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5 Fingers
5 Fingers
Directed by	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Screenplay by	Michael Wilson; Uncredited:; Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Based on	Der fall Cicero; 1949 novel; by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch
Produced by	Otto Lang
Starring	James Mason; Danielle Darrieux; Michael Rennie
Cinematography	Norbert Brodine
Edited by	James B. Clark
Music by	Bernard Herrmann
Color process	Black and white
Production; company	20th Century Fox
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	March 7, 1952;
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1,350,000 (US rentals)

5 Fingers, known also as Five Fingers, is a 1952 American spy film noir directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Otto Lang. The screenplay written by Michael Wilson was based on the 1950 book Operation Cicero (original German: Der Fall Cicero) by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch, Nazi commercial attaché at the German embassy in Ankara, Turkey (1943–44).^[2]

The film is based on the true story of Albanian-born Elyesa Bazna, a spy with the code name of Cicero who worked for the Nazis in 1943–44 while he was employed as valet to the British ambassador to Turkey, Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen. Bazna would photograph top-secret documents and deliver the pictures to Franz von Papen, the German ambassador in Turkey and a former German chancellor, using Moyzisch as the intermediary.

James Mason plays Ulysses Diello (Cicero), the character based on Bazna. The film also stars Danielle Darrieux, Michael Rennie, Herbert Berghof and Walter Hampden.

Plot

In neutral Turkey in 1944, German ambassador Franz von Papen meets countess Anna Staviska, a Frenchwoman and the widow of a pro-German Polish count. Now destitute, the countess volunteers to become a spy for a fee, but her offer is declined.

Ulysses Diello approaches the German embassy attaché Moyzisch, offering to provide von Papen with top-secret British documents for a price of £20,000. The Germans do not know that Diello is the personal valet to British ambassador Sir Frederic Taylor as well as the former valet of the late count.

The photographed documents taken from Sir Frederic's safe prove to be genuine. Diello is given the code name Cicero and asked to continue his subterfuge. He gives his money to Anna for safekeeping and pays her a portion of it, provided that he is allowed to use her new villa as a meeting place for his transactions. When the valet also tells Anna of his dream of living in South America with her, she slaps his face but agrees to his conditions.

Moyzisch is summoned to Berlin by SS general Kaltenbrunner, suspicious of Cicero's true intent. Allied bombing of a Romanian oil refinery is executed, exactly as Cicero's photographed documents had outlined. Colonel von Richter is sent to Ankara to take command of the negotiations with Cicero, while the British send counterintelligence man Colin Travers to identify the spy.

Anna's newly found wealth and previous willingness to become a spy cause her to fall under suspicion by Travers, who also rigs the ambassador's safe with a burglar alarm. Von Richter requests a document detailing an Allied operation called Overlord, the D-Day invasion plan, and Cicero demands £40,000 for it.

Diello realizes that he could soon be killed by one side or captured by the other. He flees to South America, only to discover that Anna has stolen all of his money and departed to Switzerland. She sends a letter to Sir Frederic that identifies his valet as the spy being paid by the Germans. Diello removes the fuse for the safe's alarm, opens the safe, photographs the D-Day plans and intercepts the letter, but a cleaning woman replaces the fuse. When Diello returns the plans to the safe, he triggers the alarm and must flee.

Diello now knows for certain how Anna feels about him. Broke and on the run, Diello demands and receives a £100,000 payment from the Germans for the photographs of the D-Day plans. A second malicious letter from Anna to the Germans misinforms them that the valet is a British spy, causing them to disregard the D-Day information as unreliable.

Diello escapes alone to Rio, where he enjoys a new life of prosperity and freedom until Brazilian authorities arrest him because all of his money is counterfeit, created during Operation Bernhard. Realizing that Anna's money in Switzerland is also counterfeit offers him some consolation.

