Man Who Never Was (1955)

British intelligence at its finest hour. An amazing film in any way.

This is one of the most meticulously well told espionage stories ever!

Clifton Webb gives a stunning performance as the cold Lt. Commander Mantagu, whose mission is to create a diversion tactic to lure the Germans away from the real Italian location the British plan to invade. So he thinks of the most daring, sophisticated and simple plan of them all: to have a dead British officer carrying top secret information falling on the hands of the Germans. But the plan is not easy and every detail must be calculated with care as the Germans will know the information is too good, therefore, they will investigate the dead man's life in order to spot any fabrication.

Most of the film revolves around the making of the "the man" - getting the right body, producing the documents, finding him a personal life, preserving him from decomposing... and launching him from a submarine into a beach in Spain where the sharpest German operator is certain to find him.

Then it all becomes a psychological game as the British try to understand what response will come from the Germans. Did they buy it? Did they disregard him as an obvious lie? So the Germans send a top spy into Britain to investigate the life of such a valuable man - too valuable to be true.

So this is NOT a spy film like most. It has no fight or combat scenes and most of the action is pretty much like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - both films even share the same cinematographer. Put on top of it all the fact that this is a British film and you'll get all the elegance, pace and charm of the best WWII films.

Also impressive is that this is a CinemaScope film made in 1955 with a gorgeous cinematography by Oswald Morris (Lolita, The Guns of Navarone, The Odessa File and The Man Who Would Be King).

The DVD comes with two versions of the film (one on each side of the disc): the CinemaScope version and the unacceptable Pan&Scan version that completely destroys the CinemaScope's beautiful frame composition.

I admit that after having seen Clifton Webb on other films like Laura and Cheaper By the Dozen, I was afraid he would not look convincing as an Intelligence officer... but Clifton Webb was really an amazing actor and his portrayal of Lt. Montagu is stunningly precise.

Recommended. November 22, 2008

"Being All Washed-Up" In a Good Way

This is such a great movie, and if I had never seen it, I would not have known of this ingenious ploy created to out-fox the Germans in WWII. It involves planting false information on a body that is then allowed to wash up upon a critical shore. The Germans recover the body, analyze the false information and papers on the body, consider them geunine, and make battle plans accordingly, thinking they have a real "find." Instead they fall into a well-planned trap. Clifton Webb is excellent in his part, as is the "body." October 21, 2008

One of Clftons great ones

I love all of Clifton Webb films, this one really extracts his serious side of acting. great film of the era, he is truly the one of the best actors of his time. October 14, 2008

The Man Who Never Was

A world war 2 story with a very unusual twist. It held my interest throughout the movie. The acting was so good, I beleived all the events to be true. I would recommend it to all. Movie buff-Ann September 8, 2008

The Man Who Never Was

A true war time adventure.Clifton Web did a great performance.A clever plan to fool the Germans. June 29, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...