Word: mankiewicz
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...presumably true) story of a valet who succeeded in photographing numerous top-secret Allied documents (including plans for the Normandy invasion) at the British Embassy in Ankara during the summer of 1944 and then selling them at extravagant prices to the Germans. Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and based on a book by L. C. Mayzisch called Operation Cicerco, the picture is frequently amusing and always exciting...
...actual facts of the case. Operation Cicerco is a script-writer's dream, loaded with enough surprises and ironic twists (including the fact that the Germans refused to believe that the documents were genuine) to fill half-a-dozen run-of-the-mill espionage thrillers. In addition, Mankiewicz's screenplay contains some effective frills of its own: a love affair between the valet and a former employer, a beautiful Polish countess, some bright epigrammatic dialogue, and an array of skillfully drawn diplomatic officials. Particularly clever use is made of the contrasting personalities of the pompous, victimized, British Ambassador (superbly played...
...only did "Cicero" conveniently turn up in Ankara during the location shooting of 5 Fingers, but I put him in touch with [Director] Joe Mankiewicz, who spent more than an hour in deep conversation with him in the gardens of the Ankara Palas Hotel. "Cicero," whose real name is Elesya Bazna ("Ulysses Diello" in the movie version), was only one of a dozen aliases adopted by this clever, unscrupulous little man during his daring exploits of espionage...
Shortly after Mankiewicz met Cicero, I turned up strong circumstantial evidence that Bazna, last July, was attempting to extract money from Soviet agents-including the chief of the MVD in Turkey. I informed the Turkish Sūretė, which trailed Bazna, arrested him and held him for . . . interrogations . . . He was released for want of documentary proof of his current espionage activities...
...again Joseph (All About Eve) Mankiewicz's direction is too heavy-handed for this light-fingered subject. The picture has several good chases through Istanbul and Ankara, but the film adaptation of onetime German Attaché L. C. Moyzisch's 1950 book, Operation Cicero, stresses screenplay rather than gunplay. Sample: when Cicero delivers his first batch of film to Moyzisch, he says pompously: "Destiny has held out its hand to you tonight. Take it and hold...