[.ca] Man Who Never Was

A war film with the emphasis on suspense:
As the North African campaign of WWII drew to a close it became obvious that the Allies next move would be to invade Sicily. A deception was therefore needed to try to lure away some of the German defences. Inter-services "XX Committee" (XX for double-cross) members Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu, and Squadron Leader Sir Archibald Cholmondley hatched the then unheard of plan of planting a body in the sea off Spain where prevailing currents would surely carry it inshore to the Huelva region, known to be the territory of one of the Nazis' best Spanish agents. The body, dressed as a major in the Royal Marines and apparently killed in a plane crash at sea, would be carrying supposedly top secret documents aimed at convincing any reader that the invasion target was not Sicily at all, but Greece. Montagu himself plays a cameo role in the film as an Air Marshall. The film takes us through the planning and execution of what its creators hoped would become one of the most successful and unusual deceptions in the history of warfare. The leading role of Montagu is played by Clifton Webb, utterly credible as a British naval officer, while Robert Flemyng, who had himself served conspicuously in WWII and was awarded the Military Cross and Order of The British Empire, takes on the role of Montagu's junior assistant, a composite role based partly on Cholmondley's real-life character. Together they must procure a body that will pass a medical examination to determine the cause of death and they must also create a personality and a past life and history for this man. This is a true-story that avoids battle scenes and big bangs. There are no special effects. It describes a war of stealth and cunning and the cat and mouse game of espionage. It is an atmospheric suspense thriller with Stephen Boyd effective as the determined Axis agent, Patrick O'Reilly, sent in from Ireland to verify the existence and past life of this man who never was. While the soundtrack works well and is one of Alan Rawsthorne's (The Cruel Sea) better scores, it is nevertheless immediately recognizable as being in his highly distinctive style, unfortunately sounding so very much like all his others. It is ably directed by the great and sometimes under-rated Ronald Neame and is beautifully filmed, as are all of former-cameraman Neame's pictures. The voice of Churchill is provided by the young Peter Sellers who, at that time in 1956, was establishing his versatility and making a name for himself in the BBC radio comedy, "The Goon Show". 20th Century Fox's DVD video and sound transfer quality are excellent, as would be expected in the studio release of one of their own productions, although taken from an unrestored print that shows just a little of its 50 years. A few slightly shaky moments in the original print do not detract from the overall enjoyment of the DVD. The two sided disc offers the double helping of seeing the movie in both a full screen 4:3 version on one side and the original Cinemascope presentation on the other. The widescreen, which I usually prefer, is extremely wide in this case and makes for somewhat difficult viewing on a standard TV. The full screen option is therefore a very welcome addition. The Canadian release also offers French sub-titles and a bilingual English-French case insert. The cover is illustrated with a rather strange composite picture that appears nowhere in the film ... a shot of Clifton Webb, in civvies, gazing longingly at the sky above the English countryside while a flight of American Thunderbolt fighters flies overhead. I wonder if the artist ever actually saw this movie? Nevertheless, this is a worthy and entertaining addition to any WWII film collection and if it gives you an appetite for a more in-depth version of the true story, Ewen Montagu's 1953 book is still available in both the hardback and paperback editions.

One of the finest WW II films of the 1950s:
Although the film was a ostensibly a 20th Century Fox production, THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS was filmed in England using primarily English crew and cast (though American leads). It belongs to a tradition of English war films in which aspects of the war are treated slowly, deliberately, and with great precision. While in the US war films tended to feature John Wayne leading Marines into combat, the British tended to focus much more on the preparation and plans of operations. For instance, the very fine film THE DAM BUSTERS features very little in the way of actual combat. And THE MAN WHO NEVER WAY has no combat whatsoever. The movie is based on a book by the same name about Operation Mincemeat, in which the British attempted to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion spot for D-Day by planting a corpse with fake papers on a beach in Spain, knowing that the Spanish would pass the papers onto the Germans. The entire movie is involved with the formation of the plan, and then creating the man who never was, creating his papers and personal effects. On one level, not much happens in the film, but on another it is one of the most fascinating films ever made about the war, because of the practical problems they deal with in the executing of the operation. Knowing that it was all based upon real events greatly adds to the appeal of the film. Clifton Webb, who was in fact far too old for the part, turns in a convincing performance as Lieutenant Commander Montagu. In most of his films he comes across as arrogant, but in this one he instead communicates competence and intelligence. Gloria Grahame is excellent as the primary female presence in the film. If you look carefully, you can spot Stephen Boyd in a small role, a few years before he would portray Messala in BEH-HUR.

Great British Naval Movies:
I liked this movie very much. It went into great but not overwhelming detail about the British Naval Intelligence Service during WWII. The detail the British went through to confuse the Germans was phenominal and was very adequately portrayed in the movie. David Niven playing the lead did a good job of portraying the methodical British Naval officer in charge of the detail. Another great British Naval movie had two names. The first one was "The Persuit Of The Graf Spee" and then released as "The Battle Of The River Plate". It was filmed in great color and was about the battle off South America between the German pocket battleship Graf Spee and 3 cruisers, two British and one New Zealand: The Ajax, Exeter and Achilles. The Graf Spee was portrayd by the US Navy's heavy cruiser USS Salem and because of the difference in US and British ship construction the look of the Graf Spee was very different from the British ships and therefore much more believable. This movie has been out of print for some time and as of two years ago there were no plans to make it available

An exciting World War II movie:
I rate "The Man Who Never Was" as an excellent and exciting World War II movie. Why can't movies be made like this anymore? Recent World War II movies are not accurate and place too much emphasis on effects. In my opinion, the more "special effects" a movie has, the more fake it is. Anyhow, "The Man Who Never Was" describes the true events of the British trying to confuse the Germans as to where the Allies will invade - Sicily or Greece. By arranging to have a dead body wash ashore in Spain with top-secret documents, the British cause the Germans to alter their defenses, thus saving the Allies from suffering even more casualties. How the British found a body, the details that they had to come up with to make the Germans believe the body was for real, and the subsequent German effort to determine whether or not the information found on the body was accurate, all make for an exciting story which moves at a swift pace. This is really a great World War II movie.

A great flick.:
I loved the attention to detail on generating the history of the "Man Who Never Was". this had me wondering what they would miss. Would they miss anything? You'll love it.