Hell, Heaven or Hoboken

Exactly the sort of film they don't make any more. A fun tale of low-key derring-do. The always excellent John Mills is the main draw, but there are also fabulous turns from some of the best known British character players of the mid-20th Century. Overall, the film makes for perfect lazy Sunday afternoon viewing.

This is a wonderful war film--mostly because it is NOT about fighting and shooting--we certainly have had a lot of that sort of film. I like films that show a different side--the seldom-known acts of heroism such as the film "Dam Busters" or "The Man Who Never Was". In "Hell, Heaven or Hoboken" (a badly renaming of "I Was Monty's Double"), you have the true story about a regular enlisted man and actor who was chosen to imitate General Montgomery--the leader of the British forces during WWII. The plan was to have the double go on a tour of North Africa around the same time as the Normandy invasion in Northern France--so that the Germans would assume the assault would come from the South as well as much later. This film is about the formation and execution of this ultra-top secret plan. It's filled with tension and is very, very watchable--much of it due to good writing, direction and excellent acting (it sure didn't hurt having John Mills and Cecil Parker along with the real-life double, M.E. Clifton-James in this leading role).

I say watch this interesting film--it's a dandy. However, I did have one problem with the film--albeit a minor one and one more for history buffs like myself. The film used a lot of stock footage--most of it reasonably good. However, some of it was way too grainy and scratchy and made the film look cheap in spots--such as the footage of Bf-109s and Spitfires scrambling. Also, SOME of this real-life story is NOT real-life--such as the very exciting finale involving Nazi commandos! Still, a lovely little film and there's an awful lot to like!

I was particularly tickled by the sight of James,as himself,during his training in a sequence where he observes himself,as Monty in order to study his demeanour,walk & mannerisms, before the real masquerade. Now that's acting! The news theatre at the end where Mills & James watch the newsreel was clearly the former Times by Baker St underground & close to Madame Tussauds. Would make a good double feature to support "The Man Who Never Was" - a similar intelligence con to mislead the Nazis on plans for the invasion of Europe. Probably the biggest laugh comes from the icy and withering remarks of John Le Mesurier (as James' adjutant)on his contempt for the acting profession, in a brief early scene where he initially reports for "duty" as a lowly corporal.

Apparently using doubles as decoys to fool the enemy is nothing new. It takes place even now.

During World War 2 there were several Winston Churchill lookalikes in good employment.

I first saw this film as a kid and thought it was fantastically entertaining. The film takes place a few months before the D-Day landings are due to take place.

The British government wants to have a campaign of misinformation and spread rumours that the landings might take place at a locations other than Normandy

Clifton James was an actor who had an uncanny resemblance to General Montgomery and is enticed by John Mills to impersonate the man himself in order to dupe the Germans.

The film is a straightforward adaptation of James real life story although more tension and humour has been added as well as a kidnapping storyline at the latter part of the movie which did not actually occur.

Also in real life James was fond of a drink and smoke unlike the real Monty.

It is a shame that Clifton James did not get more acting roles after the war although this film does mark his contribution to the war effort.

With some considerable dramatic license the story of one of the best intelligence operations of World War II is told in I Was Monty's Double. The film is based on the book by actor F.E. Clifton James who plays himself and Bernard Law Montgomery as he did for a fateful few weeks in World War II.

John Mills and Cecil Parker two officers from British Intelligence become James's handlers in the terminology we would use today. Mills while attending a service variety show sees James do a walk on as Field Marshal Montgomery and is struck by the audience reaction to him. The germ of an idea comes to Mills to have the actor play Montgomery for the widest audience possible, to give him a grand tour of the various fronts of the war. This in order to divert Nazi attention from the United Kingdom where the cross channel invasion is being prepared and Montgomery very much a part of the planning. In fact you can see some of his real role there in the TV mini-series Ike and in The Longest Day.

Of course James carried the masquerade off beautifully. My favorite scene is James at a press conference in Cairo with allied war correspondents where he's at first hesitant with this cynical bunch, but grows in confidence and wins them over with a speech that you might have seen the real Bernard Law Montgomery deliver during his lifetime.

Two others who give noteworthy performances in the film are Michael Hordern as the Governor General of Gibraltar and Marius Goring who is a German agent whom Mills, Parker and James deliberately give misinformation to in order to confirm how effective the plan is working.

The whole business in the end is pure fiction which I won't reveal, but that doesn't detract from making this a first rate account of an amazing adventure. One even Stephen Spielberg would envy.