The Man Who Never Was
                                  
Director: Ronald Neame
Year: 1956
Rating: 7.0
Shot in Cinemascope.

This is an earlier version of Operation Mincemeat - the film and a documentary which I watched a few days ago. As a quick reminder this was an attempt to deceive the Germans into believing that the allies were going to invade Greece rather than Sicily by placing a dead body into the waters off of Spain and hoping the Germans would get a hold of the papers the dead body was carrying. It was a huge success and likely saved thousands of lives. The film Operation Mincemeat throws in a love triangle between the two men who headed the plan - Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley - and their secretary. It was a distraction from the plot. Well, they solve that by simply omitting Cholmondeley from this film. It is based on a book written by Montagu and whether he did the same in his book I can't say.



There are two other big changes in this film - both totally made up but they both work very well and add some real drama, suspense and two big names to the cast. The secretary has an American roommate who is in love with a British flyer. The first time we see her she is lying on a couch, a cigarette in her hand, red lipstick and desire springing from every pore. It is Gloria Grahame. No one could do desire as well as she could. No longer the impish flirt in It's a Wonderful Life or the I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say No in Oklahoma, but a woman who looks like she has been through a lot of failed love affairs and finally found the right guy. Though credited right below Clifton Webb who plays Montagu, her part is smallish but she has two great scenes where she lays her emotions on the line. Those are the heart of the film.



They also add suspense - again fabricated - when the Germans send a man over to see if Major Martin, the name they gave the dead man, is real. He is played by Stephen Boyd. The scene of him waiting in his room to see if his trap has worked is terrific. This part takes up the last third of the film while Operation Mincemeat spent much more time in the planning and the execution - and this has no hand-job thankfully as that one did. Other than the two Americans, the film has a few other recognizable names - Robert Flemyng, André Morell, Michael Hordern and the future Miss Marple, Joan Hickson. At the time this film was made, the identity of the dead man was kept a secret. It was soon thereafter that a journalist figured out who he was and his name was added to the grave in Spain - but then some other historians claimed that it was someone else - so still unknown. As a side note - at the same time they dropped the body off of the submarine into the sea, two planes had been shot down which gave some credence to the story. In one of them was Leslie Howard.