MovieChat Forums > The Two-Headed Spy (1959) Discussion > Sorry, Virginia - There Was No Two-Heade...

Sorry, Virginia - There Was No Two-Headed Spy (???)

posted 17 years ago by Arthur_2323
9 replies | jump to latest

2007 Doubts: Is The Two-Headed Spy Only Fictional ?

I'm trying to keep a light touch here - I'm a big fan of this classic spy flick - but as the years pass it becomes more and more doubtful The Two-Headed Spy could actually be based on true history. Back in 1958, people could quite honestly believe this tale: after all, many World War II secrets were classified information, and they remained classified for many years - Ultra was kept a secret into the 70s. But now, in 2007, when so many WWII secrets have become public knowledge, this story of Alexander Scotland as "British Master Sleeper Agent", or anything similar, strains credibility past the breaking point - I'm starting to think so, anyway.

(Almost every spy film is partly fictitious, of course, but many are at least based on true stories. The Man Who Never Was (1956), for example, has many fanciful touches - evil Nazi agent, boy-meets-girl romance, and more - but the core of that film, "Operation Mincemeat", was indeed a fascinating true story from World War II. That's starting to seem doubtful for The Two-Headed Spy.)

SouthernLibrarian1992 has provided our only known written source on Alexander Scotland's supposed WWII career as a spy: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052327/board/thread/77574127. That's all we have, and I for one am not convinced. Author David Knight was entirely honest, and his spy stories were mostly true, but in this case his facts are so vague I can't help thinking (this is a guess) his source was a Two-Headed Spy plot outline {!!!), which he mistakenly took at face value just like everyone else. Does anyone see the same problems I see ?

..
Scotland's Supposed Espionage "Record" Does Not Exist Anywhere !

Scotland spied for six long years, yet there's only one known record of ...

- Valuable secrets he learned. (Hitler's 1941 invasion of the U.S.S.R. And Stalin received such warnings from many other sources as well).
- Any person who remembers him in Germany, military or civilian, anyone at all. (Albert Kesselring, at his trial in Venice, Italy.)

And we have no information, none whatever, of any details of Alexander Scotland as a WWII spy. We don't know ...

- Who were Scotland's British spymaster superiors.
- What British espionage organization he worked for.
- Any records of Scotland's communications with Britain from Germany.
- Any records of Scotland's service in the German Army.
- Who were Scotland's German superiors.
- What part of the German Army he even belonged to.
- Any records of Scotland's supposed residence in Germany.
- Where he lived in Berlin, or in Germany, or in occupied Europe.

Nor have we any record of Scotland, during WWII, from countries outside of Britain and Germany. We don't know ...

- Anything about Scotland's supposed residence in Argentina.
- What Scotland did for a living in Argentina.
- What or how his supposed Argentine "wealth" was based on or gained.
- Any records of Scotland's contacts in America, or U.S. bank records.
- Any record of his postwar Soviet captivity, from either Britain or Russia ......

Were there just one or two gaps in the record, we might accept David Knight's account. But when, in 2007, nothing seems known about Alexander Scotland as a spy, we can't help thinking something's wrong. Thousands of books have been written on espionage, even on quite minor figures - spy stories are enormously popular and always have been. Any such exotic, spectacular creature as a "World War II British superspy Nazi Army infiltrator" should be well known by 2007, in my opinion, if such ever existed at all.

..
Is There Any Truth To This Movie ?

If the film's creators truly did base it on a true story, but no "British superspy in Germany" ever existed - neither Alexander Scotland nor anyone else - then no one seems to know what they intended. So we can only guess, and this is what I think (remember, this is only a guess):

The story of Stalin being tipped off about the Nazi invasion, at least, was indeed true, and the British protected their sources for many years. Director Andre De Toth and "technical advisor" Col. Alexander Scotland might have meant this, and perhaps other German intelligence sources such as Admiral Canaris or Hjalmar Schacht, when they claimed The Two-Headed Spy was "based on a true story". But they never explained exactly what they meant, and everyone assumed Scotland really did operate in WWII Germany as a spy. All I can say is, it certainly was a different world in 1958 - imagine how curious everyone would be about the real details, nowadays !

[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 16 years ago

Obviously few if any care about all this bushwah in any way. It's nice you feel compelled to set the record straight on history, but ultimately nobody cares.

Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.

[–] abchulett 16 years ago

You're wrong that nobody cares. Please learn that when you say "nobody" does this or "everybody" does that, you will almost always be wrong. And why would you take the time to post such an idiotically mindless put-down anyway? Who are you trying to impress? If you choose to wallow in your ignorance, please do so in private. Thank you.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] smokehill retrievers 15 years ago

There are few things more useless than some self-absorbed dunce who thinks no one else is actually interested in historical facts just because he's too absorbed in video games to care about anything else.

[–] LFRibeiro 16 years ago

Yes, for those who appreciate "something" as opposed to "nothing," there is finally some real evidence about Alexander Scotland. An article in the UK's Guardian from Nov 2005 indicates that Scotland was nothing like the portrayal in "The Two headed Spy." He had indeed been in the German army at the turn of the century (so he was not a boy of 14 then), and later received the O.B.E. for his work interogating soldiers during WWI. In 1939 he was recalled to service and became the head of the infamous MI19 Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center (CSDIC), known as the "London Cage" (it was housed in beautiful digs off of Kensington Gardens). The London Cage was something of the Abu Ghraib of its day and interrogations there proceeded well past the end of the war. Scotland was known for keeping the Red Cross examiners at bay. Its ironic that Scotland served as technical advisor on this film, when he most likely contributed to details regarding the torture sequence.

[–] Shopnowandsave 16 years ago

Hmmmm..... now that IS interesting, and quite believable. It detracts not much from my enjoyment of the film,. The pity always has been that the real world is seldom like 1950's British film, all gentle humour and the "right thing" done.

"The King wore enough clothes for both of us." Mohandes Ghandi

[–] smokehill retrievers 15 years ago

[[ The London Cage was something of the Abu Ghraib of its day ]]

What today's liberal sissies now call "torture" has been used by every army in history. Any country that is unwilling to use it when the stakes are high enough doesn't deserve to win. And probably won't.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] smokehill retrievers 15 years ago

I believe you're right, and that this was a creation rather loosely based on Canaris and a few others who were high in the Nazi food chain but were feeding the Allies tons of vital information for years.

The Germans kept rather scrupulous records on almost everything, and it's pretty hard to believe there wouldn't be a lot of material now available that would have nailed down this mole if he really existed in anything like the form they describe.

Great story, though.