History Film / FiveFingers1952

Ulysses Diello, the suave, amoral valet to the British ambassador in neutral Turkey, plans to get riches and status by passing Allied secrets to the Germans. He is given the codename Cicero by the Germans.

''5 Fingers'' is a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII spy film directed by Creator/JosephLMankiewicz, starring Creator/JamesMason, Creator/DanielleDarrieux and Michael Rennie. It's [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory based on the true story of Elyesa Bazna]], a spy who posed as the British ambassador's valet.

* FreakierThanFiction: Although this did not come out until long after the film was made, Cicero/Diello's real-life counterpart, Bazna, [[spoiler: was probably being fed information by the British Double Cross System. Or maybe that claim was a face-saving lie put together in 1962 by British Intelligence in cahoots with Bazna. That was when MI6 assisted Bazna in writing his memoirs (''I was Cicero'') as a riposte to the claim made in his German controller Moyzisch's memoirs (''Who was Cicero?'') that he and Cicero had fooled the British.]] After the war, the real life Cicero tried to sue the West German government for back pay.

''5 Fingers'' is a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII spy film directed by Creator/JosephLMankiewicz, starring Creator/JamesMason, Danielle Darrieux and Michael Rennie. It's [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory based on the true story of Elyesa Bazna]], a spy who posed as the British ambassador's valet.

''5 Fingers'' is a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII spy film directed by Creator/JosephLMankiewicz, starring James Mason, Danielle Darrieux and Michael Rennie. It's [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory based on the true story of Elyesa Bazna]], a spy who posed as the British ambassador's valet.

''5 Fingers'' is a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII spy film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring James Mason, Danielle Darrieux and Michael Rennie. It's [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory based on the true story of Elyesa Bazna]], a spy who posed as the British ambassador's valet.

''5 Fingers'' is a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII spy film VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory concerning the efforts of Ulysses Diello, the suave, amoral valet to the British ambassador in neutral Turkey, to get riches and status by passing Allied secrets to the Germans. He is given the codename Cicero by the Germans.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Most of the film, though it veers into VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory for the final part. Agent Cicero did exist, really was the valet of the British ambassador to Turkey, and was for some time an immensely successful spy. The first part of the film is fairly true to life, although the real Cicero was called Elyeza Bazna, spoke poor English and was [[AdaptationalAttractiveness far from the perfect facsimile of an English gentleman as portrayed by James Mason in the film]]. The second part of the film concerning the pursuit after Cicero flees the Ambassador's residence is pure fiction.

* FreakierThanFiction: Although this did not come out until long after the film was made in 1952, Cicero/Diello's real-life counterpart, Bazna, [[spoiler: was probably being fed information by the British Double Cross System. Or maybe that claim was a face-saving lie put together in 1962 by British Intelligence in cahoots with Bazna. That was when MI6 assisted Bazna in writing his memoirs (''I was Cicero'') as a riposte to the claim made in his German controller Moyzisch's memoirs (''Who was Cicero?'') that he and Cicero had fooled the British.]] After the war, the real life Cicero tried to sue the West German government for back pay.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: the German ambassador to Turkey, Franz Von Papen, formerly German Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor under Hitler, and one of the old-school German aristocrats who wrongly thought they could control Hitler if he were brought into the government. The actor John Wengraf, ironically in real life a refugee from the Nazis, looked astonishingly like the historical Von Papen. Von Papen is played fairly sympathetically, as is another German character who really existed, Cicero's controller Ludwig Carl Moyzisch.

* NoHonorAmongThieves / ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: The norm. [[spoiler: Anna]] betrays Diello, then the Germans decide Diello has outlived his usefulness, upon which Diello escapes them and unabashedly accepts the British offer to "turn" him, then he eludes both sets of would-be masters and [[spoiler: escapes to South America with his final payment for providing details of Operation Overlord]]. There at last he finally attains the life of a gentleman with servants of his own, [[spoiler: until his arrest for passing [[CounterfeitCash counterfeit]] money - the British banknotes with which the Germans had paid him were forgeries.]]

* SarcasticConfession: When Diello first meets Von Richter, and Von Richter demands to know who he really is, Diello asks if he would believe it if Diello said he was really a servant to the British ambassador. Naturally, Von Richter doesn't.

* BasedOnATrueStory for most of the film but veering onto VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory for the final part: Agent Cicero did exist, really was the valet of the British ambassador to Turkey, and was for some time an immensely successful spy. The first part of the film is fairly true to life, although the real Cicero was called Elyeza Bazna, spoke poor English and was [[AdaptationalAttractiveness far from the perfect facsimile of an English gentleman as portrayed by James Mason in the film]]. The second part of the film concerning the pursuit after Cicero flees the Ambassador's residence is pure fiction.
* FemmeFatale: Countess Anna Staviska

'''''5 Fingers''''' is a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII spy film VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory concerning the efforts of Ulysses Diello, the suave, amoral valet to the British ambassador in neutral Turkey, to get riches and status by passing Allied secrets to the Germans. He is given the codename Cicero by the Germans.

* TheJeeves: Subverted, with more than a hint of FridgeHorror. Diello plays the part of a loyal gentleman's personal gentleman to perfection but is inwardly consumed by resentment at his low social status. If you have ever wondered what Jeeves would turn into should he start to dwell on why a person so intelligent and cultured as himself should be a mere servant, the answer is Diello.

* BasedOnATrueStory for most of the film but veering onto VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory for the final part: Agent Cicero did exist, really was the valet of the British ambassador to Turkey, and was for some time an immensely successful spy. The first part of the film is fairly true to life, although the real Cicero was called Elyeza Bazna, spoke poor English and was far from the perfect facsimile of an English gentleman as portrayed by James Mason in the film. The second part of the film concerning the pursuit after Cicero flees the Ambassador's residence is pure fiction.