The Kremlin Letter

The Kremlin Letter is an American spy lm[2] 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.[3]

member named Ward (Richard Boone), the latter of

whom takes on the role of Rones primary tutor. They
rst 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
The screenplay was co-written by Huston and Gladys sophisticated homosexual, and The Erector Set (Niall
a highly skilled thief and burglar.
Hill as a faithful adaptation of the novel by Noel MacGinnis),
Behn, who had worked for the United States Armys Janis begs o of the mission, saying that he won't work
Counterintelligence Corps.[4] Said by reviewers to be for The Highwayman, but only for Stuydevant, whom
beautifully[5] and engagingly[6] photographed, the he believes would never have killed himself. Rone lm is a highly complex and realistic tale of bitter in- nally bribes him into agreeing to participate. The Wartrigue and espionage[6] set in the winter of 1969-1970 at lock joins the operation without hesitation, but The Erecthe height of the US-Soviet Cold War.
tor Sets hands have become too arthritic to be of use.
The Kremlin Letter was a commercial failure and thinly Instead, he sends his beautiful daughter B.A. (Barbara
reviewed in 1970, but the lm has gathered steady praise Parkins) in his place, as he has trained her to be as cafrom some critics throughout the decades since its release. pable as is he. B.A. and Rone soon become romantically
French lmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville called The Krem- involved.
lin Letter masterly and "...saw it as establishing the stan- The groups mission is the retrieval of a letter, written
without proper authorization, that promises United States
dard for cinema.[7]
aid to the Soviet Union in destroying Chinese atomic
weapons plants. The letter had been solicited on behalf of an unknown high-level Soviet ocial by Dmitri
1 Plot
Polyakov, who had previously been selling Soviet secrets
to the United States that he had obtained from that same
Late in 1969, a brilliant young United States Navy intelliSoviet ocial. Upon nding out about the letter, which
gence ocer named Charles Rone (Patrick O'Neal) nds
was a de facto declaration of war against China, U.S.
his commission revoked so that he can be recruited into
and British authorities had contacted Polyakov and aran espionage mission. Rone is told that the mission is
ranged to purchase it back from him. However, Polyakov
being undertaken independently of governmental intellithen committed suicide after being apprehended by Sogence agencies, as was commonplace prior to World War
viet counter-intelligence under Colonel Yakov Kosnov
II, when espionage operations were handled by a small
(Max von Sydow).
community of agents operating on a freelance basis.
The group blackmails Captain Potkin (Ronald Radd), the
Rone is told that the primary operator in that community,
Soviet head of counter-intelligence in the U.S., threatena brutal, sadistic, conscienceless assassin named Robert
ing his family to force him to allow them the use of his
Stuydevant, did not adapt to the post-war shift to governusually-vacant apartment in Moscow. Once they arrive
ment intelligence agencies, and the independent network
in the Soviet Union, the terminally ill Highwayman sacof spies disbanded, with Stuydevant disappearing and rerices his life, attempting to divert the attention of Soportedly later committing suicide. Now, the government
viet counter-intelligence away from the remainder of the
has suered a signicant failure in an important intelliteam. Rone is assigned to remain at the apartment with
gence operation and has turned back to the independent
Ward and accept reports verbally from other team memagents for help.
bers, Rones memory allowing them to avoid the use of
This time, The Highwayman (Dean Jagger), another written records. Janis, The Warlock and B.A. then set out
member of the old group of independent spies is the man to establish themselves in various parts of Russian society
leading the eort to reassemble the network to take on as they try to ascertain the identity of Polyakovs contact.
this mission. Another member of the group has recently
Janis enters a partnership with a local brothel operator,
died, and Rone has been tabbed as his replacement, due to
who points him to a Chinese man known as Kitai as
Rones exceptional analytical skills, eidetic memory and
a possible source for drugs to which they can keep their
ability to speak eight languages, each with a native accent.
prostitutes addicted. Upon meeting the Kitai, Janis disRone meets with The Highwayman and another group
1

2
cerns 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 Polyakovs 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 nds 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
aair with a university professor. He then meets one of
the professors students who was Polyakovs 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 others territory. However, with the pressure from Bresnavitch, Kosnov decided he had to do something spectacular to keep
his job, so he betrayed Stuydevants 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 groups 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 aair 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 Polyakovs traitorous high-level Soviet
ocial contact. Rones 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. Disapprov-

CAST

ing of Rones plans to 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 Rones 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 o-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 Sturdevant
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 oers 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 nd a note which reads, Kill Potkins wife and
daughters or I kill the girl.

