| In the Book |
In the Movie |
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Admiral John Godfrey was in favor of Operation Mincemeat from the beginning. |
Admiral John Godfrey does not like the Mincemeat plan, but allows it to go ahead. He is the film's primary antagonist. |
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Montagu confers with Bernard Spilsbury about passing a dead body from poisoning as a drowning victim. Spilsbury says it is not a problem and there are no skillful coroners in Spain that could detect the difference. He is wrong on both counts as his skills are fading with age and technological improvements. |
Bernard Spilsbury is not in the film. Bentley Purchase says a highly skilled coroner would be needed to tell how Glyndor Michael died.
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Mrs. Montagu and her children are sent to America at the beginning of WWII as they are Jewish and targets of the Nazis if they should invade. |
Montagu sends his wife and children to America a few years after the war has started. |
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Jean Lesie is already gainfully employed in MI5 and requests no other duties. |
Cholmondeley approaches Jean Leslie in their office for a photo of Martin's fake girlfriend “Pam”. She gives up a photograph, in exchange for a “place at the table”.
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Captain Ronnie Reed of MI5 is photographed for Major Martin's ID card. |
They use Jean Leslie's American boyfriend, Sgt Dearborn. |
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Jean Leslie is 19 years old and working for MI5. She supplied a photo of her at the beach taken by a man she dated. |
Jean Leslie is in her forties and widow. She supplies an old photo of herself at the beach.
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Admiral Godfrey has a habit of irritating his superiors and is replaced by Commodore Edmund Rushbrooke. Montogau and Cholmondeley miss Godfrey's advice, but now have an entirely free hand in the operation. |
Admiral Godfrey remains in command of the operation throughout the film. |
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Glyndor Michael did not have any known surviving relatives in England. While Ian Fleming was aware of Operation Mincemeat, he was not actually involved as much as depicted in the film.
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The team talk to Glyndor Michael's sister after she finds out her brother died. She wants his body back, but Montagu says they are using him for a top secret mission. She threatens to call the police as she suspects they are abusing his corpse. Ian Fleming offers her money/bribe, she angrily refuses. She walks away upset.
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This does not happen in the book. |
Churchill complains to John Godfrey about details of the plan. Godfrey tells him that he does not endorse the plan and wants to kill it. But he also wants to keep Operation Mincemeat in operation for a while to expose Iver Montagu as a Russian spy. |
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This does not happen in the book. |
While going over details of the canister that will be used to transport the corpse, Ian Fleming picks up and plays with a watch that is also a buzz-saw; James Bond - 007 crap.
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This does not happen as by this time Godfrey was no longer involved in the operation and Mantagu had a free hand in the operation. |
Montagu and Cholmondeley report to Godfrey that they went over his head to General Nye with the Martin letter, Godfrey does not approve. But Montagu and Cholmondeley remind Godfrey that they need to launch the operation soon. |
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Ivor Montagu was never confirmed to be a Russian spy during WWII. |
Godfrey tells Cholmondeley that Iver Montago has been verified to be spying for the Russians. Godfrey suggests that Montagu be sent to America.
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This does not happen in the book. |
Hester tells Jean that she should give Jock a “wink” as she is single; she is no longer with her American boyfriend. |
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This does not happen in the book. Both men return to London. |
Cholmondeley wants to accompany the corpse on the submarine, Montagu objects but does not deny him.
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The submarine HMS Seraph surfaces off of Huelva Spain. The crew brings the canister with the corpse topside, then the officers remain to put Martin in the water. Lt Jewell reads from Psalm 39. They try to sink the canister with machine gun fire, but resort to using explosives to make it sink. |
The sub surfaces off of Cadiz Spain. Cholmondeley, the sub commander and two officers say a prayer for the corpse before they throw him into the water.
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There are many details about HMS Seraph and LCDR Jewell operations during WWII, during Operation Mincemeat and the invasion of Sicily. |
Very little about LCDR Jewell or the HMS Seraph other than dropping Major Martin into the sea.
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Jose Antonio Rey Maria finds Major Martin while fishing in his boat and brings the corpse to shore. |
The corpse is spotted from shore by several unnamed fishermen and brought to the beach. |
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This does not happen in the book. There are other deception plans in progress at the time. |
Montagu briefs the men and women on his team of the allied invasion plans for Sicily. He says Churchill is depending entirely upon us so we have lots of work to do. It is implied that Mincemeat is the only deception operation prior to the invasion of Sicily.
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A captured American P-39 pilot is brought in to asked to identify the Martin's body; he is of course unable to. |
This does not happen in the film. |
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Dr. Fernández, a civilian forensic pathologist, and his son Eduardo perform the autopsy on Major Martin. He noted differences between the corpse and the photo ID. He also noted that the body appeared to have been in the water for 8-10 days but had not been chewed on by marine life. The British were very lucky that the pathologist had not been informed of the details of finding the body or else the operation would have failed. |
The coroner, Dr. del Torno immediately thinks Martin might not have drowned. The coroner is rushed though the autopsy, no findings are revealed.
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There is much detail on how Martin's briefcase ends up in the hand of German military intelligence, including the actions of Karl Kuhlenthal, Adolf Clauss and Colonel Alexis von Roenne. Many details of the progress of the caper were only known after the war. |
The briefcase arrives at admiral Moreno's office in Madrid. A British officer eavesdrops on the German spies conversations and talks to a Colonel Cerruti about the case. British Intel seems to be constantly updated with the status of the Martin briefcase. |
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Teddy is not in the book; no threats against Jean. The book goes into extensive detail about possible actions by van Roenne to to deceive Hitler about the intentions of the Allies relating to Operation Mincemeat. The possible actions of van Roenne are only known after the war and not by Montagu. |
A man named Teddy encounters Jean at her place; he knows about her photo used for Major Martin. He is a German operative and demands to know more about Operation Mincemeat or he will kill her. Cholmondeley suspects that Von Roenne sent Teddy to find out if Operation Mincemeat is real. Cholmondeley suspects that Von Roenne will pass along the Operation Mincemeat letters as real to deceive Hitler.
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Godfrey is long gone from Operation Mincemeat by this time and Montagu and Cholmondeley have a free hand in the operation. |
Montagu and Cholmondeley brief Godfrey about the leak involving Jean. They think the German operative (Teddy) is part of an anti-Hitler plot to push Hitler towards Greece so the Allies can invade Sicily. Godfrey says he would have Montagu and Cholmondeley drawn and quartered if he could. Godfrey says Churchill will not postpone the Sicily invasion. |
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The book makes it clear that other deception operations were in the works and while Operation Mincement may have worked well, they do not know for sure as there were so many other variables. |
After the invasion starts, the team gets a message from Churchill saying “Mincemeat swallowed, rod, line and sinker.” The operation is portrayed in the film as the last remaining deception operation to convince the Germans that the Allies will invade Greece instead of Sicily.
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This does not happen in the book. |
Cholmondeley says he struck a deal with Godfrey; that he would spy on Montagu in exchange for bring his dead brother home. Cholmondeley and Montagu argue about Ivar Montague's possible treason with the Russians and Montagu's behavior towards Jean. |