Trama

The Honourable Elizabeth Montagu (Dorothea Myer-Bennett), writer, actress, musician, movie dialogue director, linguist, and lover, evaded the clutches of the Gestapo by escaping to work as a secret agent for Alan Dulles and the British Secret Service during World War II.—Mike Fraser

True story of the Honourable Elizabeth Montagu (Dorothea Myer-Bennett), born as heir to the Beaulieu estate. Seventeen years later, her half brother Lord Montagu was born and took her place. Far from being upset she spreads her wings and becomes a consummate musician, actress, writer, escapes with the Germans on her heels, and becomes a secret agent in Switzerland during World War II. With her linguistic abilities, contacts, and lovers, she became invaluable on such movies as The Third Man (1949), An Ideal Husband (1947), and many others.—Mike Fraser

The Honourable Rebel, from the autobiography of the same name, is a 95 minute Biopic of an astonishing Englishwoman. This dramatic feature of Elizabeth Montagu (Dorothea Myer-Bennett), supported by a large cast, in a brilliant portrayal of the younger Elizabeth, while Diana Rigg narrates with the emotional tremor of an elderly, assured woman reminiscing on her life. Elizabeth Montagu, born and brought up an aristocrat, the daughter of the second Baron Montagu of Beaulieu expects to inherit the estate until her half-brother Edward is born when she is 17. Spreads her wings; becomes actress, writer, musician, linguist, army officer, escapee, secret agent, film dialogue director, librettist and lover of famous men and women in music and the arts throughout Europe. The Honourable Rebel is a Ripping Yarn that could not happen today. Directed and Produced by Mike Fraser, the film is beautifully shot in 2k on the Alexa Camera by Pete Edwards; shot entirely in the UK and mostly on the Beaulieu Manor estate and in Palace House itself, and colour timed with an expressively unusual use of black and white and colour throughout. The feature film occasionally dips into archive material to remind us that this is real and actually happened. Elizabeth's nephew, Ralph Montagu, who recently became the 4th Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, and some of her friends give a moving account of a few of their memories. Elizabeth's great love and understanding of music is manifested in its gloriously dramatic use with the films light motif (Chopins G minor Ballade played by her friend Vladimir Horowitz) and Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Britten, Gounod, Liszt, Mahler, Wagner and Stravinski.