Spy Trap

This Australian documentary/drama tells how the defection of Soviet spy Vladmir Petrov in Canberra 1954 led to a political crisis in Australia and the eventual ‘smoking out’ of the century’s master spy, Harold Russell (Kim) Philby - a senior KGB agent for more than fifty years. Included is much of the most recent footage of Philby himself.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view on-site.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

production company

ABC-TV (Australia)

producer/director

Bill Bemister

Duration

01:30:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1987

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

302516

Language

English

Subject categories

Crime, Espionage, Justice, Police & Prisons → Spies

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Australia

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Petrov, Vladimir Mikhailovich, 1907-

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Philby, Kim, 1912-1988

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - Australia

History → Australia - History - 1945-1965

History → Petrov, Vladimir Mikhailovich, 1907-

History → Philby, Kim, 1912-1988

People → Petrov, Vladimir Mikhailovich, 1907-

People → Philby, Kim, 1912-1988

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/81426--spy-trap/ |title=Spy Trap |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=2 October 2022 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Australia, 1987

Please note