Saturday, June 02, 2012

Garbo

   At The Cinema                           



Garbo


Like many of you, uh - senior agents,  I have immersed myself in WWII history. Like oil from a sunken freighter,  there's a seemingly endless supply of new stuff seeping out.   New to me, anyway.

 For some time NetFlix has been pushing the film "Garbo" on me. I really enjoyed "Garbo Talks," and I love biographies, so today I queued it up.  This Garbo, however, turned out to be one Juan Pujol Garcia.. This Spaniard, and a double agent during WWII,  more than anyone else  allowed the Normandy invasion to be carried off properly.  A real pistol.

Early on he went to the British embassy in Madrid and offered his services, in any capacity.  He was turned down.  So, he went to the Germans and told them he had ties in Britain, and offered his services to them.  They took him up on it.  Garcia (later named Garbo by the Brits, because he was the best actor they'd ever seen) set about setting up a network of spies all over Europe, and passing info to the Abwher (Nazi intelligence).  Except, all it was made up.  Everything.  He told them he was in London, but he'd never set foot in England, and was instead living in some Spanish fishing village, inventing  the agents, the information- all of it.  The Germans bought into it lock stock and barrel.  He tried three more times to work for the Allies, telling them that he was a trusted German spy, but was turned away. 

What finally made them sit up and take notice was a false report he sent the Germans about a massive convoy launched from England to break the siege of Malta. The Germans countered with a huge convoy to intercept this non-existent armada and,  finally, the Brits thought, holy crap!  This guy could be useful.  It made me giggle like a school girl to watch how this played out.  The money the Germans payed him actually funded British intelligence during the war.  I love happy endings.


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing this movie years ago and enjoyed it. It was great watching it play out.

Love happy endings myself . . . good thing this current day crowd wasn't around then. We'd all be talking German. This crowd would've been spiking the ball half way through the operation, taking credit.

How far we've fallen!
Geo

DougM said...

Good recommendation!
Here's another anti-Hitler plot.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

and another forehead sticker Doug +++

Alear said...

We saw this Billy Wilder flick last night, Rodg, and all I could think was that Jimmy Cagney was playing a younger you. He *really* didn't like commie ratbastids.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

All I get is a Net Flix sign-in page Alear

Alear said...

Sorry Chief, that Netflix link works for me.

Anyway, it's called "One, Two, Three". Very funny, especially if one imagines Cagney as you. Here's the blurb:

Director Billy Wilder's Cold War farce comes off at a breakneck pace that will leave your head spinning. C.J. McNamara (James Cagney) is a Coca-Cola executive who travels to Berlin to promote the product on the other side of the Iron Curtain. But he soon learns that his real job is baby-sitting his boss's teenage daughter, Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin), who has secretly married volatile Communist Otto Piffl (Horst Bucholz).

Alear said...

Oh, this also came to mind while watching One, Two, Three. If you're a fan of the umpteen gazillion parodies of that scene in Downfall (Hitler in his bunker whining), there's about 2 minutes here that are ripe for the picking. Nazis torturing commies, what could be better? Wish I had the youtube talent to do it.

Alear said...

Here's the youtube that's ripe for the chyroning. Like the movie, only the first half is worth it, but my oh my is it worth it!!!

Anonymous said...

My bride and I have been watching "Winds of War" with Robt. MItchum, focusing on the time before our entry into the war, when we were officially neutral. Good stuff.

Alear said...

Ok, last comment on this thread by me, but I like this line: "He's not a communist, he's a Republican. From the Republic of East Germany."

Rodger the Real King of France said...

I just added it; probably watch it later today, Thanks,

Chuckles said...

If you haven't already seen it, The BrylCreem Boys is well worth it

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115770/

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