Operation Mincemeat plus the usual Short Takes on some other cinematic (and feline) topics

Crucial Deception

Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke

I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.

“You see, you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”

(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the same name)

Opening Chatter (no spoilers): As has often been the case with these recent postings I’ve only got 1 movie to review this week due to a combination of very few options that I’d care to watch (free or otherwise) and other activities that have taken up a good bit of my time.  Regarding my busy situation, much of my energy lately has gone into watching some broadcasts of a couple of my local sports teams: the seemingly-already-woebegone Oakland Athletics baseballers whose record’s getting worse by the day (16-24 at this point, dropped a lot of games recently; Kerry Crowley explains why this team’s offense numbers are … offensive, the worst since 1908), with salvation for my delight coming from the San Francisco-based Golden State Warriors basketballers, now in contention for the NBA Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks (if I still had any real affinity for Texas [well, for some marvelous people there, good Tex-Mex food, Lone Star beer, but that’s about it] this might be a tossup for me—no chance!  Go Warriors!) after a dynamic win of their previous series against the Memphis Grizzlies last Friday night.*  However, the main time investment of the last week has been in adopting a new cat, little 1-year-old Layla (photo above) who’s still a bit shy so she often spends her time in her created-cave from my wife, Nina’s, craft supplies stack-of-drawers (the bottom 2 removed for cat-convenience).  She hasn’t yet come nose-to-nose with our other little cat,

Mindy (this photo 👉👉), 

a 6-year-old who’s been with us since very early last September, seems as if she's now comfortable enough with us for the possible consideration of a feline companion for her, so we’ll see how it goes in the coming days and weeks.  As for me not having much of interest to watch, then report on for this current posting of Film Reviews from Two Guys in the Dark, I finally decided the best option was Operation Mincemeat (debuted in theaters last weekend but also streaming on Netflix), the story of the fact-based-secret-mission of WW II Brits to fool the Germans into thinking the Allied invasion across the Mediterranean in 1943 would be in Greece rather than the assumed site of Sicily.  This movie makes for useful knowledge about desperate creative thinking but didn’t engage me as much as I’d hoped it would.  Also, here are links for the schedule of the cable network, Turner Classic Movies, which gives you a wide selection of older films with no commercial interruptions and the JustWatch site which offers you a wide selection of options for streaming rental or purchase.  If you want to see what reigned at the domestic (U.S.-Canada) box-office last weekend, you can go here.

*On Tuesday of this week it looked like the A’s fortunes were changing as they beat the #1 team in the Central Division, the Minnesota Twins; short-lived-victory, though, as on Wednesday they lost 14-4.  As for the Warriors, on Wed. they beat the Mavericks 112-87 in the first game of the Western Division finals, looking good so far (especially for a team who made their fame playing in Oakland).

                        Operation Mincemeat (John Madden)

                                      rated PG-13   128 min.

Here’s the trailer:

                   (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate 

                   that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)

If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy).  To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows: 

⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.

What Happens: (I’ll note some spoiler info below, but the important parts of this story are all historical fact.) In early 1943 the British military is searching for a plan for Allied troops to invade Nazi-dominated-mainland-Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea after gaining control of North Africa; Jewish lawyer Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) seems to go into retirement, but he’s actually a Lt. Commander in the navy, now working with the counter-espionage group called the Twenty Committee (later known as MI5 [not to be confused with James Bond’s MI6 spy network]) to establish a scheme for an assault that won’t result in massive Allied losses.  The obvious choice of attack is Sicily, but the Germans are well aware of that so Admiral John Godfrey (Jason Isaacs) wants an alternative strategy.  Montagu’s associate, Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen)—who wanted to be a military pilot but wasn’t physically acceptable for such—proposes they use a tactic from the Trout Memo (supposedly written by Godfrey but many credit his assistant, Ian Fleming [Johnny Flynn], later author of the James Bond spy novels) where a corpse with a seemingly-valid-but-totally-fake-identity would wash up on the shores of supposedly-neutral-yet-Fascist-controlled-Spain with documents indicating the attack would be instead on Greece, thereby tricking the Germans into misplacing resources, thus allowing an actual invasion of Sicily to succeed.

