The Purple V

The Purple V is a 1943 American war film directed by George Sherman and starring John Archer, Mary McLeod and Fritz Kortner. The Purple V marked German stage star Fritz Kortner's American film debut. Actors John Archer and Mary McLeod were borrowed from M-G-M for the production.

Royal Air Force flyer Jimmy Thorne (John Archer) and pilot Roger (Peter Lawford) are returning from a night photo reconnaissance flight over Germany, Jimmy recognizes the area. He reveals he lived there 10 years earlier, when his father was American consul in the region.

Encountering a German cargo aircraft, they shoot it down, but Jimmy is forced to parachute from his damaged aircraft so that Roger can get the important photos back to England. Jimmy lands near the wreck of the German aircraft, finding a dead German aviator, and takes his uniform. He then helps another Luftwaffe officer, near death who entrusts him with a personal note from Field Marshall Irwin Rommel to Adolf Hitler. The officer sees a purple V tattoo on Jimmy's left arm and realizes he has given away the secrets of the North African campaign.

Jimmy heads to the nearby village of Diederfeld, where an old acquaintance, Professor Thomas Forster (Fritz Kortner), his daughter Katti (Mary McLeod), and son Paul (Rex Williams). The Forsters are wary of Jimmy and claim not to remember him. Finally Jimmy reminds Katti and Paul of childhood events. Paul is determined to help Jimmy.

At the wreck, the German officer is found alive and tells state police officer Johann Keller (Kurt Katch) about Jimmy's purple V tattoo, but dies before he can reveal Rommel's message. The Forsters soon hear a radio announcement about an RAF pilot in a German uniform with a purple V tattoo. Paul and Katti volunteer to take the message out of the country, but the professor says it is too dangerous.

Paul brands his left arm with a V, takes the German uniform but is caught by as German patrol and shot. Katti, the professor and Jimmy hear a radio announcement that the British spy is dead. Jimmy and Katti prepare to go to Zurich, posing as brother and sister. Keller suspects Paul was not the spy, and goes to the Forster home to force the professor and Katti to divulge Jimmy's whereabouts.

Jimmy kills Keller and he and Katti begin their trip. At a final border check, the professor dressed in Keller's uniform, "arrests" Jimmy and Katti and takes them to an airfield. When the professor's real identity is discovered, he holds off several soldiers before being killed, allowing Jimmy and Katti time to escape on a waiting aircraft.

When Jimmy and Katti land in England, Roger vouches for Jimmy which authenticates the important message. Jimmy and Katti decide to marry later.