In this opening episode of the new series Pearse and Tom look into the CIA’s adaptations of George Orwell’s two most famous novels – Animal Farm and 1984. We focus primarily on Animal Farm, a revolutionary animated film in several senses of the word, produced by Louis De Rochemont – a man who had worked with several other government agencies prior to making Animal Farm with the CIA. The animation was does by British firm Halas and Bachelor, and we also discuss their background. This episode also examines the paper trail, looking in Orwell’s FBI file and the MI5 records on actor Michael Redgrave, who starred in 1984 despite being a suspected Communist. We conclude that the CIA had something of an obsession with Orwell at this time, and were subverting his works quite radically in these films.
On Saturday, February 21, Tom Secker and I had the great pleasure of joining Kira Young on her live radio show The Bridge. We started out with a discussion of the recent surge of neo-nazism within the alt-community and what this means for alternative media. Later on, we explored the fascination the Left has with Vladim Putin and all things Russian. We then moved on to the subject of cults and their connections with the intelligence services. I went into some detail regarding Scientology and various cultic connections to the CIA. In particular, I discussed psychic research being conducted by the CIA at Stanford Research Institute, headed by two high-ranking Scientologists, Harold Puthoff and Ingo Swann. I related how the CIA was funding this research while the FBI was deeply involved in infiltrating and arresting high-ranking members of the cult. Later, we explored the LSD movement and the CIA orchestration behind it, as well as the interesting Scientologists who were part of that movement. We rounded off the conversation by looking at the current drug culture within the alt-movement. All three of us gave our thoughts on the popularity of DMT and ayahuasca, and how the promotion of these power psychoactive drugs may be part of a much wider plan to derail the alternative community. We also reflected on how cannabis culture has changed from a movement promoting personal freedom into a cult of getting stoned all the time. Finally Tom and I talked about our new podcast series The CIA and Hollywood, and what to expect from it.
Launching in April of this year The CIA and Hollywood is a new series by Pearse Redmond and Tom Secker. The first season will have seven episodes where we will mostly focus on modern films, with guest appearances on five of the shows.
The full list:
Episode 1: The CIA and George Orwell
Pearse and I introduce the series and look at how George Orwell’s two major works – 1984 and Animal Farm – were both adapted into 1950s films by the CIA for propaganda purposes. Using files from MI5, the CIA and the FBI we outline in detail the people involved in the productions and how they fit into a wider picture of what was going on in Hollywood at the time.
In the first guest episode we welcome Guillermo to talk about Robert De Niro’s lengthy connections to the CIA. From Wag the Dog, where he plays a character based on CIA Entertainment Liaison Chase Brandon to the Meet the Parents film franchise which was assisted by Brandon, to his epic rewriting of CIA history in The Good Shepherd, De Niro has for nearly 20 years had some kind of relationship with the Agency.
Episode 3: The CIA and The Recruit – Guest: Aaron Franz
From one screen legend to another, Aaron joins us to discuss The Recruit starring Al Pacino. This film was co-written by Chase Brandon and the character Pacino plays is clearly based on Chase Brandon. This tale of a young man inducted into the secret world of the CIA is a perfect set up for inducting the audience into that same world, though what we find there is simply more layers of manipulation and doublethink.
The film that predicted the entire Edward Snowden story is next on the list, when Adam joins in the discussion. The Gene Hackman character, based on a role he played in the 1970s thriller The Conversation, foreshadows everything about Snowden, including his name and where he grew up, and the film’s depiction of mass surveillance has much the same effect on audiences as Snowden’s ‘revelations’ some 15 years later.
Episode 5: The CIA and The Social Network – Guest: Thomas Sheridan
The only film featured in this series that was not explicitly sponsored by the CIA, but which bears all the hallmarks of CIA involvement. Thomas Sheridan joins us to examine this fictionalised account of the founding of facebook, possibly the world’s greatest ever surveillance tool. We examine Aaron Sorkin’s career and the key information he left out of his screenplay about the early investors in facebook.
Episode 6: The CIA and Charlie Wilson’s War– Guest: Sibel Edmonds
One of Chase Brandon’s final films mythologised one of the most important events in understanding modern history – the Soviet-Afghan War and the CIA’s support of the Mujahideen. Sibel lends us her expert knowledge as we dismantle this piece of CIA unhistory – which is also scripted by Sorkin – and construct a true version in its place.
Episode 7: The CIA and Argo
To round of this season Pearse and I take a look at the Oscar-winning Argo, produced by the unholy trio of Clooney, Heslov and Affleck, all of whom have long-standing ties to the CIA. We examine the film not only as a deliberate mis-telling of real historical events but also as a celebration of the CIA’s very useful relationship with the Hollywood dream factory. We reflect back on what we have learned through doing this first season, and briefly explain what to expect from season two.
Porkins Policy Review 