The Man Who Never Was : Did we see the spy leave?

Did we see the spy leave?

For quite some time, I have had the impression that there was a brief scene showing the spy the day after he made his report, boarding a boat to return to wherever he came from. The movie that's being shown on the cable channels doesn't have such a scene. The original release was 103 minutes, and so are the ones on cable, so it doesn't seem likely there was such a scene. Could I be confusing the movie with the later TV series of the same name?

Re: Did we see the spy leave?

Just finished watching the DVD. There was no scene showing the spy after he sent his message verifying that Martin was genuine, so no, there was nothing showing him leave.

Re: Did we see the spy leave?

I just assumed that he stayed in England and would get his further orders and move on to another spy job.

Re: Did we see the spy leave?

This has always been one of the small threads left hanging in this film. From the exchange in the pub between Montagu (Clifton Webb) and General Coburn, the counterintelligence official (Michael Hordern) near the end, we can probably assume that they'll let him leave the country to insure that the Germans remain convinced that the deception plan is real. (When Coburn says he'll probably be out of the country in a few days, Montagu replies yes, and that they must let him go, because after all he's done them no great harm.) So, presumably, the spy does indeed leave shortly afterward, unmolested, though we can assume British Intelligence now has a record of him and will watch for his return on some later mission.

What I've always wondered about is what O'Reilly (Stephen Boyd) does with his radio equipment. He was told not to contact the taxi driver/agent again unless it was an emergency, so he wouldn't be returning the set to him. Did he just burn it in the back yard? Dump it in the Thames? He couldn't leave it lying about. And did the German espionage network in Britain have so many spare suitcases of radio gear hanging around that they could afford to have them disposed of after each mission? (I started a thread on that question on this board.)

As to the OP's question, while the spy doesn't leave in a sub in this film, that ending does ring a bell with me, but right now I can't remember what film it may have been.

Re: Did we see the spy leave?

Yes, the Brits wanted him to return to leave unharmed so there would be no questions or uncertainty from the Germans.

Re: Did we see the spy leave?

Which means, I guess, that they would have blown the whole thing had he shown up at the bank...

--------
See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc

Re: Did we see the spy leave?

I know it's a little late to the game, and someone has mentioned it in one of the other threads, but the whole Irish spy part is a creation for the book/film (I haven't read the book, so I don't actually know if it's in there.)

The double-cross system had picked up almost every single enemy German agent in Britain (Apart from one I believe, who they found had killed himself.) And they were also listening to German radio traffic, so they were fully aware of whenever the Germans wanted to send an agent over (this was the case with agent Zigzag)

There were still a few mistakes that would have been noticeable if anyone had really looked into it. A competent pathologist would have noticed several discrepancies with the body of Major Martin, and small details such as a receipt for a bed and breakfast where Major Martin claimed to have stayed. The guest book was signed much later after the date of the receipt and was merely added to the bottom of the page (looking quite out of place).
Top