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{{short description|1956 film by Ronald Neame}}
{{about|the 1956 film|the 2022 film based on the same operation |Operation Mincemeat (film)|the memoir by then-Lt. Cmdr. [[Ewen Montagu]]|The Man Who Never Was (book)}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Man Who Never Was
| image = The Man Who Never Was.jpg
| alt = Clifton Webb as Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu
| caption = DVD cover
| director = [[Ronald Neame]]
| producer = [[André Hakim]]
| based_on = ''The Man Who Never Was'' (1953 book)<br>by [[Ewen Montagu]]
| screenplay = [[Nigel Balchin]]
| starring = {{plainlist|
*[[Stephen Boyd]]
*[[Clifton Webb]]
*[[Gloria Grahame]]}}
| music = [[Alan Rawsthorne]]
| cinematography = [[Oswald Morris]]
| editing = [[Peter Taylor (film editor)|Peter Taylor]]
| studio = Sumar Film Productions
| distributor = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released = {{Start date|1956|3|15|df=y}} (''UK'')
| runtime = 103 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}

'''''The Man Who Never Was''''' is a 1956 British espionage [[thriller film]] produced by [[André Hakim]] and directed by [[Ronald Neame]]. It stars [[Clifton Webb]] and [[Gloria Grahame]] and features [[Robert Flemyng]], [[Josephine Griffin]] and [[Stephen Boyd]]. It is based on the [[The Man Who Never Was (book)|book of the same name]] by Lt. Cmdr. [[Ewen Montagu]] and chronicles [[Operation Mincemeat]], a 1943 British intelligence plan to deceive the [[Axis powers]] into thinking the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]] would take place elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

''The Man Who Never Was'' was entered into the [[1956 Cannes Film Festival]],<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3650/year/1956.html |title=Festival de Cannes: The Man Who Never Was |access-date=2009-02-04|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref> and Nigel Balchin's screenplay won the [[BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay|BAFTA]] for that year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1957/film/british-screenplay|title=BAFTA Awards|website=awards.bafta.org}}</ref>

==Plot==
In 1943, Royal Navy [[Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy)|Lieutenant Commander]] Ewen Montagu ([[Clifton Webb]]) devises a scheme to deceive the Nazis about the [[Allied invasion of Sicily|impending invasion]] of [[Southern Europe]]. It entails releasing a corpse with a fictional identity off the coast of [[Francoist Spain|Spain]], where strong currents will carry it ashore near where a known German agent operates. The non-existent [[Royal Marines|Royal Marine]] courier, Major William Martin, would appear to be a plane crash victim carrying documents about an upcoming Allied invasion of [[Axis occupation of Greece|German-occupied Greece]], rather than [[Sicily]], the more obvious target. Overcoming the reluctance of high officers, Montagu receives [[Winston Churchill]]'s approval to execute his plan, known as [[Operation Mincemeat]].

Following a medical expert's advice, Montagu obtains the permission of the deceased's father and procures the body of a man who died of [[pneumonia]], which would give the appearance he had drowned. The corpse is placed in a canister packed with dry ice and transferred to a waiting submarine. The body is released off the Atlantic coast of Spain and washes ashore as intended. Local authorities, observed by German and British consulate staff, identify the body and conduct an autopsy. After the attaché case containing the deceptive documents is returned to London, a forensics expert confirms that the key letter, which describes an Allied invasion of Greece, was cleverly opened, photographed, and resealed.

[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] is convinced the documents are genuine, though Admiral [[Wilhelm Canaris]], head of the ''[[Abwehr]]'', is sceptical. The Germans dispatch to London an Irish spy, Patrick O'Reilly ([[Stephen Boyd]]), to investigate. O'Reilly investigates Martin's American "fiancée", Lucy Sherwood ([[Gloria Grahame]]), who is the roommate of Montagu's assistant, Pam ([[Josephine Griffin]]). O'Reilly arrives at their flat, posing as Martin's old friend, on the same day Lucy has received news that her real boyfriend was killed in action. Her genuine grief mostly convinces O'Reilly. As a final test, he gives Lucy his north London address, telling her to contact him if she needs anything. He then radios his German contacts that if he does not send another message in an hour, he has been arrested. As Montagu, General Coburn ([[Michael Hordern]]) of [[Metropolitan Police|Scotland Yard]]'s [[Special Branch (Metropolitan Police)|Special Branch]] and police officers are en route to O'Reilly's flat, Montagu realizes why O'Reilly left his address with Lucy and convinces a reluctant Coburn to let O'Reilly go. After no one arrests him, O'Reilly sends a "Martin genuine!" radio message. The Germans then transfer most of their Sicily-based forces to Greece, which helps the Allied invasion of Sicily succeed.

