Movie Review and Cast of the Man Who Never Was 1956
| The Man Who Never Was | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Ronald Neame |
| Screenplay past | Nigel Balchin |
| Based on | The Man Who Never Was (1953 book) past Ewen Montagu |
| Produced by | André Hakim |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Edited by | Peter Taylor |
| Music past | Alan Rawsthorne |
| Production | Sumar Moving-picture show Productions |
| Distributed past | 20th Century Fox |
| Release appointment | 15 March 1956 (1956-03-15) (Britain) |
| Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Man Who Never Was is a 1956 British espionage thriller film produced by André Hakim and directed past Ronald Neame. It stars Clifton Webb and Gloria Grahame and features Robert Flemyng, Josephine Griffin and Stephen Boyd. It is based on the book of the aforementioned proper noun past Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu and chronicles Functioning Mincemeat, a 1943 British intelligence plan to deceive the Axis powers into thinking the Allied invasion of Sicily would take place elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
The Man Who Never Was was entered into the 1956 Cannes Moving-picture show Festival,[one] and Nigel Balchin's screenplay won the BAFTA for that twelvemonth.[2]
Plot [edit]
In 1943, Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu (Clifton Webb) devises a scheme to deceive the Nazis nearly the impending invasion of Southern Europe. It entails releasing a corpse with a fictional identity off the coast of Spain, where potent currents will deport it ashore near where a known German agent operates. The non-real Royal Marine courier, Major William Martin, would announced to be a plane crash victim carrying documents nearly an upcoming Allied invasion of German language-occupied Greece, rather than Sicily, the more than obvious target. Montagu receives approval to carry out Operation Mincemeat.
Following a medical proficient's advice, Montagu procures the trunk of a human being who died of pneumonia, the condition of which will make it appear that he drowned. Afterward proper preparations, the corpse is placed in a canister packed with dry ice and transferred to a waiting submarine. The body is released off the Atlantic coast of Kingdom of spain and washes ashore as intended. Local regime, observed by German and British consulate staff, identify the body and conduct an autopsy. Later the attaché case containing the deceptive documents is returned to London, a forensics practiced confirms that the key letter, which describes an Allied invasion of Greece, was cleverly opened, photographed, and resealed.
Hitler is convinced the documents are genuine, though Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, caput of the Abwehr, is sceptical. The Nazis dispatch Patrick O'Reilly (Stephen Boyd), a pro-German IRA spy, to London to investigate. O'Reilly investigates Martin's "fiancée", Lucy Sherwood (Gloria Grahame), who is the roommate of Montagu's assistant, Pam (Josephine Griffin). O'Reilly arrives at their flat, posing as Martin'southward former friend, on the aforementioned day Lucy has received news that her real boyfriend was killed in activity. Her genuine grief more often than not convinces O'Reilly. As a terminal exam, he gives Lucy his northward London address, telling her to contact him if she needs anything. He then radios his German contacts that if he does not send another message in an 60 minutes, he has been arrested. As Montagu, General Coburn (Michael Hordern) of Scotland 1000's Special Branch and police officers are en route to O'Reilly'southward apartment, Montagu realizes why O'Reilly left his address with Lucy and convinces a reluctant Coburn to let O'Reilly go. Later no one arrests him, O'Reilly sends a "Martin genuine!" radio message. The Germans and so transfer most of their Sicily-based forces to Greece, which helps the Allied invasion of Sicily succeed.
Afterwards the war, Montagu receives several decorations and awards for his wartime service, including the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He visits Spain and leaves his OBE medal at the grave of Major Martin, "the human being who never was".
Bandage [edit]
- Clifton Webb every bit Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu
- Gloria Grahame equally Lucy Sherwood
- Robert Flemyng as Lt. George Acres
- Josephine Griffin as Pam
- Stephen Boyd every bit Patrick O'Reilly
- Laurence Naismith as Adm. Cross
- William Russell as Joe (Lucy's fiancé)
- Geoffrey Keen as Gen. Archibald Nye
- Moultrie Kelsall as the Father
- Cyril Cusack as taxi driver
- André Morell equally Sir Bernard Spilsbury
- Michael Hordern as Gen. Coburn
- William Squire equally submarine commander Bill Jewell
- Allan Cuthbertson as Vice-Admiral
- Miles Malleson as scientist
- Joan Hickson as landlady
- Terence Longdon as Larry
- Gibb McLaughlin as club porter
- Gordon Bell as Community Officer
- Wolf Frees as Admiral Wilhelm Canaris (uncredited)
- Ewen Montagu as an Air Vice Marshal (uncredited)
- Peter Williams as Admiral Mountbatten (uncredited)
Historical accuracy [edit]
Functioning Mincemeat involved the conquering and dressing up of a human cadaver every bit a "Major William Martin, R.Thousand." and putting it into the ocean near Huelva, Spain. Attached to the expressionless torso was a briefcase containing fake messages falsely stating that the Allied attack would be confronting Sardinia and Greece rather than Sicily, the actual point of invasion. When the body was found, the Spanish Intelligence Service passed copies of the papers to the German Intelligence Service which passed them on to their High Command. The ruse was so successful that the Germans however believed that Sardinia and Greece were the intended objectives weeks after the landings in Sicily had begun.
