Watch The Man Who Never Was For Free

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS is an exemplary and atypical British WW2 film that brims with suspense and insight. It's also unlike any other war movie you'll see; the film is about spies and spying, but the plot itself - the efforts to convince the Nazis of the existence of the titular figure - is thoroughly unusual and thoroughly compelling. It best reminded me of ALBERT, R.N., a film with a similarly clever premise. Like ALBERT, R.N., it's also based on a larger-than-life true story. The film has a strong ensemble cast, all of whom give very convincing performances, particularly Stephen Boyd and Gloria Grahame in the latter part of the production. Few films get me on the edge of my seat these days, but THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS was one of them.

With the opening credits of this film, 20th Century Fox shows a script prologue that sets the stage for a fantastic story of cunning and deceit during World War II. The prologue reads, "Military security and respect for a solemn promise have made it necessary to disguise the identify of some of the characters in this film; but in all other essentials it is the true story of 'Major William Martin'"The film is based on a book by the Hon. Ewen Montagu, a British intelligence officer, writer and judge. It is about Operation Mincemeat, an elaborate and highly successful "misinformation" plan. The plan was devised and carried out to weaken German defenses against the Allied invasion of Europe. After the 1943 Allied defeat of Germany in Africa, Sicily was the likely place of the next Allied strike. But the British came up with a great plan to convince the Germans that the assault would take place in Greece. The scheme worked so well that Adolf Hitler moved numerous combat units out of Sicily to points east and west of there. Montagu's book about Operation Mincemeat was published in 1953, and this film was made in 1956. Montagu was himself the instigator of the operation along with M15, the British Security Service (civilian). The plan was part of the Double-Cross System (XX System), which was the anti-espionage program of the British Security Service. The movie makes the point that the success of the deception would save thousands of Allied lives in the assault on southern Europe. There can be no doubt that it was effective. The Allies were able to route the Germans from Sicily in less than six weeks (July 9-Aug. 17, 1943). Winston Churchill is quoted in the film as saying that "Everyone but a bloody fool would know that it's Sicily," referring to the Allies' next point of assault. So, to make the Germans think otherwise, would be a tremendous dupe that would have to be carried out to perfection. The movie tells and shows how it was done, and it has some intriguing aspects when the Germans take steps to try to verify what they have discovered. The cast are superb in their roles, and the direction and the film quality are excellent. Clifton Webb portrays Lt. Commander Montagu. As an interesting aside, Montagu himself appears in the film as the uncredited Air Marshal. This is an interesting non-combat war story about WW II. It's an interesting piece of little-known history about the war. It belongs in any serious collection of WW II films. I have only one "gripe" about the script. When Pam goes into her apartment toward the end of the film, she doesn't close the door behind her. Instead, she leaves it open and walks into her apartment to set her package down and check on her roommate. In those days and that time and that place, people didn't just walk into their apartments and not close the door immediately behind them. I don't know what the director was thinking. The audience knows what to expect, so it's not a real fright. She is startled by Patrick O'Reilly (played by Stephen Boyd) who has walked into the room. The movie makers more realistically could have had Pam close the door, and then have O'Reilly knock on the door.

Clifton Webb is the embodiment of the stiff upper lip, never displaying undue emotions even at a sidesplitting London play. He doesn't just walk across a room, he marches. His impeccably trimmed, reddish beard looks particularly unruffled even while driving his classic, British-made MG roadster.The sets and locations are excellent. The care with which they are chosen and the way they are lighted and shot is reminiscent of Neame's The Odessa File (1974). That Oswald Morris was director of photography on both films is probably not a coincidence.A definitive scene takes place in a claustrophobic basement morgue lined with glistening white tiles. A body is being dressed. While they work, somewhere above them an air raid begins, moves closer, passes and ends. A woman screams. A dog barks. Very little is said and only the slightest gestures indicate their concern for the events going on above. But it is clear that they are very aware of the raid and of how what they are doing could alleviate some of the atrocity of the war.These are a different kind of man. Not gung-ho, hell-for-leather GIs but thoughtful men who remain rational and well-grounded. This is what will get them through this project and this war.

