5 Fingers (1952)

Director:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writers:

Michael Wilson (screenplay)
L.C. Moyzisch (book)
(more)

Release Date:

22 February 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

5 FINGERS...BEHIND THEM THE FABULOUS TRUE EXPLOITS OF THE HIGHEST PAID SPY IN HISTORY! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

During WWII the valet to the English Ambassador to Ankara sells British secrets to the Germans while trying to romance a refugee Polish countess.

Plot Keywords:

Countess | Valet | Ambassador | Nazi | Secret Document

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

James Mason	...	Ulysses Diello
Danielle Darrieux	...	Countess Anna Staviska
Michael Rennie	...	Colin Travers
Walter Hampden	...	Sir Frederic Taylor
Oskar Karlweis	...	L. C. Moyzisch
Herbert Berghof	...	Col. von Richter
John Wengraf	...	Count Franz Von Papen
Ben Astar	...	Siebert (as A. Ben Astar)
Roger Plowden	...	Keith Macfadden
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Diane Adrian	...	Singer on French Record (voice) (uncredited)
Hannelore Axman	...	Von Papen's Secretary (uncredited)
Salvador Baguez	...	Ship's Captain (uncredited)
Maurice Brierre	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Alexis Davidoff	...	Turk Guard (uncredited)
Lawrence Dobkin	...	Santos (uncredited)
Antonio Filauri	...	Italian Ambassador (uncredited)
Martin Garralaga	...	Diello's Butler (uncredited)
Stuart Hall	...	British Military Attaché (uncredited)
Lumsden Hare	...	Member of Parliament (uncredited)
Yeghishe Harout	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Frank Hemingway	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Paul H. Jackson	...	Turk (uncredited)
Aram Katcher	...	Turk (uncredited)
Faith Kruger	...	German Singer (uncredited)
Stanley Logan	...	Member of Parliament (uncredited)
Richard Loo	...	Japanese Ambassador (uncredited)
Lester Matthews	...	Undersecretary (uncredited)
Frank McClure	...	Member of Parliament (uncredited)
Keith McConnell	...	Johnson (uncredited)
Alberto Morin	...	Anna Staviska's Butler (uncredited)
Neyle Morrow	...	Moslem Priest (uncredited)
Jeroma Moshan	...	Charwoman (uncredited)
Leo Mostovoy	...	Spectator (uncredited)
Nestor Paiva	...	Turkish Ambassador (uncredited)
Michael Pate	...	Morrison (uncredited)
John Candan Rahmi	...	Turk (uncredited)
Suzanne Ridgeway	...	Reception Guest (uncredited)
Gene Roth	...	Turkish Policeman (uncredited)
Konstantin Shayne	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Marc Snow	...	Banker (uncredited)
John Sutton	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Sadik Tarlan	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Walter Theil	...	German Secretary (uncredited)
Ivan Triesault	...	Steuben (uncredited)
Joan Van Dyke	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Otto Waldis	...	Pullman Porter (uncredited)
Patrick White	...	Code Clerk (uncredited)
David Wolfe	...	Da Costa (uncredited)
Alfred Zeisler	...	General Joseph Kaltenbrunner (uncredited)

Directed by
Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writing credits
Michael Wilson		(screenplay)
L.C. Moyzisch		(book "Operation Cicero")
Joseph L. Mankiewicz		uncredited

Produced by
Otto Lang	....	producer
Gerd Oswald	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Bernard Herrmann

Cinematography by
Norbert Brodine		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
James B. Clark

Art Direction by
George W. Davis
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little
Walter M. Scott

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Gaston Glass	....	unit manager (uncredited)
Max Golden	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bruce Fowler Jr.	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Otto Lang	....	director of additional sequences (uncredited)
Gerd Oswald	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
W.D. Flick	....	sound
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)

Special Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Ray Kellogg	....	special photographic effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	wardrobe director

Editorial Department
Lyman Hallowell	....	apprentice editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Bernard Herrmann	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Florence O'Neill	....	dialogue director (uncredited)
Mehmet Adil Ozkaptan	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Otto von Strahl	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1952) (USA) (theatrical)
• Hispano Foxfilms S.A.E. (1953) (Spain) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1962) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• 20th Century Fox (1952) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (1952) (France) (theatrical) (35 and 16 mm)
• Adams Filmi (1966) (Finland) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Carlotta Films (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Fox Films (1952) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Les Acacias (2002) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Les Acacias (2008) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1952) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Fox Video (USA) (VHS)
• Optimum Home Entertainment (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Titra Film Paris  subtitles (original version with French subtitles)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Portuguese | Turkish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | West Germany:12 | Finland:K-11 (new rating: 2001) | Finland:K-12 (new visa: 1966) | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Yeni Camii Square, Eminönü, Istanbul, Turkey

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The real Cicero was Elyesa Bazna, an Albanian. In his book, "I Was Cicero" he retells the story, listing his collaborators as a chambermaid and his niece. The character of the countess was a Hollywood fabrication.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the Britsh ambassador's valet Diello (Brit James Mason) suggests that his new German spymaster change the combination on the latter's safe, he gives the existing combination 1-30-33 as based on the date of Hitler's rise to power, suggesting instead 6-18-15, the date of the Battle of Waterloo. One would expect an employee of the Britsh Embassy (particularly one born in the UK) to have used "European" notation (date/month/year) instead of US notation (month/day/year), particularly when speaking with a German.

Quotes:

Japanese Ambassador:Baron von Papen, I hope your country appreciates you. You're the only unpredictable German I have ever met.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Vanités (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Flight of the Valkyries

Excellent film

This is one of the great spy films. Mason gives his trademark cool, expert performance as a slippery, suave spy for the Nazis. The story is one of 20th Century Fox's series of documentary-style films based on real events during World War II.

The sense of danger and suspense is well handled, and the conclusion is Shakespearian in irony. This is a minor classic -- minor simply because few people know about it. See it if you get the chance.