This is an Off-Beat "Out There" Story of a Female "Cold-War" Spy, Hiding Microfilm in the Collar of a Circus-Panther and the "Game is Afoot".
Marta Toren is the Spy and Howard Duff is the "Caught in the Web" Bystander.
The "Spy Hunt" of the Title is a bit Misleading...The Spy is Actually the "Hunter" and the "Hunt" is Literally a "Big-Game" Pursuit when the "Cats" (there are 2) Escape After a Thrilling Train-Wreck.
It Takes Place in the Mountains of Switzerland and the Expanding Cast...Adding a Journalist...an Artist...a Doctor/Innkeeper (Walter Slezack)...and More,
All Lodged Shoulder-to-Shoulder as the "Hunt" Takes Place. Everyone is a "Suspect" and May Not be What They Seem.
The Movie Fails in Some Respects with an Over-Use of Back-Screen at Times, at other Times the Scenery and the Hunt are Quite Impressive.
The Set-Up is Ludicrous (with the Cats used as a transporting mechanism in the first place),
but it is Certainly a Different Take and a Unique Back-Drop for the "Spy vs Spy" Game that was just Beginning its Long-Run and Became a Genre All its Own.
Slightly Above Average...
But can seem a bit Ridiculous...
the Tension is Terse, the Suspense Palatable, and the Ending, while somewhat Labored Satisfies.
The Beautiful, Short-Lived Marta Toren and the Off-Kilter Template Make it Definitely...
Worth a Watch
Note...The Cat-Wrangling is superb. The "Black-Panthers" are actually Mountain Lions with a Dye-Job.