The Humming Birds

The Humming Birds is a thriller Spy story which takes place in German occupied France during the Second World War (circa 1944).It is based on a true story which was told to me by the principle character of the adventure, Sultan Batirov. This took place during a visit to Casablanca, Morocco with the iconic actor Anthony Quinn 1976. I had received a proposition from Quinn to develop a screenplay from a novel he had acquired the rights to, for making a feature film entitled" Seen Dimly". He invited me to spend two weeks with him to develop the script themes. He was then acting in the blockbuster feature "the Message" in Morocco. A few days before my return flight to Los Angeles, he took a group of us to a special restaurant in Casablanca. There I met the Circassian owner of the restaurant Sultan a compatriot Kabardian like myself. I was surprised to find a Circassian in far away Africa. I spent several hours with Sultan as he told me his amazing adventures during the War. Sultan had been dropped into Grenoble France as a spy with an important mission. Out of respect for Sultan, I wrote it in the first person with Sultan himself narrating the events. Of course, I added a few fictional characters and I developed the character of Sultan as he trained to become a spy for the Soviet Union in Europe. Therefore, this is a historical story based entirely on true events.