Oeration Mincemeat is a popular recent film which references in the dialogue an old detective novel for which I wrote an introduction when it was reprinted a few years ago. The novel in question was The Milliner's Hat Mystery by Basil Thomson, and - as the film makes clear - a plot trick in the story was picked up by Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond and a spy in real life, and used as the basis for a scheme to deceive Hitler during the Second World War.
Fleming is a character in the film and is played by Johnny Flynn, but the key figures are Ewen Montagu (an excellent, under-stated performance by Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen, also very good). The screenplay, based on Ben Macintyre's book, departs from reality by introducing a love triangle involving these two men and Jean Leslie (Kelly Macdonald) but on the whole does a good job of telling a remarkable story.
The cast includes Jason Isaacs, an actor I've always liked (long ago I dreamed he might be cast as Harry Devlin!) as Admiral Godfrey and Penelope Wilton, who is terrific as Montagu's secretary Hester Leggett - she makes the most of a relatively limited role. Mark Gatiss plays Montagu's Communist brother and Alex Jennings is John Masterman (spymaster and author of two detective novels and a member of the Detection Club). Sadly, this film marked the final appearance of Paul Ritter, a fine actor who plays the coroner Bentley Purchas. Other key contributors are John Madden (director), Michelle Ashford (screenwriter) and Thomas Newman (music).
The ingredients are terrific and they are mixed together admirably. The result is a film that, despite some deviations from what actually happened, is in essence a good account of a remarkable slice of history as well as offering high calibre entertainment. So often a film like this can fall short of its potential. But Operation Mincemeat is a genuine success.
4 comments:
The whole Operation Mincemeat story is fascinating for it's complexity and thoroughness, and the fact that it actually worked. Perhaps why the story has had such an interesting history, from the 1950 spy thriller Operation Heartbreak to a more accurate retelling three years later as The Man Who Never Was, with the first film three years later, with the same title, which starred Clifton Webb and some of the best British character actors of the era, such as Michael Hordern and Anthony Stele, himself a real life war hero. Interestingly, the screenplay for the original movie was written by Nigel Balchin. For an intriguing real life version of the tale, go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, fascinating in itself, and with it's own YouTube channel for those interested in the continuing history of the effects of war.
Thanks, Liz. I saw The Man Who Never Was when I was young but can't remember much about it except that I enjoyed it. Balchin was a writer of real quality.
The Man Who Never Was was a marvellous film, but this one is equally well done. One jarring note, when the two principals salute while hatless. Would never happen! One assumes that little bit was for the U.S. audience…
A good point about hats! I must admit that when writing the Rachel Savernake stories I have to remind myself of the prevalence of hats at that time....
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