He was the son of a hereditary peer, one of the wealthiest men in Britain. His childhood was privileged; at Cambridge, he flourished. At the age of 21, he founded The Film Society, and became a pioneering standard-bearer for film as art. He was a collaborator of Alfred Hitchcock, rescuing The Lodger and later producing his ground-breaking British thrillers The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps, Secret Agent and Sabotage. He directed comedies from stories by H.G. Wells, worked in Hollywood with Eisenstein, and made documentaries in Spain during the Civil War. He lobbied for Trotsky to be granted asylum in the UK, and became a leading propagandist for the anti-fascist and Communist cause. Under the nose of MI5, who kept him under constant surveillance, he became a secret agent of the Comintern and a Soviet spy. He was a man of high intelligence and moral concern, yet he was blind to the atrocities of the Stalin regime. This is the remarkable story of Ivor Montagu, and of the burgeoning cinematic culture and left-wing politics of Britain between the wars. It is a story of restless energy, generosity of spirit, creative achievement and intellectual corruption.

About the Author
RUSSELL CAMPBELL is currently Adjunct Associate Professor of Film at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is the author of Observations: Studies in New Zealand Documentary (Victoria University Press), Marked Women: Prostitutes and Prostitution in the Cinema (University of Wisconsin Press, CHOICE Award for Outstanding Academic Title), and Cinema Strikes Back: Radical Filmmaking in the United States 1930-1942 (UMI Research Press). As a documentary filmmaker his work includes Sedition: The Suppression of Dissent in World War II New Zealand (Media Peace Award). Codename Intelligentsia is the product of a long-standing interest in the intersection of film and politics, and in the history of the Communist movement.


Book Information
ISBN 9780750987059
Author Russell Campbell
Format Hardback
Imprint The History Press Ltd
Publisher The History Press Ltd