- In Sweden, a post-office employee who survives a deadly armed robbery is accused of cowardice by society and is torn by conflicting feelings.
- Three Post Office employees are at work when the facility is held up. The robber kills the supervisor and knocks out another employee. The third one offers no resistance and survives unscathed. Afterwards he begins to wonder if his refusal to resist was a prudent move to preserve his family, or an act of cowardice, as many in the town believe. The resulting conflict begins to tear apart his family.—frankfob2@yahoo.com
- Patrick McGoohan plays Berger, a quiet postal clerk who aspires to some day take over as local Post Master. Berger is happily married with a young son, but admits he has no other friends. Though the young messengers tease him behind his back, when one of them is sent by another clerk, Andersson (Bill Travers) to pick up a large sum of pension money for the very first time, Berger overhears and can tell the boy is afraid of the responsibility, that something will go wrong. Berger takes it upon himself to walk part of the way with the boy to ease his mind.
The money is 10,000 krona, and that night, Berger is tasked with counting it. As he works in an office, an off-camera tussle ensues in the next room, resulting in a fatal injury to Kester, next in line for Post Master by seniority, and a head injury to Andersson. Berger is confronted in the office by one of the robbers, who holds him at gunpoint and demands the cash. Berger weighs his options, thinking of his wife and son, and gives him the money.
The rest of the film deals with the public's opinions on what is bravery and what is cowardice. Andersson claims he was hurt while confronting the robbers, wears his head bandage for over two weeks, and brags about his bravery to whoever will listen.
Meanwhile, Berger is looked upon as a coward for not somehow protecting the money, or at least physically confronting the robbers. As far as the Post Office is concerned, he isn't a "company man" anymore and looses the Post Master job to less senior Andersson.
At first, Berger's wife (Virginia McKenna) is on his side, but as time goes on, and she sees their son being teased and harassed in school, and her husband shunned by society, she begins to think he did the wrong thing after all. Their marriage suffers as Berger starts going for nighttime walks, eventually meeting a man named Rogers (Alf Kjellin) who just so happens to live at Andersson's rooming house. The two strike up a minor friendship, discussing their problems, though not admitting they are actually their own (they belong to "a friend"). Berger claims to know the "coward", and Rogers speaks of a man dying in the hospital (actually his brother).
One night, Mrs. Berger sees her husband and Rogers walking outside their home, and asks this stranger inside. One thing leads to another, and Rogers accidentally discovers Berger really is Berger. It is now that Berger is told that their son has been targeted in school, and things break down even further.
Things come to a head the next night, when Berger visits Rogers, and discovers he and his brother were the robbers. They learned of the large amount of money being at the Post Office through Andersson, who "talks too much" about work. Berger asks if Rogers would have shot him to get the money, and gets a reluctant "yes".
But the most important thing Berger finds out, is that Andersson did not get injured being brave fighting off the robbers, but he ran into a door frame while trying to escape, and was the real coward that night. He takes Roger's gun and, hell-bent on revenge, knowing Andersson would be at the Post Office working late on reports, goes to see him.
They discuss the night of the robbery. Berger asks Andersson if, given more time, he would have done things differently. He begins to loose it as he points the gun at Andersson, and gives him 30 seconds to get 20,000 krone from a vault and give it to him. If he doesn't, he'll get shot. Andersson fumbles his way to and from the vault, dropping the cash box and money. Kneeling on the floor, he holds up the messy cash box full of cash to Berger, who suddenly calms down, and sits at the office desk. When asked why he doesn't take the money, Berger says that he "wanted to prove something... but it doesn't matter any more..."
Next we see Rogers waiting for Berger, who checks his gun and sees it wasn't fired. The two men part, and Rogers walks to the police station to turn himself in. Berger goes home, where his wife has waited up for him with supper. The film ends with them embracing. They do have a future...
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