The Kremlin Letter
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| The Kremlin Letter | |
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 Theatrical poster for The Kremlin Letter |
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| Directed by | John Huston |
| Produced by | Carter DeHaven Sam Wiesenthal |
| Written by | John Huston Gladys Hill |
| Starring | Bibi Andersson Richard Boone Nigel Green Dean Jagger |
| Music by | Robert Jackson Drasnin |
| Cinematography | Edward Scaife |
| Editing by | Russell Lloyd |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) |  February 1, 1970 April 10 April 17 June 21, 1971 |
| Running time | 120 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English/Russian |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Kremlin Letter is a 1970 film, released by 20th Century-Fox. Directed by John Huston from a screenplay that Huston co-wrote with Gladys Hill (adapted from the novel by Noel Behn), the film is a complex tale of intrigue and espionage set in the days of the US-Soviet Cold War.
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[edit] Plot
O'Neal plays a naval man drafted into the secret service because he has a photographic memory and is able to speak fluent Russian. He is given the task of retrieving the eponymous letter. Helping him is a motley team of undercover (and underworld) sorts, including Richard Boone as O'Neal's superior, charming and menacing both at the same time, George Sanders as a drag artist, and a beautiful safecracker (who opens safes with her feet while lying on her back), played by Barbara Parkins, with whom O'Neal falls in love. The characterizations and the acting are first-rate. Huston, who also plays a small role, directs with a deceptive touch of nonchalance that seems to imply wariness and uninvolvement but in fact, the film is a highly absorbing tale that sustains interest from beginning to end.
[edit] Cast
- Bibi Andersson as Erika (Beck) Kosnov, Prostitute/Kosnov's wife
- Richard Boone as Ward/Uncle
- Nigel Green as The Whore
- Dean Jagger as Highwayman
- Lila Kedrova as Madam Sophie
- Micheál MacLiammóir as Sweet Alice
- Patrick O'Neal as Charles Rone/Yorgi
- Barbara Parkins as B.A.
- Ronald Radd as Captain Potkin
- George Sanders as Warlock
- Raf Vallone as Puppet Maker
- Max von Sydow as Colonel Kosnov
- Orson Welles as Bresnavitch, Head of Soviet Politburo/Grodin's Father-in-Law
- Sandor Elès as Lt. Grodin (as Sandor Eles)
- Niall MacGinnis as Erector Set
[edit] Background and production notes
- One of the film's admirers was the French master of film noir Jean-Pierre Melville.
- An interesting technique used in the film to surmount the problem of having Russian characters speak in their own language while translating their dialogue into English without the use of English subtitles was to have the characters start speaking in Russian and gradually segueing into English. Such a practice has been little used since.
- Many of the scenes set to be in Communist Russia were filmed in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki, which features similar neoclassical buildings to Leningrad. Helsinki was quite a popular backdrop for similar films at the time.
[edit] External links
The Kremlin Letter at the Internet Movie Database
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