Hollywood character actor Clifton Webb (Laura) takes the lead role in this intriguing Second World War espionage drama about the real-life plan to fool the Nazis into believing that the Allies had no interest in invading Sicily from North Africa. Webb plays Ewen Montagu, the mastermind behind the scheme, in which a corpse, a British one, is washed ashore with secret papers marking Greece as the invasion site. But the Germans aren't so easily convinced and send Irish agent Stephen Boyd to London to investigate, which naturally enough calls for the presence of a local love interest (Gloria Grahame). Directed efficiently by Ronald Neame and scripted by Nigel Balchin (who won a Bafta for his work), the picture may appear overly reverent by today's standards. But this is still a crucial spy tale from the last war that is well worth watching.

The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to German Intelligence.