Five fingers, yes; five stars, not quite. In a heavily ironic story based, amazingly, on fact, Mason plays a valet working for Sir Frederic (Hampden), the British ambassador in WWII Ankara. Using the pseudonym Cicero, he uses his position to sell military secrets to the Germans. The
scheming servant sets up Countess Anna (Darrieux), a down-and-out noblewoman, in a mansion and uses it to meet with Nazi agents. The Germans pay handsomely for Cicero's information even though the Nazi high command considers the secrets--including the real time and date of the invasion in
Europe--too incredible to be believed. They are afraid, however, to shut off the flow of information and keep purchasing Cicero's documents. The British finally discover a leak in the embassy, and George Travers (Rennie) leads a team of agents to unearth the spy.
Director Mankiewicz, who also contributed some uncredited dialogue, provides the skillful if somewhat cold direction and holds suspense from beginning to end. Also noteworthy is the fine work of cinematographer Brodine. Although the film never gets us close to any of the characters, Mason is
nonetheless a suave wonder to behold as the shifty, ever-alert Albanian valet who outwits British intelligence. In real life Cicero managed to sell German intelligence 35 top-secret documents. The Nazis never acted on any of them. leave a comment