This film is based on a book of the same title by Ewen Montagu, a distinguished lawyer and judge who served in British Naval Intelligence during World War II. It was Montagu who devised Operation Mincemeat, which is portrayed in this film, apparently with a high degree of accuracy. (The real Montagu even appeared in a bit part as a naval officer in the film.) The 'man who never was' was a young man in London who had died of pneumonia, whose corpse was used in devious disinformation campaign to fool the Germans. His real name was suppressed and has never been revealed. But he was unaware of the role his body played in this story, because the permission to use his body was given by his father, who was his only living relative, after the son's death. The British forces were faced with the need to invade Sicily after their successes in North Africa. But they wished to divert as many of the German defences as possible to make that assault easier, and to save lives. The role of Operation Mincemeat was to trick the Germans into believing that the British would invade Greece, not Sicily. They did this by dressing the dead man in a British naval officer's uniform, securing a briefcase to his arm, and launching him into the sea off the coast of Spain from a British submarine. The personal hand-written letters from Lord Mountbatten and General Eisenhower which he carried were meant to be ultimately convincing, as the signatures were real. They had studied the tides and knew that his body would be washed up on the beach, and they targeted a beach where a particularly keen Nazi spy was based who would be sure to end up with the briefcase despite Spain's purported 'neutrality'. (Spain was hardly neutral, considering that it was the Gestapo who had selected General Franco to be the dictator of Spain in the first place, but that is another story. There is 'official neutrality' and then there is 'real neutrality'.) Clifton Webb, normally a very fine actor indeed, plays Montagu. But he does so much too stiffly. I think perhaps Webb, as an American, got a bit too carried away with the British 'stiff upper lip' routine and overdid things in that respect. Gloria Grahame plays a young girl named Lucy who inadvertently plays a key part in this tale. She is excellent, especially in the highly emotional scenes, as she always excelled at portraying extreme emotions. However, the makeup and hair in this film are absolutely terrible. You can see Webb's grey roots, Grahame's lipstick is way too bright, it is a mess from that point of view. Even worse however is the lighting. Ossie Morris was the cinematographer, and I don't think he ever did a worse job. My old friend Arthur Ibbetson was his operator, and I can't imagine he was pleased, as he was the one who had to look through the lens and wince, but obviously the operator cannot criticise his boss. Many of the actors are sweating far too much (Grahame's face is sometimes streaked with sweat over her excessive makeup), and the interiors are so harshly lit it almost looks amateur. Really, I was so shocked, considering how distinguished Morris was later to become. Stephen Boyd does very well at playing an Irishman who hates the English and works as a Nazi spy. Boyd tries to discover whether the washed-up corpse is genuine or a disinformation 'plant'. The British narrowly convince him that the man was real, so that he relays to Germany the confirmation they want before they will divert many of their defences from Sicily to Greece. And speaking of neutrality, there are many criticisms which could be made also of the genuineness of Ireland's supposed 'neutrality' during the War, as this film strongly implies. But then again, that too is another story. Suffice it to say that there were plenty of Nazis in Ireland, and that some of their successors ended up as IRA killers. Any excuse to kill the hated English! This film is a plodder, its pace is so slow one could easily nod off. When I saw it as a child I was greatly impressed by it. The idea that there could be 'a man who never was' caught my imagination, and I was deeply intrigued by the story. But in those days, films were often rather slow and dawdling, and no one minded, even children. I don't mind at all when an artistic director like Luchino Visconti or Carl Dreyer takes forever over his scenes, because that is art. But there was no need for this simple espionage drama to drag its feet in the way that it does. It was directed by Ronnie Neame, and I think he must have been very tired at the time.