Der Fälscher von London (1961)

The newly married millionaire heir Peter Clifton is spending his honeymoon with Jane at Longford Manor. When Jane discovers her husband at night behind a secret door, working at a printing press, she believes he is the long-sought “Forger of London,” a notorious yet ingenious counterfeiter of five-pound notes. Jane’s former suitor, Basil Hale, also discredits Clifton with mysterious insinuations about his past. After a heated argument with Clifton, Hale is found bludgeoned to death in the castle grounds the next day. Jane finds her injured, unresponsive husband and removes all traces, as well as the presumed murder weapon. Inspector Rouper considers Clifton’s guilt proven, but the thoughtful Chief Inspector Bourke does not. When Radlow, Peter Clifton’s lawyer and executor of his will, summons Bourke, Bourke finds the lawyer stabbed to death in his study upon arrival. In the garden lies the unconscious Clifton, with a bloodstained stiletto beside him. Despite the seemingly conclusive evidence, Bourke visits Clifton’s family doctor, Dr. Wells, and accuses him of plotting against Clifton. Bourke also exposes his colleague Rouper as an accomplice and has him arrested. Clifton learns from Bourke that his father is someone other than the man he had always believed to be his father. Mrs. Unterson, Basil Hale’s mother, shoots Dr. Wells while searching for Clifton, whom she believes murdered her son. The respectable painter John Leith is ultimately exposed as the “Forger of London” and arrested.