Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

tomsview Of all the war movies I remember seeing back in the 50's, this one had a haunting quality - it still does.This is as classy a piece of filmmaking to come from the 1950's and was head-and-shoulders over many of the war films made at the time. The story tells how at a critical time in WW2, British Naval officer, Ewan Montagu (Clifton Webb), developed a plan to fool the Nazis into believing the Allies were about to attack Greece instead of Sicily. It entailed allowing a dead body dressed as an officer carrying false papers to drift ashore in Spain, which although neutral was full of Nazi spies.The basic story is true, but the movie threw in fictional elements including a romantic subplot involving Gloria Grahame, and another with Stephen Boyd as an Irish spy sent to check the identity of the body. The extra scenarios helped give the film depth and tension.Overriding everything however, is the ominous mood that starts with the opening scene as the body washes ashore, and the resonant voice of a narrator speaks lines from a 500-year-old ballad "The Battle of Otterburn":"Last night I dreamed a deadly dream, beyond the Isle of Sky, I saw a dead man win a fight, and I think that man was I."Alan Rawsthorne's haunting score heightens the eeriness of that opening scene. His music was used judiciously throughout the film, but it would have been a different movie without it.There are a number of memorable scenes in the film: dressing the body during the bombing raid; the submariners reading a service before releasing the body; Montagu visiting the grave at the end; but the most telling of all is when Montagu asks a father if he may use his son's body for a purpose that is so secret that he can't tell him why.A powerful theme running through the film is that the identity of the dead man was never to be revealed, and that the body is to be treated with as much respect as possible.50 years later, documents were uncovered that revealed his identity and his name - in many ways an even sadder story than in the film; he was homeless, abandoned and unclaimed.Clifton Webb gave a brilliant performance as a very precise Englishman - with little of his trademark snobbishness, but Stephen Boyd just about steals the show as a handsome, charming Irishman who has no qualms about helping the Nazis, if it means damaging the British hold on Ireland.As I sat as a 9-year old in my suburban cinema seat in 1956 watching all that calm stoicism, superior ingenuity, perfect discipline and belief in a just cause unfold on the screen, I knew why our side had won the war."The Man Who Never Was" is a fascinating movie on many levels.

reisen55 I just listened to the book OPERATION MINCEMEAT which updates much of the factual data of this mostly factual film. If you browse the web for photographs of the grave of Major Martin, you will also find that Clifton Webb did indeed visit the real location as shown at the end of this film, and that the identify of Martin was later verified and added to the grave by the British government. Glyndryr Michael, a homeless man who died in London of rat poison. I direct you to the book above which is one of the best reads I have enjoyed. The second agent, Charles Chumley, should have been in this film but chose not to participate. He WAS on the set, daily, just watching. No one knew who he was. For a quiet, slightly off-beat spy and war film, this one is very intelligent and smart. Aviation buffs will also enjoy seeing, briefly, DeHaviland Mosquitos in one scene. A very good film, straightly made and to the point.

Andres Salama Handsome movie, made in the 1950s, about Operation Mincemeat, the successful deception plan concocted by the British during World War II to send a corpse to the Mediterranean with false invasion plans. The Germans swallowed it whole, and left Sicilia (where the invasion finally took place) relatively unguarded.Made by Hollywood with relatively unknown actors, this film is very entertaining, even if some of the things here turned out not to be true, though this was probably not the fault of the filmmakers. For instance, the corpse that was used in the operation belonged to a Welshman instead of a Scot (an alcoholic tramp, in actuality), and his family was not notified. And the last half hour deals with the story of an Irish spy in London working for the Germans that, while entertaining, is completely invented.More a spy film than a war film, it can be compared, as some people in the comments have noted, to the best movies by Alfred Hitchcock, in the way the film builds suspense over the operation. The beautiful color photography is an enormous plus; since this was filmed just a decade after the conflict ended, this allows you to have a very good idea of what London must have looked like in the war in full colors. Some might find the patriotism in the film a bit old fashioned, but I found it refreshing in comparison with the constant cynicism and weariness of contemporary movies.

GManfred Really enjoyed "The Man Who Never Was", another good WW II picture made by the Brits even though it was released by 20th-Century Fox. Why do British WW II movies often seem better than our own? Let me answer that one; I think it's because they were fighting a home game, whereas we were 'on the road'. Try "Went The Day Well?" or "One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing" (both 1942), for movies with a realism that is palpable.This one is taut and suspenseful and superbly well-acted. Cinematographer/ Director Ronald Neame is very meticulous in laying out the elaborate plot and keeps the picture moving at a good clip, with help from an assortment of British stars. The star of this exciting espionage picture is...Clifton Webb? I don't know why he was chosen to star in a spy picture, but it works - he's very good. Another surprising acting job is turned in by Gloria Grahame, who also fits in to the plot. Somehow she usually manages to appear sympathetic and slutty at the same time, and here she doesn't disappoint. And her role is a crucial one.I'm not going to rehash the storyline but I just want to emphasize how refreshing it is in 2011 to see a movie for grownups. This type of movie is becoming nearly extinct - in fact, this one was produced in 1956. I knew it wasn't a new picture because there were no gratuitous sex scenes and no potty mouth dialogue - and there was a plot that could be followed by those of us over the age of 12.