The Kremlin Letter
Encyclopedia
The Kremlin Letter is an American noir
film directed by John Huston
, starring Richard Boone
, Orson Welles
, Max von Sydow
, Bibi Andersson
, Patrick O'Neal and George Sanders
. It was released in February 1970 by 20th Century-Fox. The screenplay was co-written by Huston and Gladys Hill as a faithful adaptation of the novel by Noel Behn
, who had worked for the United States Army's Counterintelligence Corps. Said by reviewers to be "beautifully" and "engagingly" photographed, the film is a highly complex and realistic tale of bitter intrigue and espionage set in the winter of 1969-1970 at the height of the US
-Soviet
Cold War
. The Kremlin Letter was a commercial failure and thinly reviewed in 1970, but the film has gathered steady praise from some critics throughout the decades since its release. French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville called The Kremlin Letter "masterly" and "...saw it as establishing the standard for cinema."
intelligence officer named Charles Rone (Patrick O'Neal) finds his commission revoked so that he can be recruited into an espionage mission. Rone is told that the mission is being undertaken independently of governmental intelligence agencies, as had commonplace prior to World War II
, when espionage operations were handled by a small community of agents operating on a freelance basis. Rone is told that the primary operator in that community, a "brutal, sadistic, conscienceless assassin" named Robert Stuydevant, did not adapt to the post-war shift to government intelligence agencies, and the independent network of spies disbanded, with Stuydevant disappearing and reportedly later committing suicide. Now, the government has suffered a significant failure in an important intelligence operation and has turned back to the independent agents for help. This time, "The Highwayman" (Dean Jagger
), another member of the old group of independent spies is the man leading the effort to reassemble the network to take on this mission. Another member of the group has recently died, and Rone has been tabbed as his replacement, due to Rone's exceptional analytical skills, eidetic memory
and ability to speak eight languages, each with a native accent.
Rone meets with The Highwayman and another group member named Ward (Richard Boone
), the latter of whom takes on the role of Rone's primary tutor. They first task Rone with rounding up three other members of the group: Janis (Nigel Green
), a drug dealer and panderer
, "The Warlock" (George Sanders
), a culturally sophisticated homosexual, and "The Erector Set" (Niall MacGinnis
), a highly skilled thief and burglar. Janis begs off of the mission, saying that he won't work for The Highwayman, but only for Stuydevant, whom he believes would never have killed himself. Rone finally bribes him into agreeing to participate. The Warlock joins the operation without hesitation, but The Erector Set's hands have become too arthritic to be of use. Instead, he sends his beautiful daughter B.A. (Barbara Parkins
) in his place, as he has trained her to be as capable as is he. B.A. and Rone soon become romantically involved.
The group's mission is the retrieval of a letter, written without proper authorization, that promises United States aid to the Soviet Union in destroying Chinese atomic weapons plants. The letter had been solicited on behalf of an unknown high-level Soviet official by Dmitri Polyakov, who had previously been selling Soviet secrets to the United States that he had obtained from that same Soviet official. Upon finding out about the letter, which was a de facto "declaration of war against China", U.S. and British authorities had contacted Polyakov and arranged to purchase it back from him. However, Polyakov then committed suicide after being apprehended by Soviet counter-intelligence under Colonel Yakov Kosnov (Max von Sydow
).
The group blackmail
s Captain Potkin (Ronald Radd
), the Soviet head of counter-intelligence in the U.S., threatening his family to force him to allow them the use of his usually-vacant apartment in Moscow. Once they arrive in the Soviet Union, the terminally ill Highwayman sacrifices his life, attempting to divert the attention of Soviet counter-intelligence away from the remainder of the team. Rone is assigned to remain at the apartment with Ward and accept reports verbally from other team members, Rone's memory allowing them to avoid the use of written records. Janis, The Warlock and B.A. then set out to establish themselves in various parts of Russian society as they try to ascertain the identity of Polyakov's contact.
