Rent The Man Who Never Was (1956)

Very watchable - The Man Who Never Was review by KD

An interesting watch based on real-life events. Very 1950s RP accents. Loved Gloria Grahame. However the plot is pretty much covered in the blurb, and the fact that the Germans didn't win the war kind of gives away the ending. Still enjoyed though - it was a very rainy Sunday afternoon type of film.

Classic 1956 British film about the true story of Operation Mincemeat - The Man Who Never Was review by PV

A wonderful film from 1956. Back when they could make great film with no preachy woke agenda.

Loosely based on facts. However, stretched. Why they claim the body of a man was Scottish I do not know, In reality he was Welsh, a tramp who had a life of abuse and depression, and poverty - a TV doc on this a few years ago:

The body was identified in 1996 as that of Glyndwr Michael, a Welsh homeless man, and recognised as such by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Some great actors here BUT not Peter Sellers as the DVD sleeve claims - I thought that was odd. Fake news!

Michel Hordern already looking 70 in 1956, a look he had until the 1980s I think!

Loved the story - the British really were brilliant at this sort of thing. British war films from 1950s and 40s and 60s and often 70s were and are wonderful!

I am so glad I watched this before the new movie OPERATION MINCEMEAT - I hope they get the facts of who the dead man was in that, and I sincerely hope they do not woke it up. One reason old films are so great is they bare free of all that.

No subtitles but these were the days when actors actually spoke proper English clearly, did not mumble behind overloud 'background' music. Sigh...

4.5 stars rounded up.

Strange Operations. - The Man Who Never Was review by Steve

One of the more unusual WWII special operations films, loosely drawn from the memoirs of Ewen Montague, who ran the enterprise. A British naval officer (Clifton Webb) leaves a corpse in uniform off the coast of Spain with misleading documents about a plan by the Allies to invade Greece. The idea is to divert defences from Sicily where the actual landing will take place.

The first part of the story is about the creation of a personality for the dead man which will survive Nazi scrutiny. The body is the lead character. These real events are presented respectfully and leisurely. But the film comes to life in the second half as an Irish spy for the Germans (Stephen Boyd) arrives in London to investigate.

This counterespionage subplot was entirely invented by the screenwriter (Nigel Balchin) and there is an impression of a slender premise padded out to feature length. But there's a realistic and an eye-catching production, shot in Technicolor and CinemaScope, with handsome sets of the gentlemen's clubs and offices of ministry.

Clifton Webb is too antiseptic and peevish to be a likeable lead. The film is stolen by the other imported star, Gloria Grahame, who is all emotion as a wife to be of an RAF pilot. The scene where she narrates a love letter for the fake identity of the corpse is a heartbreaker. And the best part of an uneven but interesting war story.