MovieChat Forums > Libel (1960) Discussion > Why the switching of jackets?

Why the switching of jackets?


I just watched this excellent movie but one thing puzzles me: What was the purpose of Dirk #1 switching jackets with Dirk #2? Any ideas?

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Of-course there is an explanation!! He exchanged the jacket so that if he were caught as a prisoner they would not identify him as an officer!! Officers were
tortured more than ordinary soldiers since they know much more military secrets.

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[deleted]

A good question, I wondered the same thing. The answer offered is nonsense: Allied Officers were treated better, on the whole, than enlisted men captured by the Germans, as the Major would have known, just having been in a Stalag for nearly 5 years.

And think about it: he has just been viciously attacked and had to fight for his life only a little way from a bridge that is patrolled by armed soldiers. Instead of getting out of the area - maybe heading toward the farm where his Canadian comrade has gone - he sticks around long enough to manhandle his enemy's unconscious body twice; once to take the leather jacket off the body, another time to dress it in his own officer's jacket. Nobody would do something so unpleasant and dangerous without a very good reason.

I suppose he might think the leather jacket would be less of a giveaway if he were seen - he could have been to all appearances a local civilian - but that doesn't explain going to the extra trouble and risk to wrestle his unconscious enemy into his own British officer's coat.

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I had the same problem with the plot/script! It's such a pity, b/c overall, otherwise, i think the story's good, & quite realistic in many ways, post-traumatic stress disorder being a very real reality for veterans (ok so the shooting off of the exact same fingers was really pushing the poetic license envelope far 'nough, IMO!); it would've been so much better 2 bring this necessary piece of twist-to-the-tale into some logical context! I think the obvious one (talking as a writer...of course! LOL!) would be something 2 demonstrate how much better the character of the wrongly accused major/lord was than the identical-looking companion/'friend'; e.g. he saw his 'friend' shivering, & so offered him his coat for warmth; then when he was attacked & the attempted murder failed, & he was shivering both with shock & cold, his survival instincts kicked in & he took the coat back, making good his escape. But frankly, i'm STILL confused about what happened in the plot b/c the major/lord's jacket was produced @ the trial with the locket which was hidden in the lining, & it wasn't clear to me @ all whether that was the jacket the lord came home wearing, or what the 'vegetable' lookalike was found wearing? It's not adding up, so far as i can discern...so i'm glad to find others experience the same plot problem!

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The jacket produced at trial was the jacket that Number 15 was wearing when he was brought to the hospital. According to the book Reel Justice, Lord Loddon switched jackets so that he'd be less likely to be recaptured.

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I think you answered your own question: he wanted to be seen blending in as a civilian, not as an escaped British officer.

By putting his army jacket on the unconscious body, he was hoping that any German soldiers that found the body would think that the "escaped British Major", namely Sir Mark, had not gotten away, and would not be on the lookout for him, while he, dressed in civilian clothes, was hoping to be inconspicuous and could make his escape.

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