5 Fingers (1952)

That was an excellent one.

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Good concept, poorly executed.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This masterfully scripted espionage thriller, based on a true story, keeps you in full suspense as to who will betray who. With the superb acting of James Mason as Cicero, a spy who operates in the British embassy, stealing secret information about the war, we are treated to a series of very tense and thrilling moments. Cicero is coolly self-confident, but he makes one terrible mistake, becoming involved with the beautiful Countess Anna Staviska, ( Danielle Darrieux ) who ultimately betrays him, with an ending for the cocky spy, that is surprisingly amusing. This very intriguing story is to good for me to spoil it for the reader with a synopsis, that I highly encourage you to watch and be thoroughly entertained as I always have been with this classic James Mason film, that was nominated for many impressive awards.

The fictionalized aspects of the story are what give it the most zing. The actual spy, one Elyesa Bazna, was detected as the result of the disclosures of an allied spy who was an official in the German foreign ministry, one Fritz Kolbe (for the story about him, see "A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich" by Lucas Delattre), who provided Nazi documents to Allen Dulles in Bern, who, in turn, notified the British that their Ankara embassy was compromised. A couple of British security agents were sent to the embassy, where they changed the safes and their combinations. Their visit was made to appear normal and routine; neither Cicero nor the Germans ever knew what led to it and Cicero was put out of business well before Overlord was in play. Bazna wrote his own book, "Ich War Cicero", published in Munich in 1964.

I'll watch any film that the Mankiewicz brothers touch, but this was a hard slog for me. Its from that period of relief, gloating and redefining of the English people after the Germans were neutralized for the time. There was some unsure notion about the whether the future would bring yet another brutal war.So here is this story, whose importance is that the Germans could easily have won the war were it not for multiple incompetencies and spatting factions within the command. They had a very valuable spy who they simply refused to believe. Clever Brits (there have to always be clever Brits) were on to him of course, but too late for the worst damage.So the story would have had some resonance in its time, and the poor narrative qualities would have been ignored. More important was the fact that exterior scenes were shot "where things really happened."Its hard to see the Mankiewicz style here. Its most visible in some shots on a rail car, and later in an Istanbul café.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Based on real events this effort from Joseph Mankiewicz is a lesson in tautness without histrionics. It is something of an intriguing watch knowing that the lead character really was selling top secret information to the Germans. Yet they (thankfully), never acted on any of the info that they bought. The film has a wonderful paced structure and is splendidly shot, while the direction somehow manages to give added feeling to the dastardly deeds unfolding on the screen. The trump card comes by way of James Mason as the cold hearted money mad Cicero. Slickly managing to blend charm and sophistication into a character that we know is as low as a snakes belly. A special performance from a very special actor. A great spy story, with plenty of suspense, and a dandy of an ending to round it all off. 8/10