Product Details

• Actors: James Mason, Danielle Darrieux, Michael Rennie, Walter Hampden, Oskar Karlweis
• Directors: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Writers: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, L.C. Moyzisch, Michael Wilson
• Producers: Gerd Oswald, Otto Lang
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Language: English, German, Portuguese, Turkish
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303102433
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,303 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional WWII Spy Movie, May 29, 2005

By	Westley (Stuck in my head) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Rather astonishingly, "5 Fingers" is based on a true story of WWII espionage in Turkey. In the British consulate in Ankara, an enigmatic spy is selling confidential information to the Germans. James Mason plays Ulysses Diello, a practically perfect manservant who dreams of a better life. He plots to become a 'gentleman' via his spying and teams up with an impoverished Polish Countess (Danielle Darrieux). Buckle your seatbelts, because it's going to be a bumpy night!

Mason's suave British demeanor has never been used to such perfect effect. He's spectacular as the pragmatic spy, who is given the codename "Cicero." Danielle Darrieux is nearly as good in her role, as are the supporting cast. The film is as enjoyable and well-made a spy flick as you're likely to ever see. The Oscar nominated script is filled with sharp writing, unforeseen plot twists, and some genuine laughs. Joseph L. Mankiewicz ("All About Eve") directed and received an Oscar nomination -- it's among his very best work. Why this movie is not better known is a mystery. "5 Fingers" has every element of a true classic -- most highly recommended.

Trivia: The movie was made into a short lived 1955 TV series ("Operation Cicero"), with Ricardo Montalban in the Mason role!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Black Comedy Of Espionage And Exquisite Manners; One Of James Mason's Best Films, December 23, 2005

By	C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Picture the results of the Normandy invasion if the Germans had known in advance that the Second Front would take place there in early June. It turns out they did know...and they didn't believe the information was true. Note that elements of the plot are discussed.

Ulysses Diallo (James Mason) is the valet to the British ambassador to neutral Turkey in 1944. He has perfect manners. He is invaluable to the ambassador. He is trusted. Diallo was born in Albania but came to England at an early age. Determined to become an English gentlemen, he decided that the best way to learn was to become an English gentleman's gentleman. "I may not be a gentleman yet," he tells Countess Anna Staviska (Danielle Darrieux) one evening after she slaps his face, "but I am the best gentleman's gentleman." The Countess has lost her husband and her wealth in the war, and now is an increasingly poor but highly attractive woman who is willing to serve the Germans or the English for money. In Ankara, full of intrigue and agents, there are always opportunities. Diallo had also, at one time, been gentleman's gentleman to her husband.

Diallo decides he can make very large sums of money by photographing secret documents the Ambassador keeps in the embassy safe, to which Diallo has access, and giving them to the Germans. He will insist on being paid in English pounds sterling. He estimates over a period of a few weeks he'll have enough funds to live the life of a gentleman in Rio de Janeiro. He recruits the countess to help him, to be his banker, in exchange for funds he will pay her. And as the days go by, their arrangement extends to her bed. The German's pay, but they aren't sure of the man they have code named Cicero. The information appears to be too good to be true. They suspect a British trick.

The British now begin to suspect there is a leak in the embassy. They send a man from London to find out. Things get dicey, but Diallo makes one last theft and is almost caught by the British. After turning over the photographs and getting his money, he also barely escapes from German agents who now want him, too. What was his last batch of documents he photographed and turned over to the Germans? Specific information on Normandy. The information was so big and came from a source so unlikely -- a valet -- that the Germans didn't believe it and took no action. This is a true story.

As for Diallo, well, he didn't care whether the Germans believed him or not, as long as they paid. He didn't even care what the documents contained as long as they were stamped Top Secret. But at the end of the movie, dining in his dinner jacket on the terrace of his sumptuous Rio villa, served by a discrete gentleman's gentleman of his own, he is visited by his banker and a senior Brazilian police officer. Diallo had already learned that it wasn't wise to trust the Countess. Now he is about to he learn he shouldn't have trusted the Germans.

Espionage may be the name of the game here, but the movie is really a black comedy of exquisite manners. No one could read a line of dialogue with the mixture of cool contempt and self amusement the way James Mason could. He is utterly self possessed. Even when he is taken off guard, as the Countess manages to do, he recovers quickly with a shrug. Mason's Diallo is a complete mercenary, so amused by life that he becomes a captivating villain. Danielle Darrieux almost matches him in the Countess' determination to reach her former social position. They make a fine, selfish, wary couple.

Joseph Mankiewicz directed the movie. The screenplay is credited to Michael Wilson, although IMDb lists Mankiewicz as an uncredited screenwriter. The dialogue is full of Mankiewicz-style amused cynicism. The movie is available in VHS as well as a Region 2 DVD. The DVD looks just fine. There are no extras. The time is long overdue for this movie to appear in a Region 1 DVD.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WWII betrayal and espionage, December 25, 2003

By	Cory D. Slipman (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Five Fingers is a documentary style recounting of a true story involving espionage in neutral WWII Turkey.

The refined and impeccably spoken James Mason plays the traitorous Ulysses Diello, personal valet for the British ambassador to Turkey. Code named Cicero, Mason photographs precious wartime secrets pilfered from the ambassador's safe and sells them to the Nazis. Mason coaxes the exotic Danielle Darrieux playing the now penniless Polish Countess Staviska, wife of his previous employer, to partake in his ruthless ploy.
Insatiable in their desire for money, both Mason and Darrieux betray their friends and countries to the Gestapo.

Joseph Mankiewicz does a creditable job directing this reprehensible tale based on the book by L.C. Moyzisch, a member of the German consulate and bit player in this drama.