After the war, Montagu receives several decorations and awards for his wartime service, including the [[Order of the British Empire]] (OBE). He visits Spain and leaves his OBE medal at the grave of Major Martin, "the man who never was".

==Cast==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Clifton Webb]] as Lt. Cmdr. [[Ewen Montagu]]
* [[Gloria Grahame]] as Lucy Sherwood
* [[Robert Flemyng]] as Lt. George Acres
* [[Josephine Griffin]] as Pam
* [[Stephen Boyd]] as Patrick O'Reilly
* [[Laurence Naismith]] as Adm. Cross
* [[William Russell (English actor)|William Russell]] as Joe (Lucy's fiancé)
* [[Geoffrey Keen]] as Gen. [[Archibald Nye]]
* [[Moultrie Kelsall]] as the Father
* [[Cyril Cusack]] as taxi driver
* [[André Morell]] as Sir [[Bernard Spilsbury]]
* [[Michael Hordern]] as Gen. Coburn
* [[William Squire]] as submarine commander [[Norman Jewell|Bill Jewell]]
* [[Allan Cuthbertson]] as Vice-Admiral
* [[Miles Malleson]] as scientist
* [[Joan Hickson]] as landlady
* [[Terence Longdon]] as Larry
* [[Gibb McLaughlin]] as club porter
* Gordon Bell as Customs Officer
* [[Wolf Frees]] as Admiral [[Wilhelm Canaris]] ''(uncredited)''
* [[Ewen Montagu]] as an Air Vice Marshal ''(uncredited)''
* [[Peter Williams (American actor)|Peter Williams]] as [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Admiral Mountbatten]] ''(uncredited)''
{{Div col end}}

==Historical accuracy==
{{see|Operation Mincemeat}}
Operation Mincemeat involved the acquisition and dressing up of a human cadaver as a "Major William Martin, R.M." and putting it into the sea near [[Huelva]], Spain. Attached to the dead body was a briefcase containing fake letters falsely stating that the Allied attack would be against [[Sardinia]] and [[Greece]] rather than [[Sicily]], the actual point of invasion. When the body was found, the Spanish Intelligence Service passed copies of the papers to the [[Abwehr|German Intelligence Service]] which passed them on to their High Command. The ruse was so successful that the Germans still believed that Sardinia and Greece were the intended objectives weeks after the landings in Sicily had begun.

The exact identity of the "man who never was" has been the centre of controversy since the end of the war. On the one hand, certain accounts claim the true identity of "Major William Martin" was a homeless, alcoholic rat-catcher from Aberbargoed, Wales, [[Glyndwr Michael]], who had died by self-administering a small dose of rat poison. However, in 2002, authors John and Noreen Steele published the non-fictional account of ''The Secrets of HMS Dasher'', about an ill-fated escort carrier that exploded and sank in the Firth of Clyde around the time Operation Mincemeat had commenced. The Steeles argued that "Major Martin's" body was actually that of seaman John Melville, one of the ''Dasher's'' casualties. Further, it has been reported that the accuracy of this claim was verified by the Royal Navy in late October 2004,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ykGNAgAAQBAJ&q=john+melville|title=Gloria Grahame, Bad Girl of Film Noir: The Complete Career|first=Robert J.|last=Lentz|date=10 January 2014|publisher=McFarland|via=Google Books|page=201|isbn=9780786487226 }}</ref> and a memorial service was held for Melville, in which he was celebrated as one whose "memory lives on in the film ''The Man Who Never Was'' ... we are gathered here today to remember John Melville as a man who most certainly was." There is some circumstantial evidence that also supports the identity of the body used as being Meville's.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/16/double-deception-behind-operation-mincemeat/|title=The double deception behind Operation Mincemeat|author=[[Alan West, Baron West of Spithead|Admiral Lord West]]|date=16 April 2022|work=The Telegraph}}</ref> But in fact, Professor Denis Smyth, a researcher at the University of Toronto, has counter-argued that Glyndwr Michael was indeed the real "Major Martin". To support his claims, Smyth published the contents of a secret memo and an official report, both authored by Ewen Montagu himself, confirming the Glyndwr Michael story.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bc5wCzPsbOgC&q=HMS+Dasher&pg=PT439|title=Deathly Deception: The Real Story of Operation Mincemeat|first=Denis|last=Smyth|date=16 June 2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-161364-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Regardless of the identity of Major Martin, [[Nigel Balchin|Nigel Balchin's]] script stayed as close to the truth as was convenient, yet the film does fall back on some dramatization. For example, the episode of the Irish spy, O'Reilly, is a complete fabrication. The [[MI5|British Security Service]] controlled the German spy network in the UK with its [[Double-Cross System]], though this fact was still [[Classified information|secret]] at the time the film was made. [[Ewen Montagu]] declared that he was happy with the fictitious incidents which, although they did not happen, might have happened.

