Operation Mincemeat (2021) on Netflix
Britain has promised the United States an invasion of Sicily. Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley devise a deception: a corpse carrying false papers, so Germany expects a landing in Greece.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb6.6/1044,787 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes84%
Trailer
Plot summary
Admiral John Godfrey suggests that Britain deceive Nazi Germany into expecting the Allies to land in Greece, not Sicily. Ewen Montagu, a Jewish barrister whose wife Iris and children have gone to the United States, joins the Twenty Committee, bringing his secretary Hester Leggett. Charles Cholmondeley draws on the Trout Memo for a plan: false documents planted on a corpse that German intelligence will find. Montagu, Cholmondeley and Ian Fleming prepare the scheme. The body of a vagrant, Glyndwr Michael, is given the identity of Major William Martin of the Royal Marines, with papers that build a backstory. Jean Leslie, a widowed secretary in the office, gives a photograph of herself to stand as Martin's fiancée, Pam, and Hester writes a love letter for him. Cholmondeley is drawn to Jean.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Operation Mincemeat (2021)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
The body used in the wartime deception was given the identity of Major William Martin. The man's real name, Glyndwr Michael, was only revealed in 1997, when an epitaph bearing it was added to Martin's headstone in Spain.- In real life the false love letters for Operation Mincemeat may or may not have been written by Hester Leggatt. Ben Macintyre says she wrote them, while Denis Smyth identifies the author as Paddy Bennett, later Lady Ridsdale, who claimed she had written them.
- Although the main thrust of the film is historically accurate, the filmmakers made omissions and additions that were not in MacIntyre's book, including an invented sub-plot involving a love triangle between Montagu, Cholmondeley and Leslie.
