The Man Who Never Was

The film takes us through the planning and execution of what its creators hoped would become one of the most successful and unusual deceptions in the history of warfare. The leading role of Montagu is played by Clifton Webb, utterly credible as a British naval officer, while Robert Flemyng, who had himself served conspicuously in WWII and was awarded the Military Cross and Order of The British Empire, takes on the role of Montagu's junior assistant, a composite role based partly on Cholmondley's real-life character. Together they must procure a body that will pass a medical examination to determine the cause of death and they must also create a personality and a past life and history for this man.

This is a true-story that avoids battle scenes and big bangs. There are no special effects. It describes a war of stealth and cunning and the cat and mouse game of espionage. It is an atmospheric suspense thriller with Stephen Boyd effective as the determined Axis agent, Patrick O'Reilly, sent in from Ireland to verify the existence and past life of this man who never was. While the soundtrack works well and is one of Alan Rawsthorne's (The Cruel Sea) better scores, it is nevertheless immediately recognizable as being in his highly distinctive style, unfortunately sounding so very much like all his others. It is ably directed by the great and sometimes under-rated Ronald Neame and is beautifully filmed, as are all of former-cameraman Neame's pictures. The voice of Churchill is provided by the young Peter Sellers who, at that time in 1956, was establishing his versatility and making a name for himself in the BBC radio comedy, "The Goon Show".

20th Century Fox's DVD video and sound transfer quality are excellent, as would be expected in the studio release of one of their own productions, although taken from an unrestored print that shows just a little of its 50 years. A few slightly shaky moments in the original print do not detract from the overall enjoyment of the DVD. The two sided disc offers the double helping of seeing the movie in both a full screen 4:3 version on one side and the original Cinemascope presentation on the other. The widescreen, which I usually prefer, is extremely wide in this case and makes for somewhat difficult viewing on a standard TV. The full screen option is therefore a very welcome addition. The Canadian release also offers French sub-titles and a bilingual English-French case insert. The cover is illustrated with a rather strange composite picture that appears nowhere in the film ... a shot of Clifton Webb, in civvies, gazing longingly at the sky above the English countryside while a flight of American Thunderbolt fighters flies overhead. I wonder if the artist ever actually saw this movie?

Nevertheless, this is a worthy and entertaining addition to any WWII film collection and if it gives you an appetite for a more in-depth version of the true story, Ewen Montagu's 1953 book is still available in both the hardback and paperback editions.