Product: The Man Who Never Was (2005)
Rating: 5.0
A dead man goes to war
The true story of the British attempt to lay some heavy disinformation on the Axis in World War II. Clifton Webb plays Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu, the British naval commander who is both mastermind and chief promoter of The Plan, an elaborate concoction of forged papers, misleading faux orders, a convincing back story, and a suitable corpse meant to mislead the enemy about the Allied intentions prior to the invasion of Italy. I don't suppose it's giving too much away to report that things more or less go as planned (although the suspicious Germans do send spy Stephen Boyd in to liven up the last third of the film.) Even though this is indeed a war movie, bang-bang stuff, THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS practically wallows in minute details while eschewing the firefight and the foxhole. That's not to say it doesn't have its share of situational suspense - are those depth charges going to sink the sub and scuttle the movie? - but detail is much preferred over violent action.Along with the likes of Monty Woolley, Webb more or less cornered the market on playing stuffy, condescending Englishmen. Here Webb's strength, a stiff and rather formal persona who needs a baby-sat seven-year-old to evoke his humanity, is put to good use. There are no kids around and Webb doesn't unbend, but this movie doesn't care that much about the personal life of its characters, anyway, save for poor Gloria Grahame, who's given the rather thankless task of shedding some plot-directed tears and seems rather out of place for her troubles.Even though it's clinical and relatively bloodless - in every sense of the word - THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS is a great deal of fun. Director Ronald Neame lovingly dwells on every step of the preparation, through to the execution of the caper, and has us deeply involved when the whole thing is threatened with the appearance of the Boyd character. THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS is a fine, thoughtful film that should appeal to those who aren't necessarily great fans of action war movies.