The Man Who Never Was

The Man Who Never Was
Directed by	Ronald Neame
Produced by	André Hakim
Written by	Ewen Montagu (book)
Screenplay by	Nigel Balchin
Based on	The Man Who Never Was (1953 book)
Starring	Clifton Webb Gloria Grahame Robert Flemyng
Music by	Alan Rawsthorne
Cinematography	Oswald Morris
Edited by	Peter Taylor
Production company	Sumar Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	15 March 1956 (1956-03-15) (London)
Running time	103 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Man Who Never Was is a 1956 Second World War film, based on the book of the same name by Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu and dramatising actual events. The film was directed by Ronald Neame and starred Clifton Webb, Gloria Grahame and Robert Flemyng. It is about Operation Mincemeat, a 1943 British Intelligence plan to deceive the Axis powers into thinking Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, would take place elsewhere.

It was entered into the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. Nigel Balchin's screenplay won the BAFTA for that year.

In 1943, Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu (Clifton Webb) comes up with a scheme to deceive the Nazis about the impending invasion of southern Europe. It entails releasing a dead body just off the coast of Spain, where strong currents will almost certainly cause it to drift ashore in an area where a skilled German secret agent is known to operate. The corpse will appear to be the victim of an airplane crash, the non-existent Royal Marine Major William Martin, who is carrying letters that describe a forthcoming Allied invasion of Greece, rather than the obvious target of Sicily. Time is short, but the impatient Montagu is finally given approval to carry out the mission.

On the advice of a medical expert, Montagu procures the body of a man who died of pneumonia (so that he will seem to have drowned) from the grieving father. Then, after proper preparations, he and his assistant, Lt. Acres (Robert Flemyng), take the corpse (concealed in a canister) to a waiting submarine. The submarine evades a depth-charge attack and later surfaces at night to release the body. As hoped, it washes ashore. Montagu is at first disappointed when it appears that the documents were not tampered with, but an expert assures him one of the letters was cleverly opened and resealed.

Hitler is convinced the document is genuine, but the German officer in charge of intelligence is skeptical. He orders an IRA Nazi spy Patrick O'Reilly (Stephen Boyd) dispatched to London to investigate. What he uncovers is inconclusive, in his mind, until he checks out Martin's "fiancée", Lucy Sherwood (Gloria Grahame). She is actually the roommate of Montagu's assistant, Pam (Josephine Griffin). O'Reilly shows up at their flat, posing as Martin's friend. By chance, Lucy has that same day received news that her real boyfriend has been killed in action, so her genuine grief mostly convinces O'Reilly. As a final test, however, he leaves the address of his lodgings with her, telling her to contact him if she needs anything. He then radios his superiors to expect a message from him in an hour, then waits to see if British counterintelligence comes for him. Montagu almost makes a mistake, but realises in time why O'Reilly left his address and, with some difficulty, convinces his superior to order that O'Reilly be left alone. Convinced, the Germans transfer some of their forces to Greece.