5 Fingers [DVD] [1952]

This is the "true" (in essence) story of how the valet of the British Ambassador to Turkey, based in Ankara, managed to steal British WW2 secrets in 1944 and sell them to German Intelligence. As with all "true" stories, not everything is as it really was, particularly the location of the ending, but in essence this is an accurate summation of the events that occurred, based on the postwar book, Five Fingers, by the German attache Moyszich, Cicero's usual and initial handler. What I particularly liked about it (apart from the generally excellent performances, the best being that of James Mason as the suavely villainous valet) was the fact that all the exterior shots were filmed on location in Ankara, Istanbul and elsewhere and only a decade after the events themselves took place. One doubt in my mind: according to Moyszich's book, the existence of Cicero was reduced to code and sent to Berlin by "wireless". Bearing in mind that we now (since revealed in the 1970's) that the British were reading most German communications thanks to operation "Ultra" by which the Enigma coding machines had been at least partially broken, did the British deliberately feed Cicero true but purposeful facts to destory the morale of the German High Command? Perhaps so. Recommended.

This was a blind buy and I was slightly doubtful about it. But it was from the director of "All about Eve", one of my favourite directors and one of my favourite films. I needed not worry: "5 Fingers" is a great spy thriller that caught me from beginning to end. It's 1944 and the valet of the British Ambassador in Turkey starts selling top secret documents to the Germans. James Mason as the suave anti-hero of this film gives one of his best performances. You truly want him to get away with it, simply because of his charm, wit and intelligence. As for the UK DVD it has no extras which is rather annoying - especially since the French release has quite a few.

Picture the results of the Normandy invasion if the Germans had known in advance that the Second Front would take place there in early June. It turns out they did know...and they didn't believe the information was true. Note that elements of the plot are discussed.

Ulysses Diallo (James Mason) is the valet to the British ambassador to neutral Turkey in 1944. He has perfect manners. He is invaluable to the ambassador. He is trusted. Diallo was born in Albania but came to England at an early age. Determined to become an English gentlemen, he decided that the best way to learn was to become an English gentleman's gentleman. "I may not be a gentleman yet," he tells Countess Anna Staviska (Danielle Darrieux) one evening after she slaps his face, "but I am the best gentleman's gentleman." The Countess has lost her husband and her wealth in the war, and now is an increasingly poor but highly attractive woman who is willing to serve the Germans or the English for money. In Ankara, full of intrigue and agents, there are always opportunities. Diallo had also, at one time, been gentleman's gentleman to her husband.

Diallo decides he can make very large sums of money by photographing secret documents the Ambassador keeps in the embassy safe, to which Diallo has access, and giving them to the Germans. He will insist on being paid in English pounds sterling. He estimates over a period of a few weeks he'll have enough funds to live the life of a gentleman in Rio de Janeiro. He recruits the countess to help him, to be his banker, in exchange for funds he will pay her. And as the days go by, their arrangement extends to her bed. The German's pay, but they aren't sure of the man they have code named Cicero. The information appears to be too good to be true. They suspect a British trick.

The British now begin to suspect there is a leak in the embassy. They send a man from London to find out. Things get dicey, but Diallo makes one last theft and is almost caught by the British. After turning over the photographs and getting his money, he also barely escapes from German agents who now want him, too. What was his last batch of documents he photographed and turned over to the Germans? Specific information on Normandy. The information was so big and came from a source so unlikely -- a valet -- that the Germans didn't believe it and took no action. This is a true story.

As for Diallo, well, he didn't care whether the Germans believed him or not, as long as they paid. He didn't even care what the documents contained as long as they were stamped Top Secret. But at the end of the movie, dining in his dinner jacket on the terrace of his sumptuous Rio villa, served by a discrete gentleman's gentleman of his own, he is visited by his banker and a senior Brazilian police officer. Diallo had already learned that it wasn't wise to trust the Countess. Now he is about to he learn he shouldn't have trusted the Germans.

Espionage may be the name of the game here, but the movie is really a black comedy of exquisite manners. No one could read a line of dialogue with the mixture of cool contempt and self amusement the way James Mason could. He is utterly self possessed. Even when he is taken off guard, as the Countess manages to do, he recovers quickly with a shrug. Mason's Diallo is a complete mercenary, so amused by life that he becomes a captivating villain. Danielle Darrieux almost matches him in the Countess' determination to reach her former social position. They make a fine, selfish, wary couple.

Joseph Mankiewicz directed the movie. The screenplay is credited to Michael Wilson, although IMDb lists Mankiewicz as an uncredited screenwriter. The dialogue is full of Mankiewicz-style amused cynicism. The movie is available in VHS as well as this Region 2 DVD. The DVD looks just fine. There are no extras. The time is long overdue for this movie to appear in a Region 1 DVD.