Here’s one you might have missed, Steven.
I read today with great interest that Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, after making the excellent Band of Brothers series for HBO, and the more cerebral The Pacific, now plan to add a third WW2 mini-series to their catalogue featuring the USAAF and their UK-based bombing raids over Germany.
But, Steven, check the boxes and make the ticks; World War 1. Submarine warfare. (Cromie sank 5 ships in one day in the Baltic). The Bolshevik Revolution. Illicit, adulterous love affair with a beautiful Russian Socialite. Espionage; Sidney Reilly, the ‘Ace of Spies’ plays a big part. Cromie was decorated three times by Tsar Nicholas, received a posthumous CB from King George, held the Legion of Honour from the French, the DSO, he spoke fluent Russian, didn’t smoke, was teetotal, and his men loved him dearly… even Trotsky and Lenin held him in high regard. The whole story is topped off with Cromie’s heroic one-man defence of Petrograd’s British Embassy, where he’s gunned down on the staircase, murdered by Red Guards at the age of 38. The scene where his funeral cortege passes along the banks of the River Neva, where Russian (now Soviet) sailors form ranks on the decks of their ships to salute an Imperialist sailor they truly respected was written by yours truly in a flood of tears. All the emotion is there for the taking. I have played this movie in my dreams night after night.
I’ll send the book to you at DreamWorks, Mr. Spielberg. It’ll probably end up in a bin on the back lot. It did when I sent it to Ridley Scott. I’ve already written a screenplay, but it’s probably crap, so I don’t mind you getting a pro in to re-write. It’s a great, true adventure on the same level as Lawrence of Arabia– and hey – isn’t that still your favourite movie?