This is the somewhat true story of Lt. Clifton James who impersonated Gen. Bernard Montgomery at various Allied bases in order to mislead the Germans into thinking that the D-Day invasions would take place somewhere in the Mediterranean.
James is pretty convincing too. If he's not a bravura actor, he is at least an actor, which he was in civilian life. He's ably assisted by John Mills, who guides him through his various performances on stage and off, and by Cecil Parker, who is more or less in charge of all the fakery.
The British are extremely good at this kind of deceit. I mean, here they have the huevos to pass off some second-rate vaudevillian as a British field marshal and parade him around the high brass, both British and American, in Gibralter and North Africa. Then, too, there was "The Man Who Never Was," a carefully prepared scheme designed to persuade the Germans that the Allies would invade the Balkans rather than Sicily. Outrageous. I don't know who thought up putting General George Patton in charge of the fake FUSAG before Normany, with its inflatable rubber tanks and trucks and its wooden airplanes and concocted radio transmissions but I suspect that if Sherlock Holmes were to investigate he'd be able to sniff out the residual odor of fish and chips. Even during the Falkland Islands war, in 1982, just after the invasion by Argentine troops, the British were entirely candid about the ships and airplanes that were lost, but they'd immediately announced a blockade of the islands, maintained by British submarines -- that were not there. The lesson to be learned from these tricks is that the deceit must be plausible, infrequent, and strategic. Americans seem to do it differently. They lie recklessly. If an American sports figure dies in combat, he's given a decoration even if the death was the result of friendly fire. If a beautiful young woman is rescued from her Iraqi captors, she must have fought heroically and been abused before her salvation.
Wait. Someone is flapping a napkin at me from the other end of the table. Let me get back to the movie.
This is more of a comedy with some tense moments than it is a war-time drama. With Cecil Parker in a prominent role it could hardly be a heavy movie. Mills is his usual competent self, playing an officer with an eye for the girls. There's one scene that always cracks me up. A gorgeous blond secretary enters the room preceded by her bouncing breasts. She's holding a few pages in front of her. Mills' hand darts out towards her chest and just for a moment -- But, no. He grabs the sheets of paper and yanks them away. Nothing is made of it and the incident only last a second or two but it's emblematic of the movie.
Except for the climactic scene in which German raiders capture James, still thinking he's Montgomery, and try to pirate him away from his seaside base until they are foiled by Mills wielding a single Sten gun. Man, that's not only improbable. It's practically impossible. And in fact it never happened.
The direction is by John Guillerman, who has had his ups and his downs. One of his ups, in which I had the good fortune to appear, was the serene and majestic art house hit, "King Kong Lives." Here, sadly, his technique is pedestrian. Each important statement is filmed in close up. (That's so the statement's importance doesn't slip past you.) And some scenes are clumsily staged. However, I forgive him any of that because of the way he handled that breasts/papers incident.
I don't know if I'd want to watch this too often. We all appreciate Clifton James and his accomplishments but he's not a strong figure and the responsibility of carrying the film is largely his, although the script sticks with Mills and Parker as much as it can.
Still, enjoyable, exciting, and -- for some younger folk, I'm afraid -- highly educational.
James is pretty convincing too. If he's not a bravura actor, he is at least an actor, which he was in civilian life. He's ably assisted by John Mills, who guides him through his various performances on stage and off, and by Cecil Parker, who is more or less in charge of all the fakery.
The British are extremely good at this kind of deceit. I mean, here they have the huevos to pass off some second-rate vaudevillian as a British field marshal and parade him around the high brass, both British and American, in Gibralter and North Africa. Then, too, there was "The Man Who Never Was," a carefully prepared scheme designed to persuade the Germans that the Allies would invade the Balkans rather than Sicily. Outrageous. I don't know who thought up putting General George Patton in charge of the fake FUSAG before Normany, with its inflatable rubber tanks and trucks and its wooden airplanes and concocted radio transmissions but I suspect that if Sherlock Holmes were to investigate he'd be able to sniff out the residual odor of fish and chips. Even during the Falkland Islands war, in 1982, just after the invasion by Argentine troops, the British were entirely candid about the ships and airplanes that were lost, but they'd immediately announced a blockade of the islands, maintained by British submarines -- that were not there. The lesson to be learned from these tricks is that the deceit must be plausible, infrequent, and strategic. Americans seem to do it differently. They lie recklessly. If an American sports figure dies in combat, he's given a decoration even if the death was the result of friendly fire. If a beautiful young woman is rescued from her Iraqi captors, she must have fought heroically and been abused before her salvation.
Wait. Someone is flapping a napkin at me from the other end of the table. Let me get back to the movie.
This is more of a comedy with some tense moments than it is a war-time drama. With Cecil Parker in a prominent role it could hardly be a heavy movie. Mills is his usual competent self, playing an officer with an eye for the girls. There's one scene that always cracks me up. A gorgeous blond secretary enters the room preceded by her bouncing breasts. She's holding a few pages in front of her. Mills' hand darts out towards her chest and just for a moment -- But, no. He grabs the sheets of paper and yanks them away. Nothing is made of it and the incident only last a second or two but it's emblematic of the movie.
Except for the climactic scene in which German raiders capture James, still thinking he's Montgomery, and try to pirate him away from his seaside base until they are foiled by Mills wielding a single Sten gun. Man, that's not only improbable. It's practically impossible. And in fact it never happened.
The direction is by John Guillerman, who has had his ups and his downs. One of his ups, in which I had the good fortune to appear, was the serene and majestic art house hit, "King Kong Lives." Here, sadly, his technique is pedestrian. Each important statement is filmed in close up. (That's so the statement's importance doesn't slip past you.) And some scenes are clumsily staged. However, I forgive him any of that because of the way he handled that breasts/papers incident.
I don't know if I'd want to watch this too often. We all appreciate Clifton James and his accomplishments but he's not a strong figure and the responsibility of carrying the film is largely his, although the script sticks with Mills and Parker as much as it can.
Still, enjoyable, exciting, and -- for some younger folk, I'm afraid -- highly educational.