Five Fingers

Five Fingers, based on a true war-time espionage tale by the German military attache in Ankara, could have been an important study of how a little man from the lower class becomes a big man from the upper class. As the movie develops, however, it is evident that director Joseph L. Mankiewicz wanted to produce merely an amusing little spy thriller, and that's exactly what he's done.

Main interest must focus on James Mason who plays the role of British Ambassador's valet in neutral Turkey. Top secret minutes from the Teheran conference and plans for the Normandy invasion are stuffed in the Embassy's flimsy safe, and Mason knows the combination. Frustrated by his menial life, he photographs the documents and sells the film to the incredulous Nazis. While he amasses roughly two hundred thousand pounds in weekly installments, both Berlin and London bureaucrats are so mystified that they neither put the secret information to use, nor stop the security leak. And there is a woman. She gets her just desserts when the money which Mason got from the Germans is found to be counterfeit. Despite utter defeat in love and finance, he just laughs an ironic laugh, and in doing so achieves the maturity of a "big" man.

James Mason's treatment of Cicero, the spy, is hardly "noble, eloquent, and dissatisfied" as he remembers the Roman orator whom he wishes to emulate. Unfortunately his own way of subduing unleashed ambition is uncertain, and while his eloquence nevers falters, his nobility wavers too much for him to be a spy in the grand manner. The spy, he observes, "must have disgust for poverty, and faith in the future of money." Though continually dedicated to becoming affluent, he sometimes seems unsure of how to do it. This ambiguity makes him dubious as a character who claims to be the greatest spy in history, and Mason's submission to human frailty occasionally leaves an incomplete and meaningless impression.

Danielle Darrieux retains an aristocratic air throughout her relations with valet Mason. Her scheming has a real scope, and her sardonic, unrelenting smile is very convincing. Michael Rennie, nattily attired in a Bond-tailored-to-measure suit, is the London office's special troubleshooter sent to Ankara to bust open the nasty mess. He and his Hollywood-styled henchmen, who take part in the inevitable last-reel chase, resemble Dragnet posses currently on view on television. Otherwise, settings appear authentic, and the total lightweight result is quite entertaining.