Garbo the Spy

The age-old adage that truth is stranger than fiction is once again confirmed in Edmon Roch's documentary Garbo the Spy, a profile of double-agent Juan Pujol Garcia, a Spaniard who offered his services to German intelligence in 1940, and after fooling them into believing he had created a network of agents in England, approached the British about feeding misinformation to Berlin. Using the code name Garbo, Pujol also continued to act as the German operative Alaric and was instrumental in convincing the Nazi leadership that the major thrust of the 1944 invasion of France would be at the Pas de Calais, with the assault on Normandy a mere diversion—a ruse that became a significant element in the success of Allied D-Day operations. Pujol, who was the only person to ever receive both the German Iron Cross and the British MBE, faked his own death in 1949 and settled in Venezuela, where he lived quietly until being unmasked in 1984. Roch tells the remarkable story with cinematic pizzazz, combining archival material, interview excerpts, and frequent clips from spy films like Our Man in Havana—an appropriate style for the story of a still-mysterious man who used considerable theatricality to succeed in one of the most incredible roles played during World War II. DVD extras include an interview with West, a vintage U.S. training film on disinformation techniques, and a text bio of Roch. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)