Pssst, want to check out The Man Who Never Was in our new look?
Information
- Year
- 1956
- Runtime
- 103 min.
- Director
- Ronald Neame
- Genres
- Drama, War
- Rating *
- 7.4
- Votes *
- 3,290
- Checks
- 272
- Favs
- 20
- Dislikes
- 2
- Favs/checks
- 7.4% (1:14)
- Favs/dislikes
- 10:1
Top comments
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Siskoid
In 1943, Britain made Germany believe they were attacking Greece and Sardinia to draw forces away from their real target, Sicily, by way of a dead soldier carrying false orders. The Man Who Never Was tells that story in a precise procedural, and to head the cast, director Ronald Neame got the king of precision, Clifton Webb. We watch as the plan is devised, carried out, verified for efficacy, and then has to be maintained as Germany does its own verification, providing us with very neat bits of real-world spycraft. Artistic license is taken with some elements, the counter-espionage third act in particular, but they heighten the drama without taking away from the actual achievement. I had some misgivings at first about Gloria Grahame's character, which seemed to be there to inject a bit of romance (with Doctor Who's William Russell, so bonus points from my marginal perspective), but it pays off rather beautifully, if conveniently, in the end, making the deceased hero a kind of "Unknown Soldier" who might stand in for many men lost in the war. I'm intrigued by that interchangeability and what it has to say about the cannon fodder on the front lines. 3 years 11 months ago -
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