 Against the advice of those who think the plan’s too crazy to work, Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Simon Russell Beale) approves it to aid the July invasion.  The chosen corpse (seemingly drowned after a plane crash) is Welsh vagrant Glyndwr Michael (Lorne MacFadyen) who’s given the extensively-constructed-identity of “Major William Martin,” complete with a photo of fiancée “Pam,” actually a secretary in the operation, Jean Leslie (Kelly Macdonald) who has inklings of an affair with Montagu (nothing comes of it, though), who’s sent his wife, Iris (Hattie Morahan), and children to the U.S.A. for their protection.  Tensions occur within Operation Mincemeat’s (see this review’s next section for info on that name) team as Cholmondeley’s attracted to Jean, is jealous of her interest in Montagu, along with Godfrey suspecting Montagu’s brother, Ivor (Mark Gatiss), of being a Russian spy.  Still, the plan goes forward with the body taken by submarine to be washed onto the Spanish coast, but there’s no guarantee Spanish authorities will open "Martin"’s briefcase to peruse the fake documents, give them to the Germans.  ⇒Further, Jean’s contacted by Teddy (Jonjo O’Neill) who claims to be in a German anti-Hitler plot, which can’t be verified either.  All seems right on July 10, though, when the invasion proceeds with limited casualties.  After the war’s won, Montagu reunites with Iris, Jean marries a soldier, Cholmondeley stays with MI5 until 1952, "Major Martin"’s identity is revealed in 1997 as a new plaque's added to "Martin"’s grave in Soledad cemetery, Huelva, Spain.⇐

So What? These events are based in history, adapted from Ben Macintyre’s book of the same name (2010); Ewen Montagu wrote his own book, The Man Who Never Was (1953), which led to a British cinematic adaptation (Ronald Neame, 1956 [not available for streaming but you can rent a Netflix DVD]), generally following the same storyline of Operation Mincemeat (originally Operation Trojan Horse [go here for quick background] but apparently was changed to not make too obvious a connection to Greece [see a summary of Homer’s epic poem from ancient times, The Iliad, for clarification], instead referring to the potential slaughter of Allied invaders, possibly to further throw the Germans off-track by seemingly-acknowledging how dangerous any Allied assault on Nazi-controlled-Europe might be).  To know more about the history of the actual operation, start with this brief account of the event, then move on to this extensive documentary (58:52) also based on Macintyre's book—and only half as long as the ... Mincemeat movie (hint, hint!); to compare how Operation Mincemeat’s presentation corresponds with these historical accounts you can consult this site, although you’ll find in all cases the basic facts are preserved with minimal fictionalization added to spice up the story in a few places.  Finally, if you’d like to know more about the crucial corpse, Glyndwr Michael, used in this intricate-plot, take a look at the short doc about him (20:27) as the second item connected to this current movie in this review's Related Links section farther below.

 If you’re anything like me (if so, lucky you—maybe), you might not have known anything about this important military-ruse from WW II, yet you're probably familiar with a minor character in this present adaptation, Ian Fleming, due to his connection with his later, celebrated series of novels about master spy James Bond.  Macintyre says Fleming is the actual author of the 1939 Trout Memo about deception of an enemy in wartime (even as it’s officially credited to Admiral John Godfrey, Fleming’s boss during this time) with 54 ways of “luring in” an opponent, #28 being the one ultimately used in Operation Mincemeat.  Whatever ownership of these ideas actually resides with Fleming, he’s not given much presence in this movie which provides a bit of a distraction in that his identity (unlike the rest of the characters in this story, except for viewers with deep historical knowledge) is so well-known, but, except for the cute line about his distraction from wartime-tactics in “writing a spy novel,” he doesn’t seem to be more than a mere background figure in this version of Operation Mincemeat.

 Maybe it’s just because I perked up a bit when introduced to Fleming in this context I was then disappointed that he had no further relevance to how this plot unfolds (although he does provide narration of the events as the story moves along) or maybe I just needed something more intriguing to keep me interested in this iteration of … Mincemeat, as I was fascinated to learn about the basic concept of the operation but felt little drama in watching the events play out.  It was interesting to see the process of creating the identity of “Major Martin,” learning the considerations of how to make the body appear to be a drowning victim, certainly being satisfied that the complex plan did help in the ultimate invasion of Sicily, but even without prior knowledge of this tricky-tactic I was already aware of the successful Allied push into Italy while observing in the movie that once the “sucker-scenario” was put into action the managers of the plan back in London had to depend on hope/chance/luck it would actually work to trick those in the German high command so my involvement in what ultimately happens wasn’t as intense as it might have been with a fictional spy story.  Operation Mincemeat’s a well-enough-conceived-attempt at providing a look at a part of WW II history most of us likely didn’t know anything about (and it’s amazing it worked so well given how it would have fallen apart had the Germans simply returned "Martin’s" briefcase of documents to the British unopened), but, for me at least, it was a minor diversion on a Saturday night compared to the basketball triumph of the Warriors the night before.  What I do find more interesting in terms of befuddling Nazis is the PBS TV 4-episode-mini-series Masterpiece: Ridley Road (based on Jo Bloom’s history-based-novel of the same name [2014]) about a pair of young Jewish lovers (pictured above) who infiltrate Britain’s neo-Nazi party in 1962 (it began on May 1 of this year [originally ran in October 2021], but you can watch the previous 3 episodes of this rebroadcast at this site).   If you’d like to see … Mincemeat, though (certainly an educational experience), it did open in some venues last weekend (including a few in my San Francisco area) yet I find no indication of ticket sales; your most likely option is to stream it on Netflix if you’re a subscriber, though you might check around for theater possibilities in your area.

