Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504875
46 C I N E M O N T A G E B O O K R E V I E W Brits who spied for the Soviet Union unfolds in chapter 12, titled "Shaken Not Stirred." The authors also probe into the "special relationship" for sharing intelligence that came to exist between the US and Britain during WWII. This espionage program was so secret that not until he took office as president did Harry Truman learn of it. General William Donovan, a veteran of the First World War, where his exploits earned him the nickname "Wild Bill," was tapped by President Roosevelt to help solidify this "special relationship." After Roosevelt's death in 1945, Truman disbanded the Office of Special Services (OSS), America's WWII espionage agency. Donovan fought to have a new agency for spying established. To get Truman to go forward, Donovan turned to Hollywood and a series of films touting the wartime successes of the OSS. Hollywood studios were eager to jump on this band- wagon, making dramatic thrillers that glorified America's wartime spies. The first of these movies (all released in 1946) was "OSS" made by Paramount starring Alan Ladd. Another was "Cloak and Dagger" from Warner Brothers, starring Gary Cooper and directed by Fritz Lang. In this film, scientist Cooper is sent on a mis- sion to destroy a German nuclear weapons factory that is hidden under a brewery. Lang and producer Milton Sperling clashed; Lang banned Sperling from the set, and in retaliation, Sperling cut the final scene of the exploding nuclear brewery. The last of the OSS glorification cycle was the "13 Rue Madeleine" from 20th Century-Fox, which hired Louis de Rochemont, of "The March of Time" newsreel fame, to produce. Directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Jimmy Cagney, Donovan was displeased with what he called its "absurdities." The first of these was the presence of a mole in OSS, the second was a plot that involved parachuting Cagney into enemy territory, despite the fact that he carried plans for D-Day. When Cagney is captured by the Germans, Allied planes bomb the building where he is being held to prevent him from revealing the plan. Whether any of these pictures influenced Truman is debatable, but Congress approved the founding of the CIA in July 1947. As the Cold War escalated, the image of the modern-day spy solidified in the public's mind. Much of it was shaped by the novels of English writers Graham Greene ("The Third Man"), John le Carré ("The Spy Who Came in from the Cold"), and Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. All three writers had personal professional experience in espionage, and "Stars and Spies" offers absorbing details about both reality and fabrication in their literary lives. Many of their novels were, and continue to be, made into films. It is impossible to write about espionage in the 20th century and the entertainment busi- ness without singling out Fleming's James Bond as a cultural icon. Bond and the actors who play him comprise the gold standard in spy films. His on-screen career has lasted over 60 years, longer even than J. Edgar Hoover's at the FBI. The book points out that 007's working style would not be wel- come in today's secret services. In her initial Bond film "Goldeneye" (1995), Judy Dench's M (a character based on the first woman head of MI5, Stella Rimington), calls Bond "[a] sexist misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War." That is certainly true, but fans worldwide are even now impatiently speculating about who will succeed Daniel Craig as 007 in the next Bond movie, due out in 2026. In "Stars and Spies," Andrew and Green overhaul history, bringing to light the many connections, both practical and odd, between the entertainment industries and espionage. Few people today consider the fact that the CIA funded the 1954 animated film version of George Orwell's "Animal Farm," presented like Orwell intended, as a satire about Joseph Stalin's USSR. By the early 1960s in Russia, secret KGB advisors were part of the Mosfilm studio teams for every film that touched on espionage or government activities. These and dozens of other remarkable true stories fill the book's pages, offering readers an accurate and entertaining history of how spies in theater, literature, and film might not always be what they seem. ■ Stars & Spies: Intelligence Operations and the Entertainment Business By Christopher Andrew and Julius Green 502 pages Bodley Head, An Imprint of Vintage, 2021 COLD WAR: Claire Bloom and Richard Burton in "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold." P H OT O : P H OT O F E S T