The Man Who Never Was (1956)

"It's the most outrageous, disgusting, preposterous, not to say barbaric idea I've ever heard, but work out full details and get back to me in the morning!"

"Thank you, sir!"

In 1943, British Navy Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu (Webb) wants to find a way to feed false information to the Germans about an upcoming attack.  The Allied forces are planning to attack Sicily, but want to convince the Germans that Greece is their real target.  Montagu and his assistant, Lieutenant George Acres (Flemyng) devise a plan: plant information on a body that can be easily found by German spies to convince them to send all of their forces to Greece.

With the help of their trusted secretary Pam (Griffin), they get permission from the upper brass and set the plan in motion.  They need a body, a fake identity complete with military credentials, and a personal life that can all be traced if necessary.  With the invasion date in sight, can they pull-off this deception?


In 1953, Ewen Montagu wrote the book "The Man Who Never Was: The Story of Operation Mincemeat" about his top secret mission during World War II.

A few years later Hollywood wanted to turn the story into a film.  The script, written by Nigel Balchin, is mostly faithful to the book, while adding some fictional elements to aid the film.  Montagu was happy with the film and had a small cameo.

The cast is good, with the exception of Gloria Grahame.  Grahame over-acted and doesn't connect with the audience or any of her co-stars.  Clifton Webb is good as Montagu.  Peter Sellers provides the voice of Winston Churchill but is uncredited for the part.

It is a fascinating historical story, and worth checking out.

The Man Who Never Was (1956) 103 minutes
Director: Ronald Neame
Starring: Clifton Webb as Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu
Gloria Grahame as Lucy Sherwood
Robert Flemyng as Lieutenant George Acres
Josephine Griffin as Pam
Stephen Boyd as Patrick O'Reilly
Laurence Naismith as Admiral Cross
William Russell as Joe
Geoffrey Keen as General Archibald Nye