Bottom Line Final Comments: Here we have critics in a general CCAL mood—Rotten Tomatoes 84% positive reviews, Metacritic notably lower, as they regularly are, with a 65% average score (more details on both critics’-accumulation-sites regarding this movie [and anything else I review] in Related Links)—while I’m leaning toward the OCCU with my 3 stars, only 60% of my 5 stars-system (yet, I rarely go above 4 stars—saving those higher numbers for truly unique cinematic achievements—so my 3 is actually more complimentary than it seems).  I see this is as a well-made-production with highly-competent-acting from all involved; it just doesn’t engage me in the same manner as Ridley Road, possibly because I don’t know yet what to expect when I watch that final episode next Sunday (I can hope for the best but have no clue what happens as I’ve refrained from Internet summaries of the earlier broadcast) whereas with Operation Mincemeat I already know the Allies were successful in their breach of Italy in the mid-1940s leading to a slow victory march toward Germany even as I was surprised/pleased to learn of the secret strategy they employed to help achieve overthrowing Hitler’s horrid regime.  Speaking of Hitler (which I try not to do often), it was a pleasure in watching this movie to see an actual successful strategy being employed against real Nazis rather than reading about the ongoing bullshit Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps propagandizing today about liberating “Russian” Ukraine from control of the “Nazis” in that sovereign country's government.  If anyone is functioning as a ruthless dictator in that scenario, one needs to look no farther than what V. Putin must see in his (cracked) mirror every day.

 However, if the premise of Operation Mincemeat seems more intriguing than I’ve presented you might want to see in more detail what David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter says about it (includes “Handsomely shot by Sebastian Blenkov in dark, burnished tones befitting both the era and the secrecy of the plot, this is an agreeably old-fashioned movie elevated by sharp writing, impeccable performances and by a story all the more incredible because it actually happened.”)  All right, enough drivel from me so let’s close using my usual end-tactic of a Musical Metaphor, The Who’s “Who Are You?” (from their 1978 album of the song’s name, their last one before Keith Moon’s death) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_b54x1jyrc where the constantly-repeated-chorus of “Well, who are you? / I really want to know / Tell me who are you? ? Because I really want to know” would certainly allude to the Germans wanting to learn more about “Major Martin,” but there’s also relevance at least in the first verse about the singer (based on a drunken event of Pete Townsend’s) who “woke up in a Soho doorway […] throwing punches around” that could also allude to Glyndwr Michael whose destitute life found some meaning long after his seemingly-miserable-death when his vital (unknown to him, though) role in Operation Mincemeat was finally made public.

          

SHORT TAKES

             

Other Cinema-Related Stuff: Here's a cluster of some additional items you might like to know a bit more about: (1) 2023 Oscar ceremony will be on March 12 (I don't think Will Smith will be hosting); (2) Netflix has been quietly screening their new original movies, TV shows for small panels to get feedback before deciding to add them to their inventory; (3) Avatar sequel hopes to increase enthusiasm for 3-D projection; (4) New Oscar rules for 2023; (5) New movies opening this summer; (6) New and older movies coming to streaming in May 2022.

              

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:

           

We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts.*  Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage.  If you’d like to Like us on Facebook please visit our Facebook page. We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it!

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Here’s more information about Operation Mincemeat:

https://www.warnerbros.co.uk/movies/operation-mincemeat and 

https://www.netflix.com/title/81428563

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYGEMZ2MeuA (20:27 excellent documentary 

on Glyndwr Michael whose corpse was used as “Major Martin”)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/operation_mincemeat

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/operation-mincemeat

Please note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post.  You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow connect 

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If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work.  (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)

If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20^th century, not so much the contemporary world.  I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.

By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact, but maybe while there you’ll get a chance to meet Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, RIP).  Ken

P.S.  Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker (although, as you know, with bar songs there are plenty about people broken down by various tragic circumstances, with maybe the best of the bunch—calls itself “perfect”—being "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" written by Steve Goodman, sung by David Allen Coe).  But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion/lover/

wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest, a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes/wanes over the months/years to come. But, just as we can raunchy at times (in private of course) Neil and his backing band, Promise of the Real, on that same night also did a lengthy, fantastic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand" (19:06) which I’d also like to commit to this blog’s always-ending-tunes; I never get tired of listening to it, then and now (one of my idle dreams is to play guitar even half this well). But, while I’m at it, I’ll also include another of my top favorites, from the night before at Desert Trip, the Rolling Stones’ "Gimme Shelter" (Wow!), a song “just a shot away” in my memory (along with my memory of their great drummer, Charlie Watts, RIP).  To finish this cluster of all-time-great-songs I’d like to have played at my wake (as far away from now as possible) here’s one Dylan didn’t play at Desert Trip but it’s great, much beloved by me and Nina: "Visions of Johanna."

              

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