During filming, Montagu has a cameo role, that of a [[Royal Air Force]] [[air vice-marshal]] who has doubts about the feasibility of the proposed plan. It was described by [[Ben Macintyre]] as a "surreal" moment when the real Montagu addressed his fictional persona, played by Webb.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yu9H0Hv4Ot4C&q=clifton+webb|title=Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory|first=Ben|last=Macintyre|page= 308|date=4 May 2010|publisher=Crown|isbn=9780307453297 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Reception==
The film earned an estimated $1.1 million in North American receipts in 1956.<ref>"The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956". ''Variety Weekly''. 2 January 1957</ref>

The ''[[Radio Times]]'' wrote, "the picture may appear overly reverent by today's standards. But this is still a crucial wartime spy tale that is well worth watching."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-6ighqe/the-man-who-never-was/|title=The Man Who Never Was |website=Radio Times |first=Turner |last=Adrian |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>

==''The Goon Show'' parody==
The [[BBC]]'s radio comedy show, ''[[The Goon Show]]'', made a send-up of the story of ''The Man Who Never Was'' (based on the book) and incorporated most of the regular ''Goon Show'' characters. Written by [[Spike Milligan]] and [[Larry Stephens (scriptwriter)|Larry Stephens]], the first version of the script formed two-thirds of the episode broadcast on 31 March 1953, before the film's release, with the first third comprising a separate sketch. Like most of these early episodes, this no longer exists.

Milligan and Stephens later wrote a full-length version which was broadcast on 20 March 1956. Milligan later revised this script for the episode broadcast on 17 February 1958.<ref>{{cite episode |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jprr |title=The Man Who Never Was |series=The Goon Show |station=BBC Radio 4 Extra |number=21 |series-no=8}}</ref> Both of the later versions have been issued on CD sets. Coincidentally, [[Peter Sellers]] (one of the Goons) provided the voice of [[Winston Churchill]] in the film, although the character did not appear in the ''Goon Show'' adaptation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-man-who-never-was|title=The Man Who Never Was|website=Time Out |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Operation Mincemeat (film)|''Operation Mincemeat'' (film)]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0049471|title=The Man Who Never Was}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|}}
* {{amg movie|101394}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=82752}}
* {{AFI film|id=51917|title=The Man Who Never Was}}

{{Ronald Neame}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Man Who Never Was, The}}
[[Category:Operation Mincemeat]]
[[Category:1956 films]]
[[Category:1950s spy thriller films]]
[[Category:1956 war films]]
[[Category:British war films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ronald Neame]]
[[Category:Films set in 1943]]
[[Category:Films set in Spain]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:CinemaScope films]]
[[Category:Royal Navy in World War II films]]
[[Category:World War II spy films]]
[[Category:MI5 in fiction]]
[[Category:British spy thriller films]]
[[Category:Films shot in London]]
[[Category:Films shot in Spain]]
[[Category:World War II films based on actual events]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Nigel Balchin]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:1950s British films]]

The Man Who Never Was - Revision history

Bot: robot: Create/upgrade articles. If there is a mistake please report on my talk page.