Daily Archives: March 25, 2016

The Man Who Never Was
Directed by Ronald Neame
Written by Nigel Balchin from a book by Ewen Montagu
1956/UK
Sumar Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Adm. Cross: It’s the most outrageous, disgusting, preposterous, not to say barbaric idea I’ve ever heard, but work out full details and get back to me in the morning![/box]

Here’s an OK true-life WWII thriller.

The Allies have defeated Germany in North Africa.  Everyone expects that the army will advance through Sicily.  This is the correct assumption but the British are seeking a way to divert Nazi troops to defend a false location.  Lt. Comdr. Ewen Montagu (Clifton Webb) is tasked with coming up with a plan.  He decides on planting a dead body near the coast of Spain carrying “top secret” documents saying the attack will be in Greece.

The rest of the film focuses on the elaborate execution of this plan. With Gloria Grahame cast against type as the deadman’s “fiancee” and Stephen Boyd as a German spy.

I found this a bit plodding but generally enjoyable.  Always nice to see Webb in a serious role.  He is acerbic but not a bit fey.  Grahame is good too.

Trailer

The Silent World
Directed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle
Written by Jacque-Yves Cousteau
1956/France
FSJYC Production/Raquin Associes/Societe Filmad/Titanus
First viewing/YouTube[box] The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. — Jacques Yves Cousteau [/box]

Not what I was expecting.  The Calypso kills a baby whale with its propeller and the crew “avenges its death” by massacring a bunch of sharks.

During the Calypso’s voyage we get life on board, lots of coral reefs, divers, fish, a sunken ship, the aforementioned whale encounter, turtle rides, a storm, and a desert island.

How times have changed!  It doesn’t stop with the Calypso getting so close to a pod of whales that it bumps into one, knocking the breath out of it, and mortally wounds a baby. Then the crew punishes a ton of sharks for being attracted to its blood.  That’s not enough.  The crew feels compelled to hitch a ride on a sea turtle by hanging on to its flipper and riding a bunch of giant tortoises on the Galapagos that surely weigh less than they do.  All this I believe was in the name of “drama”.  Of course the most effective and beautiful scenes are simple observation of underwater life.  We’ve seen them all many times before but Cousteau pioneered them.

The Silent World won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Feature.

Clip