Product: The Man Who Never Was (2005)
Rating: 4.0
Guile and Cunning...
"The Man Who Never Was" is a nicely-done movie dramatization derived from the book of the same name by former British Intelligence Officer Ewan Montagu. Montagu (played in the movie by Clifton Webb) was tasked in 1943 to divert German forces from the defense of Sicily, the next Allied objective. Montagu and his team came up with the disturbing but unique idea of planting false papers on a dead body disguised as an Allied officer, then allowing the body to wash ashore in Fascist Spain in the hopes that the information would be passed to the Germans.The first two thirds of the movie follows the efforts of Montagu's team to find a suitable body and prepare its legend as one Major William Martin, Royal Marines, carrying letters to high officers in the Mediterranean Theater. Amid the disruptions of blitz-torn London, the team deals with details such as procuring a special canister in which the body can be placed, packed in dry ice, for movement by submarine to the Spanish coast. The team invents a girlfriend for the young officer; a roommate (played by Gloria Grahame) of Montagu's secretary obligingly writes the love letters that the dead Martin will carry with him.This operation, codenamed MINCEMEAT, was a high-risk venture in that there was no assurance that the body would wash ashore, that the materials would be passed to the Germans, or that the Germans would consider the documents credible. In the actual event, the success of the deception was not truly apparent until after the war. The last third of the movie fills this dramatic gap by having a fictional Irishman spying for the Germans (played by Stephen Boyd) check on Martin's bonafides in London. The team finds out about the spy late in the game and must persuade British Internal Security not to arrest him. An emotionally-charged meeting with the roommate, grieving over the loss of her real boyfriend, turns out to be the key to the spy's mission.This movie is highly recommended as an entertaining and dramatic tale of wartime guile and cunning, based for the most part on a real life event.