Janis enters a partnership with a local brothel operator, who points him to a Chinese man known as "The Kitai" as a possible source for drugs to which they can keep their prostitutes addicted. Upon meeting the Kitai, Janis discerns that the man is also a spy. Janis also happens to spot Kosnov leaving a local night club with a woman whom he discovers was Polyakov's devoted wife, Erika Beck (Bibi Andersson
). She is now married to Kosnov, so B.A. plants a listening device in their bedroom. After that, B.A. takes up with a local small-time thief and black market operator, though she finds herself terribly unhappy and wishes only to return home to her father. In the meantime, the Warlock integrates himself into the local community of intellectual homosexuals, starting an affair with a university professor. He then meets one of the professor's students who was Polyakov's former lover and who informs him that Polyakov had had a relationship with Vladimir Bresnavitch (Orson Welles
) of the Soviet Central Committee
.
Bresnavitch turns out to have an adversarial relationship with Kosnov, whose activities Bresnavitch oversees on behalf of the Committee. According to Kosnov, the animosity between the two men went back many years to when Bresnavitch sought to oust Kosnov from his job, in favor of Stuydevant. Prior to that time, Kosnov and Stuydevant had been friendly, with each one trusting the other to allow his agents to operate in the other's territory. However, with the pressure from Bresnavitch, Kosnov decided he had to do "something spectacular" to keep his job, so he betrayed Stuydevant's trust and captured his agents, employing a great deal of brutality and earning the lasting enmity of Stuydevant himself.
Upon deducing that Bresnavitch had used Polyakov to fence
stolen art works in Paris, Ward decides to go there in search of any possible leads. On the day of his return, the group's mission is destroyed when Potkin returns to the Soviet Union and informs Bresnavitch about the operation. Janis, B.A. and Ward are apprehended, while The Warlock commits suicide just before capture and Rone narrowly escapes. Rone tries visiting the Kitai to arrange re-purchase of the letter, but the Kitai responds by trying to kill him and Rone determines that the Chinese have possession of the letter.
Rone then turns to Erika, with whom he has been having an affair while posing as a Russian gigolo
named Yorgi. He hopes to get her to inquire with her husband about the condition of those captured. She informs him that Kosnov participated in no such capture, and Rone realizes that Bresnavitch quietly orchestrated the raid without the knowledge of Soviet counter-intelligence, a clear indicator that he was Polyakov's traitorous high-level Soviet official contact. Rone's questions reveal to Erika his true identity and he promises to help her escape to the West. She tells him she will try to ascertain the fates of the captured agents and later reports back that B.A. has taken poison and is expected to die, while one of the men is dead and the other has survived and is being held captive.
Rone threatens to expose Bresnavitch unless Ward, the surviving agent, is released. Bresnavitch agrees, and Rone and Ward then arrange to leave the next day, though Ward does not approve of Rone's plans aid Erika. Ward lures her into a trap and kills her. Kosnov believes that her lover Yorgi killed her and tracks down Rone, though unaware of Rone's true identity, in search of revenge. But Ward enters, leading Kosnov to observe that "I seem to know you." Ward says that the two men have "a lot of old corpses to dig up and talk about." He begins listing the names of the agents betrayed by Kosnov and says that the time has come for retribution, as he shoots Kosnov in the kneecap. Kosnov stares at Ward in disbelief, saying "No, it isn't. It can't be." Ward then closes on him off-camera and Kosnov begins screaming in torment.
As they head for a plane to leave the country, Rone shares with Ward his conclusions that Ward is in fact Stuydevant and intends to stay, having made a deal with Bresnavitch to take over as the head of Soviet counter-intelligence. Ward denies it, but only coyly, and then reveals that B.A. is not dead. He says that she will be held to ensure that Rone does not reveal the truth about him. Rone, very much in love with B.A., vows that he'll get her back somehow. Ward offers to release B.A. if Rone does "one last little thing", handing Rone an envelope as Rone boards the plane. After seating himself, Rone opens the envelope to find a note which reads, "Kill Potkin's wife and daughters or I kill the girl."
