Art immitates life- Mankowitz and the MI5

Just like the story line out of a spy movie this story reads like one of those classic scripts. The story written by Cordon on ninemsn.com.au on the 26th August 2010 (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=7951327) is about the writer Wolf Mankowitz of James Bond fame. Mankowitz wrote the screenplay for the first Bond movie and helping bring James Bond to the big screen. Similarly the story was also covered by Malvern for The Australian on the same day. (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/james-bond-movie-screenplay-writer-suspected-of-spying-for-soviets/story-e6frg6so-1225910530269).

The story is about secret files that have been made public that the MI5 had on the writer. It was alleged that Mankowitz and his wife- who was a member of the British Communist party during the 1940’s, were under cover secret agents for the Russians. Due to a letter that was intercepted by the MI5, the couple was under surveillance for over a decade 1944-58. The story then goes on to describe how the Mankowitz joined the army, then left and tried to get a job in the Government Central Office of Information. It also states that the MI5’s suspicion of him was later dropped after he cancelled a return trip to the World Youth Fair in Moscow.

Both the stories are written well explaining why the couple was under investigation and rely mainly on the files that were found for their source of information. However both Cordon and Malvern could have sought further comment on the files from Mankowitz’z family or other sources that knew him. It is a soft news story that has news values of oddity and controversy, that presents itself as an interesting entertainment story. The Story reported in The Australian, however goes into more detail about why the suspicions against Mankowitz were dropped.

The oddity of the story is that the writer for the screenplay of the famous secret agent 007 working for MI5 was linked by MI5 to being a secret agent for the Russians himself. The controversy of the story is that again, like the oddity it has, this was during a period in history that saw anyone with an affiliation to socialist sentiments or origins was under suspicion.

The articles are good because they reflect the sentiments and suspicions of intelligence agencies during the period after the Second World War. They illustrate how little things that Mankowitz did seemed to be suspicious to Britain’s intelligence agency. The story is also a good example of how art imitates life.