The Man Who Never Was (1956)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

Ewen Montagu (book) and
Nigel Balchin (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 May 1956 (France)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

The most fiendish plot ever conceived! The most amazing "human being" ever created! The most diabolical phantom--

Plot:

True story of a British attempt to trick the enemy into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack, using a dead man with faked papers.

Plot Keywords:

Dead Body | Spain | False Identity | Air Raid | Europe

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Clifton Webb	...	Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu
Gloria Grahame	...	Lucy Sherwood
Robert Flemyng	...	Lt. George Acres
Josephine Griffin	...	Pam
Stephen Boyd	...	Patrick O'Reilly
Laurence Naismith	...	Adm. Cross
Geoffrey Keen	...	Gen. Nye
Moultrie Kelsall	...	The Father
Cyril Cusack	...	Taxi driver
André Morell	...	Sir Bernard Spilsbury
Michael Hordern	...	Gen. Coburn
Allan Cuthbertson	...	Vice-Admiral
Joan Hickson	...	Landlady
Terence Longdon	...	Larry (as Terence Longden)
Gibb McLaughlin	...	Club porter

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

German | Latin | English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) (magnetic prints) | Mono (optical prints)

Certification:

West Germany:12 | UK:U | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved

Company:

Sumar Productions

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~15.7 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~14.4 seconds.

Goofs:

Continuity: While O'Reilly is waiting in his room to see if he'll be arrested, the light level outside varies continually over the hour of movie time. It starts in the evening. When O'Reilly looks out and sees the drunk it's already quite dark. But when the special branch officers arrive and hide outside, it's quite bright.

Quotes:

Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu: If we turn up at that address, it could only mean that we've been tipped off, and that the whole Martin story is a plant. This man will have committed suicide, but Jerry will know the answer, and our operation will be blown. I'm sorry, sir, but we mustn't touch him. We daren't.
General Coburn: You mean till after we think he's got a message through.
Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu: No sir, right up to the time of the landings. Because the fact that there have been no further messages from him might give the game away.
General Coburn: You realize he'll probably be out of the country in a couple of days.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Back to the Beach (1987)

Soundtrack:

Bless 'em All

Interesting spy drama

Based on "Operation Mincemeat" during World War II, this film is an excellent example of a spy movie that is interesting without being gimmicky or melodramatic. An excellent cast is headed by the redoubtable Clifton Webb. The elaborate plot to trick Nazis by using a corpse masquerading as a dead Royal Marine officer is amazing in its detail. The film is all the more astonishing because it is based on the actual ruse to deceive the enemy into thinking that the invasion of Italy would take place in a location other than where it actually happened. A good film for espionage lovers.