The film shows its characters speaking Russian
without the use of English subtitles by beginning such scenes in Russian and then segueing into English. Many of the scenes set in Moscow
were filmed during 1969 in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki
which features neoclassical
buildings similar to those in Leningrad
. There was also filming at locations in New York City (the Hispanic Society of America, Central Park Zoo
and Greenwich Village
), Italy
and Mexico
. Mostly aerial stock footage from the summer of 1969 showing Los Angeles
, San Francisco, Chicago
and New York
is also seen in the film.
of the New York Times called the movie "depressing." Variety
had already noted in a pre-release review that The Kremlin Letter "...makes for valuable viewing, but with the piecing together another thing. Thus is this nastiness of the spy business graphically described. It is an engagingly photographed piece of business." A much later TV Guide
review said the film was "Beautifully photographed... a hopelessly convoluted spy drama with so many intricate interweavings that you truly need a scorecard to keep track of the plotters." Craig Butler of Allmovie wrote, "Although it has its partisans, most consider The Kremlin Letter to be a big disappointment... the plot of the novel upon which it is based is simply too dense to be translated to the screen in a film of normal length." Butler went on to note that "Richard Boone really shines, turning in a very fine performance that leaves the rest of the actors in the dust... there are those who will greatly enjoy Kremlin for its twisted plotting and cynicism..."
This movie was listed within "100 Greatest Spy Movies: A Special Collector's Edition from the Editors of American History (magazine)."
There has always been a strong undercurrent of significant praise for the film. In 2005, UCLA scholar Bob Hudson noted in the journal Lingua Romana that French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville "...used the term magisterial in praise of John Huston's The Kremlin Letter (1970), which he had just viewed the night before the interview. Despite the commercial failure of the film, Melville saw it as establishing the standard for cinema, and explained his quest as an attempt to achieve such grandeur." The Time Out Film Guide calls The Kremlin Letter "powerful... possibly the clearest statement of Huston's vision of a cruel and senseless world in operation."
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
film directed by John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
, starring Richard Boone
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
, Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Bibi Andersson was born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, the daughter of Karin , a social worker, and Josef Andersson, a businessman...
, Patrick O'Neal and George Sanders
George Sanders
George Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
. It was released in February 1970 by 20th Century-Fox. The screenplay was co-written by Huston and Gladys Hill as a faithful adaptation of the novel by Noel Behn
Noel Behn
Noel Behn was an American novelist, screenwriter and theatrical producer. His first novel, The Kremlin Letter, drawn from his work in the US Army's Counterintelligence Corps, was made into a film by John Huston in 1970. Behn's non-fiction The Big Stick-Up at Brink's was adapted into a 1978 movie...
, who had worked for the United States Army's Counterintelligence Corps. Said by reviewers to be "beautifully" and "engagingly" photographed, the film is a highly complex and realistic tale of bitter intrigue and espionage set in the winter of 1969-1970 at the height of the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. The Kremlin Letter was a commercial failure and thinly reviewed in 1970, but the film has gathered steady praise from some critics throughout the decades since its release. French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville called The Kremlin Letter "masterly" and "...saw it as establishing the standard for cinema."
Plot
Late in 1969, a brilliant young United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
intelligence officer named Charles Rone (Patrick O'Neal) finds his commission revoked so that he can be recruited into an espionage mission. Rone is told that the mission is being undertaken independently of governmental intelligence agencies, as had commonplace prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when espionage operations were handled by a small community of agents operating on a freelance basis. Rone is told that the primary operator in that community, a "brutal, sadistic, conscienceless assassin" named Robert Stuydevant, did not adapt to the post-war shift to government intelligence agencies, and the independent network of spies disbanded, with Stuydevant disappearing and reportedly later committing suicide. Now, the government has suffered a significant failure in an important intelligence operation and has turned back to the independent agents for help. This time, "The Highwayman" (Dean Jagger
Dean Jagger
Dean Jagger was an Academy Award winning American film actor.-Career:Born Ira Dean Jagger in Columbus Grove, Ohio, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell with Mary Astor...
), another member of the old group of independent spies is the man leading the effort to reassemble the network to take on this mission. Another member of the group has recently died, and Rone has been tabbed as his replacement, due to Rone's exceptional analytical skills, eidetic memory
Eidetic memory
Eidetic , commonly referred to as photographic memory, is a medical term, popularly defined as the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme precision and in abundant volume. The word eidetic, referring to extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall not limited to, but...
and ability to speak eight languages, each with a native accent.
