The Man Who Never Was

My son asked me to purchase some WWII DVD's for him this past Christmas. Sadly, I wasn't able to include the best NAVAL WWII movies which were made by the British. Two of the best of them were The Man Who Never Was and Sink The Bismark. Sadly neither of these titles are available on DVD. Both are better than just about any of the American WWII movies (yes, I'm an American). Both of these movies are based on TRUE stories (Unlike Disney's latest Pearl Harbor movie!!), only the minor characters are fictional. If you ever see the Man who Never Was you will never forget it. The story is about a true scheme which the Brits used to make the Germans believe the southern European landings were going to be in a different location than the real one. They discuss how to do this and come up with the idea of obtaining a body of a young man, which they are going to dress up as an officer with invasion plans for another location than the one intended. The movie spends a lot of time explaining how they got the body, what they had to do to fake all this, including figuring out on which European beach they should have the body wash ashore. Unlike most American movies, you really get an excellent view of what it's really like to plan CIA type operations. Wonderful movie. You will love all the characters, even the villains!! Lots of naval action from the highest to the lowest commands. Buy it.
---UNFORTUNATELY IT IS NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD YET!!!----
Neither is "Sink the Bismark", which I remember seeing in college back in the early '60's. I remember it vividly because the auditorium in which it was shown allowed the audience to "attack and sink" the Bismark using paper airplanes!! This movie is also terrific. It too is VERY British. It too explains why the British Navy was so awesome in WWII. It also has great actors in great roles. Super movie. Both of these movies are the best in WWII movies. Now if I could just remember the name of the British naval movie which tells the story of the naval war off the coast of South America!! Yet another wonderful British Naval movie!!
The Man Who Never Was has scenes which should bring tears to your eyes, if you are the least bit sensitive!! Good movie to get your gal into crying on your shoulder!! (And that actually happened as well ;-)

Anyone interested in an absorbing wartime spy story, particularly devotees of 1950s British cinema, should not miss the digitally remastered version of "The Man Who Never Was" on blu-ray. The excellent restoration, in original 2.35.1 aspect ratio and with decent LPCM audio, constitutes the best presentation of this minor classic for home entertainment.

Based on a real military operation, the plot concerns the ingenious use of a dead man, given the identity of a Royal Marines officer, to deceive the Germans about allied intentions before the invasion of Sicily in 1943. So is created Major William Martin and his story goes on from there. The actual operation, codenamed "Mincemeat," was conceived from an idea suggested by a young naval intelligence lieutenant named Ian Fleming, who went on later to write the James Bond novels.

Clifton Webb, as Lt. Commander Montagu, leads a strong cast of British character actors along with a coldly smooth Stephen Boyd as an Irish enemy agent and Gloria Graeme, the love interest. A taut, suspenseful screenplay by Nigel Balchin is expertly directed by Ronald Neame. Watch for some great views of post-war London.

This is the story of a British plot to trick the Germans during WWII into believing that, despite all appearances and obvious logic, they were going to invade Greece rather than Sicily. Clifton Webb stars as the officer that cooks up the plan, which essentially involves having a body wash up on shore in Spain with planted information that will do the misleading. A shiny Gloria Grahame co-stars as the woman who seems to be engaged to the man who never was, since they must create an identity for him. Sound confusing? It's not really as it unfolds in the film. The plot is quite interesting, especially given the fact that we know it's mostly true, although things happen quite quickly and it seems that this operation was much easier than I suspect it was. It's certainly not the greatest war/spy film ever made, but it is fun to watch the plot unfold and come together. It was definitely a brilliant, risky plan.