Overview

The remarkable story of Ivor Montagu, and of left-wing politics and Soviet undercover activity in Britain between the wars. 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 groundbreaking 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. A man of high intelligence and moral concern, 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 and generosity of spirit; of creative achievement and intellectual corruption. AUTHOR: Russell Campbell is currently Adjunct Associate Professor of Film, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is a graduate of VUW (BA, Political Science & English), University of Wisconsin-Madison (MA, Communication Arts) and Northwestern University (PhD, Film), and holds an Intermediate Certificate from the London Film School. He was previously a documentary filmmaker and professional script consultant. Codename Intelligentsia is the latest product of a longstanding interest in the intersection of film and politics, and in the history of the Communist movement. SELLING POINTS: . The first biography of Montagu to fully lift the lid on his undercover work for the Soviet Union . Author has had access to both MI5 and US NSA files . Features unpublished images . Montagu's brother, Ewen, was the subject of Ben Macintyre's bestselling Operation Mincemeat 32 b/w illustrations

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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.

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