Greene had first suggested it as an idea for a film script in 1937, set during the Spanish Civil War, and later developed it while under contract with MGM during the 1940s.

A young man, Michel Mangeot, known as Janvier, who is dying of tuberculosis, accepts his offer and is executed as Chavel in the morning.

Finally in Part IV, Charlot, having fallen in love with Thérèse, must save her from Carosse, as a means of redemption from his earlier cowardice.

The book was turned into a 1988 television movie starring Anthony Hopkins as Chavel and Kristin Scott Thomas as Therese in the Hallmark Hall of Fame series.

[3] Derek Jacobi played Carosse, The Imposter, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.