The exact identity of the "man who never was" has been the center of controversy since the end of the war. On the one hand, certain accounts claim the truthful identity of "Major William Martin" was a homeless, alcoholic rat-catcher from Aberbargoed, Wales, Glyndwr Michael, who had died by cocky-administering a small dose of rat poison. However, in 2002, authors John and Noreen Steele published the non-fictional account of The Secrets of HMS Dasher, about an ill-fated escort carrier that exploded and sank in the Firth of Clyde around the time Operation Mincemeat had commenced. The Steeles argued that "Major Martin's" torso was actually that of seaman John Melville, one of the Dasher'southward casualties. Further, it has been reported that the accuracy of this claim was verified by the Royal Navy in late October 2004,[3] and a memorial service was held for Melville, in which he was celebrated as ane whose "retentiveness lives on in the movie The Human Who Never Was...we are gathered here today to call back John Melville as a man who most certainly was." There is some circumstantial evidence that also supports the identity of the torso used equally being Meville's.[4] But in fact, Professor Denis Smyth, a researcher at the University of Toronto, has counter-argued that Glyndwr Michael was indeed the real "Major Martin." To support his claims, Smyth published the contents of a secret memo and an official written report, both authored past Ewen Montagu himself, confirming the Glyndwr Michael story.[5]
Regardless of the identity of Major Martin, Nigel Balchin'due south script stayed as close to the truth equally was convenient, yet the picture does fall dorsum on some dramatization. For example, the episode of the Irish spy, O'Reilly, is a complete fabrication. The British Security Service controlled the German language spy network in the UK with its Double-Cantankerous System, though this fact was withal cloak-and-dagger at the time the film was made. Ewen Montagu declared that he was happy with the fictitious incidents which, although they did not happen, might have happened.
During filming, Montagu has a cameo role, that of a Royal Air Force air vice-marshal who has doubts well-nigh the feasibility of the proposed plan. It was described by Ben Macintyre equally a "surreal" moment when the real Montagu addressed his fictional persona, played by Webb.[half dozen]
Reception [edit]
The film earned an estimated $1.1 million in North American receipts in 1956.[vii]
The Radio Times wrote, "the picture may announced overly reverent by today's standards. Just this is nonetheless a crucial wartime spy tale that is well worth watching."[8]
The Goon Prove parody [edit]
The BBC's radio comedy bear witness, The Goon Show, made a ship-upwards of the story of The Human being Who Never Was (based on the book) and incorporated most of the regular Goon Show characters. Written by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens, the first version of the script formed ii-thirds of the episode broadcast on 31 March 1953, earlier the motion-picture show'due south release, with the outset third comprising a divide sketch. Similar well-nigh of these early episodes, this no longer exists.
Milligan and Stephens later wrote a full-length version which was broadcast on twenty March 1956. Milligan later revised this script for the episode broadcast on 17 February 1958.[9] Both of the later on versions accept been issued on CD sets. Coincidentally, Peter Sellers (one of the Goons) provided the voice of Winston Churchill in the film, although the character did non appear in The Goon Testify accommodation.[10]
See also [edit]
- Functioning Mincemeat (picture show)
References [edit]
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Human Who Never Was". festival-cannes.com . Retrieved 4 Feb 2009.
- ^ "BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
- ^ Lentz, Robert J. (x January 2014). "Gloria Grahame, Bad Girl of Film Noir: The Complete Career". McFarland. p. 201 – via Google Books.
- ^ Due west, Admiral Lord (sixteen April 2022). "The double deception behind Operation Mincemeat" – via world wide web.telegraph.co.britain.
- ^ Smyth, Denis (16 June 2010). "Deathly Deception: The Real Story of Performance Mincemeat". OUP Oxford – via Google Books.
- ^ Macintyre, Ben (4 May 2010). "Operation Mincemeat: How a Expressionless Man and a Baroque Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory". Crown. p. 308 – via Google Books.
- ^ 'The Elevation Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, 2 Jan 1957
- ^ "The Man Who Never Was – review - cast and crew, movie star rating and where to sentinel film on Telly and online". Radio Times.
- ^ "The Man Who Never Was, The Goon Show - BBC Radio 4 Extra". BBC.
- ^ "The Man Who Never Was". Time Out Worldwide.
External links [edit]
- The Man Who Never Was at IMDb
- The Human being Who Never Was at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Human Who Never Was at AllMovie
- The Man Who Never Was at the TCM Motion picture Database
- The Man Who Never Was at the American Moving-picture show Establish Catalog
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Never_Was
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