ATS driver with a punctured tyre, she invites him to a dance. There, he learns that the unit has top priority for special equipment, and Agent 23 resolves to uncover why this matters so urgently.

Barratt forces his employee, Dutch refugee Beppie Leemans, Nova Pilbeam, to uncover the activities of the 95th. She informs him that the unit is expecting aerial photographs, and Barratt sends Agent 23 to London to obtain them. As Beppie becomes aware of the gravity of what she’s been asked to do, she inadvertently triggers a dangerous chain of events. When she realizes the seriousness of Barratt’s scheme, she confronts him, and a brutal confrontation ends with Barratt’s death. Agent 23 returns to the scene, knocks Beppie out, and uses gas to stage a murder–suicide, a ruse meant to mislead any immediate pursuers.

Meanwhile, an agent manages to steal the briefcase containing an aerial negative, carelessly left unattended at a cafe by a Wing Commander. The officer believes the briefcase was taken by mistake and breathes a sigh of relief when it is returned to the cafe after a photograph is developed. That single photograph is smuggled to German intelligence and used to identify the 95th’s objective. With this crucial missive in hand, the Germans mobilize to ambush the 95th’s commando raid on the French coast, turning a planned operation into a high-stakes confrontation.

Back in England, the raid is carried out and deemed successful, though it exacts heavy losses. The film circles back to a quiet, uneasy postscript as two careless talkers on a train are observed, their chatter tailed by a perceptive eye (Agent 23) who takes notes, underscoring how easily information slips through cracks in ordinary conversation. The closing mood is calm on the surface, but the undercurrents of espionage and betrayal linger, hinting at the fragile line between victory and catastrophe.

The ending lingers on the human cost and the perpetual vigilance required, as the audience is reminded that even mundane moments—like a chat on a train—can have profound and dangerous repercussions. In this layered cat-and-mouse game, the private fears of ordinary people intersect with the calculated intrigues of spies, leaving a lasting impression of how swiftly secrets can travel from a casual remark to a battlefield consequence. The narrative pins a stark, sobering reflection on wartime intelligence, the fragility of trust, and the unpredictable consequences of information shared in public spaces.

two careless talkers on a train, Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:10