Rone meets with The Highwayman and another group member named Ward (Richard Boone
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
), the latter of whom takes on the role of Rone's primary tutor. They first task Rone with rounding up three other members of the group: Janis (Nigel Green
Nigel Green
Nigel Green was a South African-born English character actor. Because of his strapping build and commanding demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action in such classic sixties films as Jason and the Argonauts, Zulu, Tobruk and The Ipcress File.-Early life and...
), a drug dealer and panderer
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
, "The Warlock" (George Sanders
George Sanders
George Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
), a culturally sophisticated homosexual, and "The Erector Set" (Niall MacGinnis
Niall MacGinnis
Niall MacGinnis was an Irish actor who made 80 screen appearances.-Early life:MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913. He was educated at Stonyhurst College in England, and studied medicine at Dublin University. He qualified as a house surgeon...
), a highly skilled thief and burglar. Janis begs off of the mission, saying that he won't work for The Highwayman, but only for Stuydevant, whom he believes would never have killed himself. Rone finally bribes him into agreeing to participate. The Warlock joins the operation without hesitation, but The Erector Set's hands have become too arthritic to be of use. Instead, he sends his beautiful daughter B.A. (Barbara Parkins
Barbara Parkins
Barbara Parkins is a Canadian television and film actress.-Early life and rise to stardom:Parkins was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the age of sixteen, she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where she enrolled at Hollywood High School and began to study acting, tap, ballet, and...
) in his place, as he has trained her to be as capable as is he. B.A. and Rone soon become romantically involved.
The group's mission is the retrieval of a letter, written without proper authorization, that promises United States aid to the Soviet Union in destroying Chinese atomic weapons plants. The letter had been solicited on behalf of an unknown high-level Soviet official by Dmitri Polyakov, who had previously been selling Soviet secrets to the United States that he had obtained from that same Soviet official. Upon finding out about the letter, which was a de facto "declaration of war against China", U.S. and British authorities had contacted Polyakov and arranged to purchase it back from him. However, Polyakov then committed suicide after being apprehended by Soviet counter-intelligence under Colonel Yakov Kosnov (Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
).
The group blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
s Captain Potkin (Ronald Radd
Ronald Radd
Ronald Radd was a British television actor.Radd starred in some 60 different TV shows between 1955 and 1976 including The Avengers, Danger Man, and Z-Cars...
), the Soviet head of counter-intelligence in the U.S., threatening his family to force him to allow them the use of his usually-vacant apartment in Moscow. Once they arrive in the Soviet Union, the terminally ill Highwayman sacrifices his life, attempting to divert the attention of Soviet counter-intelligence away from the remainder of the team. Rone is assigned to remain at the apartment with Ward and accept reports verbally from other team members, Rone's memory allowing them to avoid the use of written records. Janis, The Warlock and B.A. then set out to establish themselves in various parts of Russian society as they try to ascertain the identity of Polyakov's contact.
Janis enters a partnership with a local brothel operator, who points him to a Chinese man known as "The Kitai" as a possible source for drugs to which they can keep their prostitutes addicted. Upon meeting the Kitai, Janis discerns that the man is also a spy. Janis also happens to spot Kosnov leaving a local night club with a woman whom he discovers was Polyakov's devoted wife, Erika Beck (Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Bibi Andersson was born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, the daughter of Karin , a social worker, and Josef Andersson, a businessman...
). She is now married to Kosnov, so B.A. plants a listening device in their bedroom. After that, B.A. takes up with a local small-time thief and black market operator, though she finds herself terribly unhappy and wishes only to return home to her father. In the meantime, the Warlock integrates himself into the local community of intellectual homosexuals, starting an affair with a university professor. He then meets one of the professor's students who was Polyakov's former lover and who informs him that Polyakov had had a relationship with Vladimir Bresnavitch (Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
) of the Soviet Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
.
Bresnavitch turns out to have an adversarial relationship with Kosnov, whose activities Bresnavitch oversees on behalf of the Committee. According to Kosnov, the animosity between the two men went back many years to when Bresnavitch sought to oust Kosnov from his job, in favor of Stuydevant. Prior to that time, Kosnov and Stuydevant had been friendly, with each one trusting the other to allow his agents to operate in the other's territory. However, with the pressure from Bresnavitch, Kosnov decided he had to do "something spectacular" to keep his job, so he betrayed Stuydevant's trust and captured his agents, employing a great deal of brutality and earning the lasting enmity of Stuydevant himself.
