calvinnme SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING...when the countess double-crossed James Mason? She would spy on the Germans, she would help Mason's valet character, Diello, spy on the British. Like Diello said, money was like electric light to her. She gave no thought to the source until it was shut off. And in their last conversation it was obvious to her that Diello considered the money he made from spying to be his money, not theirs. Diello's big mistake during all of this is an underlying belief that there is any honor among thieves, and not realizing this is not a business venture as far as any of the parties are concerned.The film is about a valet at the British embassy in neutral Turkey using the lack of any strong security measures at that embassy to steal Allied secrets and sell them to the Germans, amassing a large fortune in just a couple of months. It is true he wants a life of leisure in a peaceful place, but he is also in love with the now impoverished Countess Anna Staviska. And he knows she has a mercenary soul, and though she might have been attracted to him when he was her late husband's valet, she would never give herself to any man unless he had wealth.Post-war thrillers about WWII were usually much better than anything made during the war because they could be honest about the mercenary people who had no patriotism. Such people always exist. However, I did note that the movie made a point of Diello saying that he was actually born in Albania, not England. This was supposedly based on a true story, so I do not know if that was the truth, or just added to keep the British from looking bad.Mason and the countess get the best lines of the film, but the Germans get a bunch too as they are shown - at least at the embassy - thinking more for themselves than you would give them credit.This is full of twists and turns, and do watch this to the very end, because the final irony is enough even to find Diello's funny bone.

SimonJack "5 Fingers" is based on a true story about the highest paying spy caper in history. It operated through the British embassy in Ankara, Turkey, from late 1943 to early 1944. Nazi Germany obtained many highly secret documents about Allied plans. The Nazis named the project "Operation Cicero." The movie is based on a 1950 book of the same title by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch. Most of the people in the film have fictional names except for the top German embassy staff. Moyzisch was an undercover Nazi SS officer. Count Franz von Papen was the real German Ambassador to Turkey. Hollywood made two major "cast" changes for this film. It deleted Nele Kapp, who became secretary to Moyzisch in the German embassy in January 1944, and it added the fictional character of Countess Anna Staviska. The countess makes the film more tantalizing and interesting and enables a surprise ending that is very clever and satisfying. Michael Wilson wrote a masterful screenplay. He won a Golden Globe for this film and has two Oscars to his credit – for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "A Place in the Sun." His dialog has some of the wittiest, biting lines ever written for the screen. Some are spoofs, others satire.All of the cast shine in this superb film. Other sources give details about the plot. For those interested in more of the history and film background, here are some more details. The deleted real person from the film, Nele Kapp, was the daughter of a prominent German diplomat. She became an American agent. Moyzisch says she blew the cover of Cicero. There's quite a story about her defection and how the Americans got her out of Turkey ahead of the Nazis killing her. The story of Nele Kapp would make a good movie all by itself. She eventually made it to America, married and wound up living in California. The real Cicero, Elyesa Bazna, was quite different from the man portrayed by James Mason. Bazna was Albanian, he served in the French military, and spent time in prison for stealing. He worked at different trades, and because he could speak three languages, he was hired to work in diplomatic circles. He was a doorman, a driver and guard, and finally was hired as the British ambassador's valet. This was all without a security background check. Some of the light satire points to the laxity of British security.Bazna was married a second time, and had live-in mistresses. His original contact was different from that shown in the movie, but it involved two rolls of film in exchange for £20,000 English. That was on Oct. 26, 1943. He sold many more rolls of film, with Moyzisch his contact. After his cover was blown, Bazna stayed in Ankara. He just quit spying in late February and gave his notice. He left the embassy around April 20. In the 1950s he lived in Istanbul with his family, and then moved to Munich, Germany in 1960 where he worked as a night watchman. He died there of kidney disease in 1970. Bazna wrote a book about Operation Cicero in 1962, "I Was Cicero."Bazna was paid £300,000 (about $1.2 million U.S. then) – most of it counterfeit. He hid the money until after the war. He then tried to build a hotel with a partner. But his payment with the counterfeit money landed him in prison for a time. The Nazis had made about £300 million in counterfeit money during the war (Operation Bernhard). They used it mostly for espionage. The largest payments were for Operation Cicero and £100,000 for Benito Mussolini's rescue. Most of the counterfeit money was captured at the end of the war and destroyed. As the movie shows, the Nazis used very little of the intelligence from Cicero. They got so much, so highly classified, that many doubted it could be real. Here are some samples of biting and sardonic lines. Von Papen, "Why did you leave Warsaw?" Countess, "Bombs were falling. I felt I was in the way." Von Papen, "And why did you come here? You and your late husband had lived so long in England." Countess, "I did not consider being bombed in London more attractive than being bombed in Warsaw." Countess, "Many of our German friends before the war would come as our guests to hunt wild pig. I refused to invite Goering. I couldn't tolerate his killing a wild pig. Seemed too much like brother against brother."Moyzisch, "Cicero?" Von Papen, "The name is the personal choice of Herr Ribbentrop." Moyzisch, "Has it any significance, sir?" Von Papen, "None that I know of. Except the surprising fact that Herr Ribbentrop has even heard of Cicero."Countess, "Unfortunately, I have a dinner engagement. But he's an undersecretary and used to waiting." Diello, "Any particular undersecretary, madam?" Countess, "Undersecretaries are never particular. Perhaps that's why they take me to dinner." Diello, "It's far more likely that in madam's presence they feel like ambassadors."Von Papen, "Half-witted, paranoid gangsters. Moyzisch, it's time you understand – we represent a government of juvenile delinquents." Moyzisch, "Yes, sir."Travers, "I'm probably just a gossip at that. Maybe that's why I like my work. Counter espionage is the highest form of gossip."Countess, "Do you have a nationality, Diello?" Diello, "Most people are born somewhere." Countess, "You're not a native Englishman. What are you?" Diello, "Albanian … English by adoption." Countess, "You're the only Albanian I've ever known." Diello, "You know one, you know them all." Moyzisch, "We would prefer that you come to the German consul at the same hour if you like." Diello, "No, thank you, although I'm tempted. So many more people go into German consulates than come out. I've often wondered what possible attraction would keep them there so long."

PamelaShort This masterfully scripted espionage thriller, based on a true story, keeps you in full suspense as to who will betray who. With the superb acting of James Mason as Cicero, a spy who operates in the British embassy, stealing secret information about the war, we are treated to a series of very tense and thrilling moments. Cicero is coolly self-confident, but he makes one terrible mistake, becoming involved with the beautiful Countess Anna Staviska, ( Danielle Darrieux ) who ultimately betrays him, with an ending for the cocky spy, that is surprisingly amusing. This very intriguing story is to good for me to spoil it for the reader with a synopsis, that I highly encourage you to watch and be thoroughly entertained as I always have been with this classic James Mason film, that was nominated for many impressive awards.

irvberg2002 The fictionalized aspects of the story are what give it the most zing. The actual spy, one Elyesa Bazna, was detected as the result of the disclosures of an allied spy who was an official in the German foreign ministry, one Fritz Kolbe (for the story about him, see "A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich" by Lucas Delattre), who provided Nazi documents to Allen Dulles in Bern, who, in turn, notified the British that their Ankara embassy was compromised. A couple of British security agents were sent to the embassy, where they changed the safes and their combinations. Their visit was made to appear normal and routine; neither Cicero nor the Germans ever knew what led to it and Cicero was put out of business well before Overlord was in play. Bazna wrote his own book, "Ich War Cicero", published in Munich in 1964.