User Reviews

This film is an example that occasionally truth can be stranger than fiction. Ewen Montague, an officer in the British military intelligence in World War II, was aware that unless something was done to reduce the defenses that the German and their Italian allies set up in Sicily the Allied assault on the island (which we would observe close up in the movie PATTON) would be a bloody fiasco that might set back the Allied war effort in Europe. The key to it would be to convince the Germans that if an attack was being planned it was being planned for another part of the European continent. Montague was sharp enough to formulate a daring scheme - and this film shows that formulation, the care and planning needed to pull it off, and how it succeeded in fooling the Nazis.

Montague's scheme is to deposit the corpse of an R.A.F. officer off the coast of Spain, still attached to a briefcase full of "invasion plan" documents - except the plans are not for the area of Italy or Sicily but for France. He reasons that the Fascist Franco regime in Spain will be very willing to allow the Nazis to read the secret papers (or copies of them). The trick is to find a corpse that will look like it died violently in battle and can fool the enemy, and that enough "details" regarding the "dead officer" can be verified by Nazi agents in Britain to make the Germans believe the corpse is genuine and not a plant.

So we watch Clifton Webb as Montague (in a rare straight dramatic part - well acted by the way) consult with specialists, including Andre Morell as the famous British Home Office pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury*. A good corpse is selected, and the right amount of proper personal items put into his military tunic and overcoat (including even a restaurant bill for the previous night before his death). When all is ready, the corpse is dumped off the coast of Spain by submarine. And then Montague and British Intelligence sit back and watch what happens, crossing their fingers that the scheme works.

Stephen Boyd (three years from his performance as Messala in BEN HUR) plays an Irishman who is spying for the Nazis, and who eventually discovers that the "corpse" is the genuine article. The result is that the Nazis weakened their defenses in Sicily sufficiently to allow the Allies to show up and (despite the Patton-Montgomery rivalry) retake the island in the first major defeat the Germans had of European conquered territory. A fascinating story well told - and as I said, true despite being so improbable.

*Sir Bernard's career as the leading British Criminal trial pathologist (from the Crippen Case in 1910 to the De Antiquis Case in 1947) was never given a movie treatment. Occasionally he is mentioned, as in UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS in one episode when Edward (Christopher Beeney) is reading a newspaper in 1925 about the "Crowsborough" Murder - the trial of Norman Thorne - and feels that "Sir Bernard will see it through!" Actually, that was one of Spilsbury's most controversial cases. He does deserve a Masterpiece Theater series about his life, which ended in 1947 with his tragic suicide.

Well worth watching -- all the more because it's based on what actually happened in real life during World War II.

A couple issues bothered me, though. At one point, the Clifton Webb character goes, with his assistant, to wait for the spy at the bank. It wasn't clear to me what they would have done if the spy had actually shown up at the bank. This is never explained.

Later, when the spy reveals his address to ascertain whether the identity of the dead man is true or not, the initial reaction of British intelligence is to try to pick up the spy.

But the Clifton Webb character should have prepared for this in advance. Think of it this way -- a German spy comes to verify the authenticity of the dead man. If you try to engage with him in any way that might arouse suspicion, you've essentially blow the whole operation and given the game away. Best thing to do is to give him a wide berth until the Sicily invasion has commenced.

Eventually, the Clifton Webb character realizes this, but only just in the nick of time.

On reflection, my guess is that the real character, that Clifton Webb was portraying, probably did foresee the wisdom of not engaging with the spy and also kept British intelligence from interfering way in advance. In other words, the way it happens in the movie was done mostly for dramatic effect.

For me these two points didn't ring true.

Other than that, it was fun and exciting to watch.

I really enjoyed and appreciated this excellent film, that is based on a true British disinformation plan during W W II, code named Operation Mincemeat. The plan by British Intelligence was to deceive the German high command into thinking the Allied invasion of Sicily would take place elsewhere. The successful hoax was achieved by attaching " Top Secret " documents on a corpse deliberately left to wash up on a beach in Spain. This intriguing story is well played out in fine detail, in " The Man Who Never Was, " with the screenplay staying close to the truth, along with the addition of some well placed fiction, for example the Irish spy in the film is a complete fabrication. Stephen Boyd plays the part of Patrick O'Reilly the fictitious spy, while the real Ewen Montagu declared that he was happy with the fictitious incidents which, although they didn't happen, might have happened. Clifton Webb was an outstanding choice for the role of British Navy Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu, who is fully involved in the cunning scheme to fool the Nazis. Webb's performance brings this most absorbing historical story to life. It is also interesting to note that the real Ewen Montagu has a cameo role in the film of an air-vice marshal who has doubts about the feasibility of the proposed plan. It was described as a "surreal" moment when the real Montagu addresses his fictional persona, played by Webb. Gloria Graham gives a fine, strong emotional performance in her role as Lucy Sherwood, a woman who unexpectedly becomes part of the plot. All the supporting actors give very adequate performances, in this well done, worth watching wartime drama, a film that has passed the test of time.