Upon deducing that Bresnavitch had used Polyakov to fence
Fence (criminal)
A fence is an individual who knowingly buys stolen property for later resale, sometimes in a legitimate market. The fence thus acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may or may not be aware that the goods are stolen. As a verb, the word describes the...
stolen art works in Paris, Ward decides to go there in search of any possible leads. On the day of his return, the group's mission is destroyed when Potkin returns to the Soviet Union and informs Bresnavitch about the operation. Janis, B.A. and Ward are apprehended, while The Warlock commits suicide just before capture and Rone narrowly escapes. Rone tries visiting the Kitai to arrange re-purchase of the letter, but the Kitai responds by trying to kill him and Rone determines that the Chinese have possession of the letter.
Rone then turns to Erika, with whom he has been having an affair while posing as a Russian gigolo
Gigolo
Gigolo may refer to:* A male prostitute, escort, or dancer, who offers services to women* Gigolo , a 2006 single by Helena Paparizou* Gigolo , a 2003 single by Nick Cannon...
named Yorgi. He hopes to get her to inquire with her husband about the condition of those captured. She informs him that Kosnov participated in no such capture, and Rone realizes that Bresnavitch quietly orchestrated the raid without the knowledge of Soviet counter-intelligence, a clear indicator that he was Polyakov's traitorous high-level Soviet official contact. Rone's questions reveal to Erika his true identity and he promises to help her escape to the West. She tells him she will try to ascertain the fates of the captured agents and later reports back that B.A. has taken poison and is expected to die, while one of the men is dead and the other has survived and is being held captive.
Rone threatens to expose Bresnavitch unless Ward, the surviving agent, is released. Bresnavitch agrees, and Rone and Ward then arrange to leave the next day, though Ward does not approve of Rone's plans aid Erika. Ward lures her into a trap and kills her. Kosnov believes that her lover Yorgi killed her and tracks down Rone, though unaware of Rone's true identity, in search of revenge. But Ward enters, leading Kosnov to observe that "I seem to know you." Ward says that the two men have "a lot of old corpses to dig up and talk about." He begins listing the names of the agents betrayed by Kosnov and says that the time has come for retribution, as he shoots Kosnov in the kneecap. Kosnov stares at Ward in disbelief, saying "No, it isn't. It can't be." Ward then closes on him off-camera and Kosnov begins screaming in torment.
As they head for a plane to leave the country, Rone shares with Ward his conclusions that Ward is in fact Stuydevant and intends to stay, having made a deal with Bresnavitch to take over as the head of Soviet counter-intelligence. Ward denies it, but only coyly, and then reveals that B.A. is not dead. He says that she will be held to ensure that Rone does not reveal the truth about him. Rone, very much in love with B.A., vows that he'll get her back somehow. Ward offers to release B.A. if Rone does "one last little thing", handing Rone an envelope as Rone boards the plane. After seating himself, Rone opens the envelope to find a note which reads, "Kill Potkin's wife and daughters or I kill the girl."
Cast
- Bibi AnderssonBibi AnderssonBibi Andersson is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Bibi Andersson was born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, the daughter of Karin , a social worker, and Josef Andersson, a businessman...
- Erika - Richard BooneRichard BooneRichard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
- Ward/Robert Stuydevant - Nigel GreenNigel GreenNigel Green was a South African-born English character actor. Because of his strapping build and commanding demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action in such classic sixties films as Jason and the Argonauts, Zulu, Tobruk and The Ipcress File.-Early life and...
- Lord Ashley's Whore/Janis - Dean JaggerDean JaggerDean Jagger was an Academy Award winning American film actor.-Career:Born Ira Dean Jagger in Columbus Grove, Ohio, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell with Mary Astor...
- Highwayman - Lila KedrovaLila KedrovaLila Kedrova was a Russian-born French actress.-Biography:Kedrova claimed to have been born in 1918, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her parents were Russian opera singers. Lila Kedrova's brother was Nikolay Kedrov, Jr...
