Personal and public betrayal

Press, 18 March 1988, Page 19

Personal and public betrayal

The exposure of Anthony Blunt in 1979 as the “fourth man” in the Cambridge spy ring deeply shocked Britain. Blunt was one of the country’s most revered academics — an internationally respected authority in the world of art, whose achievements had been recognised with countless honorary titles and degress, including the Legion of Honour in France and an illustrious knighthood — the K.C.V.O. — at home. He had been director of the prestigious Courtauld Institute for 27 years, as well as being Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures from 1952 to 1972, and Surveyor of the Pictures of King George VI for seven years before that. Yet this man was a traitor — in 1964 he had confessed to spying, in exchange for an immunity deal that left his knighthood intact and allowed him to retain his position as an active member of the Royal Household. “Blunt,” tonight’s movie from the 8.8. C. (9.30 p.m. on One), attempts to look beyond the inscrutable public face and screaming newspaper headlines at the time of his exposure, and explore the man at the heart of this incredible story. It concentrates upon the events surrounding the dramatic defection to the Soviet Union in 1951 of Blunt’s fellow spies, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, and reveals the personal as well as public betrayals that ' this involved. Burgess’s defection left Blunt open to exposure as a fellow spy, since the two men were intimate friends and had been lovers. The film also probes the motives that led Blunt and his contemporaries into espionage, and examines how the distinguished art historian was able to lead such a successful double life for so long.