The Man Who Never Was

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Starring: Clifton Webb
Rated: Unrated
Type: DVD
Directed By: Ronald Neame
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 2005-06-07
Running Time: 103 minutes
Clifton Webb stars in this fascinating account of a daring intelligence operation designed to mislead the Nazis prior to the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. In an effort to convince the Germans to redeploy their defenses, Lt. Commander Montagu (Webb) creates a false English officer and fabricates letters that indicate the British intend to land in Greece. Montagu than plants these documents on a dead man and orchestrates the "discovery" of this "officer" on the coast of Spain, Knowing the papers will fall into German hands. What follows is a taut cat-and mouse game as British Intelligence waits for Berlin to respond, then races to stay one step ahead of the Nazi agent dispatched to determine if the dead man is genuine. This true story of ingenious deception is a riveting tale of wartime espionage.

Operation Mincemeat: A Retelling Of A True WWII Gambit
In 1942 Allied powers greatly desired to invade Sicily--a fact of which Axis powers were well aware and against which the island was greatly fortified. In an effort to trick the Nazi military, British intelligence agents Flight Lt. Charles Cholmondeley and Lt. Commander Ewen Montagu came up with a clever plan: a body, bearing papers indicating that the major Allied attack would come elsewhere, was floated in to Spanish waters. Although technically neutral, Spain was sympathetic to the Nazis, and with any luck the papers would be thought genuine and reach German hands.

Although top secret even after the war, a good story is hard to keep down, and after numerous leaks Montagu himself was allowed to write an account of the deception. Titled THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS, the book was an overnight bestseller and the 1956 film version proved very popular as well. In retelling the story on the screen, writer Nigel Balchin took a number of liberties with the story, most particularly in the creation of "Lucy Sherwood" (Gloria Graham), a character who exists largely in order to provide a touch of love and pathos; even so, the film is very accurate in terms of the operation itself and how it was carried out.

Clifton Webb is perhaps best recalled for his waspish roles in such celebrated films as LAURA, but he sets aside his mannerisms for the role of Montagu and drives the action of the film in a remarkably capable manner, well supported by Robert Flemyng as assistant Lt. George Acres (based on Charles Cholmondeley) and Josephine Griffin as Pam, his secretary. Stephen Boyd does well in the Irish-accented role of Nazi agent Patrick O'Reilly, a semi-fictional character, and Gloria Graham, always a memorable performer, scores heavily in the role of Lucy Sherwood.

he film is essentially about process--finding the right body, planting the papers, arranging for the body to be transported, and so on--and as such it moves a fast clip, with director Ronald Neame (an Oscar-winning screenwriter perhaps best now known as director of such films as I COULD GO ON SINGING, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, and THE POSEIDON AVENTURE) keeping everything moving at a good clip. The DVD offers excellent picture and sound, as well as the choice between wide screen and full screen. If you know nothing about Operation Mincemeat, you'll find it fascinating stuff--and if you do know about Operation Mincemeat you'll still find the film entertaining on its own. Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

British intelligence at its finest hour. An amazing film in any way.
This is one of the most meticulously well told espionage stories ever!

Clifton Webb gives a stunning performance as the cold Lt. Commander Mantagu, whose mission is to create a diversion tactic to lure the Germans away from the real Italian location the British plan to invade. So he thinks of the most daring, sophisticated and simple plan of them all: to have a dead British officer carrying top secret information falling on the hands of the Germans. But the plan is not easy and every detail must be calculated with care as the Germans will know the information is too good, therefore, they will investigate the dead man's life in order to spot any fabrication.

Most of the film revolves around the making of the "the man" - getting the right body, producing the documents, finding him a personal life, preserving him from decomposing... and launching him from a submarine into a beach in Spain where the sharpest German operator is certain to find him.

Then it all becomes a psychological game as the British try to understand what response will come from the Germans. Did they buy it? Did they disregard him as an obvious lie? So the Germans send a top spy into Britain to investigate the life of such a valuable man - too valuable to be true.

So this is NOT a spy film like most. It has no fight or combat scenes and most of the action is pretty much like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - both films even share the same cinematographer. Put on top of it all the fact that this is a British film and you'll get all the elegance, pace and charm of the best WWII films.

Also impressive is that this is a CinemaScope film made in 1955 with a gorgeous cinematography by Oswald Morris (Lolita, The Guns of Navarone, The Odessa File and The Man Who Would Be King).

The DVD comes with two versions of the film (one on each side of the disc): the CinemaScope version and the unacceptable Pan&Scan version that completely destroys the CinemaScope's beautiful frame composition.

I admit that after having seen Clifton Webb on other films like Laura and Cheaper By the Dozen, I was afraid he would not look convincing as an Intelligence officer... but Clifton Webb was really an amazing actor and his portrayal of Lt. Montagu is stunningly precise.

Recommended.

"Being All Washed-Up" In a Good Way
This is such a great movie, and if I had never seen it, I would not have known of this ingenious ploy created to out-fox the Germans in WWII. It involves planting false information on a body that is then allowed to wash up upon a critical shore. The Germans recover the body, analyze the false information and papers on the body, consider them geunine, and make battle plans accordingly, thinking they have a real "find." Instead they fall into a well-planned trap. Clifton Webb is excellent in his part, as is the "body."

One of Clftons great ones
I love all of Clifton Webb films, this one really extracts his serious side of acting. great film of the era, he is truly the one of the best actors of his time.

The Man Who Never Was
A world war 2 story with a very unusual twist. It held my interest throughout the movie. The acting was so good, I beleived all the events to be true. I would recommend it to all. Movie buff-Ann