5 Fingers
| 5 Fingers | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Produced by | Otto Lang |
| Screenplay by |
Michael Wilson Uncredited: Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Based on |
Der fall Cicero 1949 novel by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch |
| Starring |
James Mason Danielle Darrieux Michael Rennie |
| Music by | Bernard Herrmann |
| Cinematography | Norbert Brodine |
| Edited by | James B. Clark |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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108 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,350,000 (US rentals) |
5 Fingers, known also as Five Fingers, is a 1952 American spy film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Otto Lang. The screenplay by Michael Wilson was based on the book Operation Cicero (Original German: Der Fall Cicero) (1950) by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch, Nazi commercial attaché at the German Embassy in Ankara (1943-44). In the film, James Mason plays Ulysses Diello (Cicero), the character based on Elyesa Bazna. The rest of the cast includes Danielle Darrieux, Michael Rennie, Herbert Berghof and Walter Hampden.
The film is based on the true story of Albanian-born Bazna, one of the most famous spies of World War II. He worked for the Nazis in 1943–44 while he was employed as valet to the British ambassador to Turkey, Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen. He used the code name Cicero. He would photograph top-secret documents and turn the films over to Franz von Papen, the former German chancellor, at that time German ambassador in Ankara, via the intermediary Moyzisch.
In neutral Turkey in 1944, German ambassador Franz von Papen (John Wengraf) and his British counterpart Sir Frederic Taylor (Walter Hampden) attend a reception and encounter Countess Anna Staviska (Danielle Darrieux), who is a Frenchwoman and the widow of a Polish count. Now destitute, the countess volunteers to become a spy for a fee, but she is turned down.
A man approaches a German embassy attaché, Moyzisch (Oskar Karlweis), offering to provide von Papen with top-secret British documents for a price: 20,000 British pounds. What is not yet known by the Germans is that the man, Diello (James Mason), is the personal valet to Sir Frederic as well as the former valet of the late count.
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Wikipedia