- Sophie - Micheál MacLíammóirMicheál MacLiammóirMicheál Mac Liammóir , born Alfred Willmore, was an English-born Irish actor, dramatist, impresario, writer, poet and painter. Mac Liammóir was born to a Protestant family living in the Kensal Green neighbourhood of London....
- Sweet Alice - Patrick O'Neal - Charles Rone/"Yorgi"
- Barbara ParkinsBarbara ParkinsBarbara Parkins is a Canadian television and film actress.-Early life and rise to stardom:Parkins was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the age of sixteen, she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where she enrolled at Hollywood High School and began to study acting, tap, ballet, and...
- B.A. - Ronald RaddRonald RaddRonald Radd was a British television actor.Radd starred in some 60 different TV shows between 1955 and 1976 including The Avengers, Danger Man, and Z-Cars...
- Captain Potkin - George SandersGeorge SandersGeorge Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
- Warlock - Raf ValloneRaf ValloneRaffaele "Raf" Vallone was an Italian footballer, actor and an international film star.Born in Tropea, Calabria, the son of a lawyer, Vallone attended Liceo classico Cavour in Turin, and studied Law and Philosophy at the University of Turin and entered his father's law firm...
- Puppet Maker - Max von SydowMax von SydowMax von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
- Colonel Kosnov - Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
- Bresnavitch - Anthony ChinnAnthony ChinnAnthony Chinn , the child of Chinese and Brazilian parents, was a supporting actor who appeared in over fifty films and television shows throughout a career which spanned more than four decades. His first film appearance was in the UK in 1957 when he was 27...
- the Kitai - Sandor ElèsSandor ElèsSandor Elès was a Hungarian-born actor....
(credited as Sandor Eles) - Lt. Grodin - Niall MacGinnisNiall MacGinnisNiall MacGinnis was an Irish actor who made 80 screen appearances.-Early life:MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913. He was educated at Stonyhurst College in England, and studied medicine at Dublin University. He qualified as a house surgeon...
- Erector Set
Production
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
without the use of English subtitles by beginning such scenes in Russian and then segueing into English. Many of the scenes set in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
were filmed during 1969 in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
which features neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
buildings similar to those in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
. There was also filming at locations in New York City (the Hispanic Society of America, Central Park Zoo
Central Park Zoo
The Central Park Zoo is a small zoo located in Central Park in New York City. It is part of an integrated system of four zoos and the New York Aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society , and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums .The zoo began in the 1860s as a...
and Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
), Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Mostly aerial stock footage from the summer of 1969 showing Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, San Francisco, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
is also seen in the film.
Reaction
Vincent CanbyVincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of the New York Times called the movie "depressing." Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
had already noted in a pre-release review that The Kremlin Letter "...makes for valuable viewing, but with the piecing together another thing. Thus is this nastiness of the spy business graphically described. It is an engagingly photographed piece of business." A much later TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
review said the film was "Beautifully photographed... a hopelessly convoluted spy drama with so many intricate interweavings that you truly need a scorecard to keep track of the plotters." Craig Butler of Allmovie wrote, "Although it has its partisans, most consider The Kremlin Letter to be a big disappointment... the plot of the novel upon which it is based is simply too dense to be translated to the screen in a film of normal length." Butler went on to note that "Richard Boone really shines, turning in a very fine performance that leaves the rest of the actors in the dust... there are those who will greatly enjoy Kremlin for its twisted plotting and cynicism..."
This movie was listed within "100 Greatest Spy Movies: A Special Collector's Edition from the Editors of American History (magazine)."
There has always been a strong undercurrent of significant praise for the film. In 2005, UCLA scholar Bob Hudson noted in the journal Lingua Romana that French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville "...used the term magisterial in praise of John Huston's The Kremlin Letter (1970), which he had just viewed the night before the interview. Despite the commercial failure of the film, Melville saw it as establishing the standard for cinema, and explained his quest as an attempt to achieve such grandeur." The Time Out Film Guide calls The Kremlin Letter "powerful... possibly the clearest statement of Huston's vision of a cruel and senseless world in operation."