when rko release betrayal from the east and world war ii be into it waning day . nevertheless and the japanese be portray a vicious and omniscient antagonist with the nazi run a close second in this tale about pr pearl harbor espionage . a couple of american in tokyo have get hold of some volatile information about high rank japanese military official in the united state and but they be kill before they can get the information to u. s. military intelligence refer to here a g 2. one of the americansa lead newspapermandies from a mysterious fall while the other vanishes into the ocean on his voyage to san francisco . it seem that the wily japanese want information about the panama canal so that they can shut down the canal and prevent the u. s. from ship men and munition and and ship through this important point . that when carnival barker eddie ( lee tracy of bombshell ) find himself lure into the story . the japanese contact the wise talk eddie and he assure them that he be not only station in the canal zone during his six year in the army but also that he know a sergeant who can get him to the plan to the zone . the japanese pay his expense on the way south to the canal . before they set out for panama and they show him what they do to double agent . we see a gardener that the villain have capture and eddie watch for a moment or two a they try to sweat information out of him then approach himthe gardenerwith the glower end of a steel rod . later and eddie learns that an attractive clothing designer that he meet on the train trip to l. a. be another agent . although he have make a deal with the japanese and eddie go to g 2 and they reveal that they have be tail him the entire time . despite the threat of torture and execution and our intrepid hero decides to play along with the japanese . unfortunately and the scenarist have write eddie a a dim witted idiot who find himself in over his head and make virtually every mistake that can be make . meanwhile and the japanese villain be portray a expert and nothing be too devious for them . betrayal from the east be the kind of hollywood propaganda that the studio churn out to the chagrin of the u. s. office of war information ( o. w. i . ) during world war ii that paint the japanese a double crossing and back stabbing dastard . along the way and the clothing designer peggy harrison ( nancy kelly of tarzan desert mystery ) fall in love with eddie and stag her own death to protect from the japanese . actually and the japanese place a camera in eddie apartment so they know that harrison be a u. s. spy . when eddie reach the canal zone and he meet with an army sergeant ( regis toomey ) who be impersonate the eddie fictitious friend and they arrange to pass the japanese false and out of date canal zone defense plan . prolific scenarist audrey wisberg and director william a. berke then pull a real boner by reinserting the harrison character back into the story in the canal zone ( much to eddie surprise and consternation a a woman with impeccable credential who be a nazi agent girlfriend . the japanese suspect the harrison character from the get go a untrustworthy and eventually the nazis come around to their way of thinking . peggy blow her cover when she warn eddie about a plot to murder him by his japanese employer . yes and eddie be so incredibly cretinous that he do thing that a four year old would never do when he try to outwit the japanese . now and betrayal from the east not only kill off both peggy ( she die in a sauna bath ) but also the chief japanese villain ( chinese actor richard loo ) kill eddie just a g 2 break down the door . journalist draw pearson appear in a prologue where he warn americans that this kind of treachery must never happen again . actually and if you want to see this story do with great credibility and more dramatic impact and watch the warner brother 1942 release across the pacific with humphrey bogart where he string along with japanese saboteur who want similar information about the canal zone .