Incredible True Story Behind Colin Firth’s War Movie on TV Tonight!

Warning: if you tune in to watch “The Ruse” tonight, prepare to be swept up in a story that is as astonishing as it is true! The film revisits the intriguing Operation Mincemeat of 1943, devised to break Hitler’s grip on occupied Europe. The mission for two brilliant British intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (played by Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen)? To craft the most unlikely and ingenious piece of war propaganda based on the existence of a deceased secret agent!

“The Ruse” tells how, in 1943, the Allies concocted a scheme to deceive Hitler by securing a corpse to which they assigned a false identity. They dressed it in military uniform, making it appear to be a courier, and fabricated a story that the body had drifted to the Spanish coast following a maritime accident. When Nazi spies recovered the body, they discovered forged documents suggesting that the Allied forces were planning to land in Greece, not Italy.

This incredible true story that altered the course of World War II inspired Ben Macintyre’s book, which in turn inspired John Madden, the Oscar-winning director of “Shakespeare in Love,” to adapt it into a film. The best-selling author explains why this scarcely believable episode proved so pivotal in the conflict. “Operation Mincemeat was perhaps the most accomplished military ruse ever undertaken,” the novelist stated. “Its creators were supposed to make the Germans believe in illusions. And they did so in a most extraordinary way. It’s almost like something out of fiction – and indeed it is!”

James Bond’s Creator Behind the Deception!

Engaging, intelligent, and filled with romantic allure and impeccable period detail, “The Ruse” is an old-fashioned spy film you won’t soon forget. Most astonishingly? The mastermind behind the military gambit was none other than Ian Fleming, creator of the James Bond series (portrayed on screen by Johnny Flynn), who was inspired by a mystery novel by Basil Thomson. Fleming was then assistant to Admiral Godfrey, the head of naval intelligence during the war and the inspiration for the character M in the James Bond novels. This led Fleming to propose Thomson’s idea to Godfrey. “It’s quite amusing to see Ian Fleming, before he wrote James Bond, deeply involved in the war effort, especially knowing the man he would later become,” concluded producer Emile Sherman.

Interested in rediscovering an unbelievable but true story from World War II? Then don’t miss “The Ruse” – you’ll have to pinch yourself to believe it!

Tonight on TF1 Séries Films at 9:10 PM