2 Cast
Bibi Andersson - Erika
Richard Boone - Ward/Robert Sturdevant
Nigel Green - Lord Ashleys Whore/Janis
Dean Jagger - Highwayman
Lila Kedrova - Sophie
Michel MacLammir - Sweet Alice
Patrick O'Neal - Charles Rone/"Yorgi
Barbara Parkins - B.A.
Ronald Radd - Captain Potkin
George Sanders - Warlock
Raf Vallone - Puppet Maker
Max von Sydow - Colonel Kosnov
Orson Welles - Bresnavitch
Anthony Chinn - doctor Kitai
Sandor Els (credited as Sandor Eles) - Lt. Grodin
Niall MacGinnis - Erector Set
Steve Zacharias- Dittomachine

Production

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 lm
of normal length. Butler went on to note that Richard
Boone really shines, turning in a very ne 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...[9]
In 2009 the lm was listed in 100 Greatest Spy Movies: A
Special Collectors Edition from the Editors of American
History [magazine].[2]
Jerry Kutner wrote Among the lms of 1970, John Hustons The Kremlin Letter was as unself-consciously noir
as his '40s and '50s work.[10]

This entrance gate of the Hispanic Society of America in New

York was used for a location shot (Rone and B.A. walking into
the Tillenger Foundation) and in this 2008 photograph, still looks
much like it did in the lm almost forty years earlier.

The lm 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 lmed during 1969
in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki which features
neoclassical buildings similar to those in Leningrad.
There was also lming at locations in New York City
(the Hispanic Society of America, Central Park Zoo and
Greenwich Village), Italy and Mexico.[3][5] Mostly aerial
stock footage from the summer of 1969 showing Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York is also seen
in the lm.

Reaction

Vincent Canby of the New York Times called the movie

depressing.[8] 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.[6] A much later TV Guide review said the lm
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.[5]

There has always been a strong undercurrent of significant praise for the lm. In 2005, UCLA scholar Bob
Hudson noted in the journal Lingua Romana that French
lmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville "...used the term magisterial in praise of John Hustons The Kremlin Letter (1970),
which he had just viewed the night before the interview.
Despite the commercial failure of the lm, Melville saw
it as establishing the standard for cinema, and explained
his quest as an attempt to achieve such grandeur.[7] The
Time Out Film Guide calls The Kremlin Letter powerful... possibly the clearest statement of Hustons vision of
a cruel and senseless world in operation.[11]

5 References
[1] Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate
and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series).
Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 9780-8108-4244-1. p256
[2] Seymour, Gene. 100 Greatest Spy Movies: A Special
Collectors Edition from the Editors of American History.
2009. Weider History Group.
[3] hollywood.com, The Kremlin Letter, retrieved 31 December 2008
[4] nytimes.com, Noel Behn, 70, Novelist, Producer and
Screenwriter, 31 July 1998, retrieved 31 December 2008
[5] tvguide.com, The Kremlin Letter, retrieved 31 December
2008
[6] variety.com, The Kremlin Letter, 1 January 1970, retrieved 31 December 2008
[7] Hudson, Bob, "J.-P. Melvilles Quest for the Absolute:
Persistent Perfectionism and Realistic Obsession in His
Last Films, Lingua Romana: a journal of French, Italian and Romanian culture, fall 2005 (volume 4, issue 1),
retrieved 31 December 2008
[8] Canby, Vincent, "Film of 'Kremlin Letter' Weaves Espionage Tale, New York Times, 2 February 1970, retrieved
31 December 2008.

[9] Butler, Craig, The Kremlin Letter, allmovie.com, retrieved

31 December 2008
[10] Kutner, Jerry C., Beyond the Golden Age - Film Noir Since
the '50s, brightlightslm.com, 1994, 2006, retrieved 31
December 2008:
[11] timeout.com, The Kremlin Letter, retrieved 31 December
2008

External links
The Kremlin Letter at the Internet Movie Database
The Kremlin Letter at AllMovie

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

The Kremlin Letter Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kremlin_Letter?oldid=670819530 Contributors: John K, Dimadick,

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7.2

Images

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7.3

Content license

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