Cast

James Mason as Ulysses Diello
Danielle Darrieux as Countess Anna Staviska
Michael Rennie as Colin Travers
Walter Hampden as Sir Frederic Taylor
Oskar Karlweis as L. C. Moyzisch
Herbert Berghof as Colonel von Richter
John Wengraf as Count Franz von Papen
Ben Astar as Siebert (as A. Ben Astar)
Roger Plowden as Keith McFadden

Production

Location filming in Turkey had been planned but was canceled, as studios were becoming hesitant to shoot films abroad because of the high expense.^[3] However, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz traveled to Turkey with a film crew for exterior and background filming in Ankara, including Franz von Papen's original Mercedes-Benz limousine, which Mankiewicz located in Istanbul.^[4] While in Turkey, Mankiewicz spoke with Ludwig Carl Moyzisch by phone, and Moyzisch emerged from hiding to secretly observe Mankiewicz's filming. However, when authorities learned that Mankiewicz had been in contact with Moyzisch, they tried to prevent Mankiewicz from leaving the country with the film. The ordeal required the intercession of the highest levels of the Turkish government to permit Mankiewicz to depart Turkey with the film.^[5]

The studio recruited a technical advisor to teach James Mason a bit of the Turkish language, but Mason had learned enough conversational Turkish while spending five months in Turkey making Secret of Stamboul (1936) that the advisor's services were not necessary.^[6]

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "Those who may fear that the old days of silken spy films are as dead as the gone days of diamond tiaras and princely diplomacy can now settle back in the comfort and the tingling satisfaction to be had from Twentieth Century Fox 'Five Fingers' ... For here, in this literate entertainment Joseph L. Mankiewicz has made with a cast that might well have been recruited at an embassy function in pre-war Berlin, is as dandy an espionage thriller as ever went through the polished hands of a Grahame Greene or an Alfred Hitchcock—or for that matter, an E. P. Oppenheim."^[7]

William Brogdan of Variety criticized the film's length, calling it "a good if somewhat overlong cloak-and-dagger thriller."^[8]

Boxoffice called 5 Fingers a "semi-documentary" that is "a trifle too long."^[9]

Picturegoer called the film "gripping" and predicted that it would lift James Mason's career into a higher level of stardom: "The story gets off to a slow start, but once Jimmy Mason arrives, he puts an end to all that ... Hollywood has a new star."^[10]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on reviews from seven critics. Critics lauded Otto Lang's emphasis on realism and authenticity, praising the film's use of location shooting in Berlin, Ankara, London and Istanbul that "befits its avowedly authentic subject matter."^[9]

Awards

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Director for Mankiewicz and Best Screenplay for Wilson. Mankiewicz was also nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures by the Directors Guild of America and Wilson was nominated for Best Written American Drama by the Writers Guild of America. He won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay and the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Screenplay.

Television adaptation

Five Fingers was adapted into a 1959–1960 16-episode television series starring David Hedison and Luciana Paluzzi.

References

^ 'Top Box-Office Hits of 1952', Variety, January 7, 1953
^ Heatts, Dorothy J. "Footnote to Cicero". CIA.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
^ Hefferman, Harold (1951-07-08). "Actors Cheer as Moguls Halt Foreign Films". Sunday Journal and Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. p. 6-D.
^ Lyons, Leonard (1951-07-08). "The Lyons Den". The Huntsville Times. p. 19.
^ Parsons, Louella (1951-08-11). "'Operation Cicero' Is Filmed". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 16.
^ "James Mason Has Some Hidden Talent". Press-Telegram. 1952-01-31. p. A5.
^ Crowther, Bosley (1952-02-23). "The Screen in Review: 'Five Fingers,' a Spy Thriller Starring James Mason, New Feature at Roxy Theatre". The New York Times. p. 7.
^ Brogdan, William (1952-02-13). "Film Reviews: 5 Fingers". Variety. No. 185. p. 6. ProQuest 1016964572. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
^ ^a ^b "Feature Reviews: 5 Fingers". Boxoffice. No. 60. 1952-02-16. pp. b10. ProQuest 1529091210. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
^ H.S (April 5, 1952). "Talking of Films: Five Fingers". Picturegoer. No. 23. pp. 16–17. ProQuest 1705139458. Retrieved September 26, 2022.

Bazna published his own account of the events in his book, I Was Cicero, in 1962 (Bazna, Elyesa, with Hans Nogly. I Was Cicero. New York: Harper & Row, 1962)