Sat 31 Mar 2018
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: THE KREMLIN LETTER (1970).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Suspense & espionage films[10] Comments
THE KREMLIN LETTER. 20th Century Fox, 1970. Patrick O’Neal, Richard Boone, Max von Sydow, Bibi Anderssona, Barbara Parkins, George Sanders, Nigel Green, Orson Welles, Dean Jagger. Based on the novel by Noel Behm. Director: John Huston.
There is no actual letter in this movie. Or maybe there is, but it’s not important. Such is the mystery – if not incoherence – of John Huston’s bleak spy thriller, The Kremlin Letter. As a movie in which atmosphere and mood count far more than plot, this somewhat neglected thriller features Patrick O’Neal (Castle Keep) as Charles Rone, a US Navy officer turned spy.
On the behest of the enigmatic Highwayman (Dean Jagger) and his assistant, the jocular but devious Ward (Richard Boone), he is sent on a mission to Moscow to retrieve the eponymous Kremlin letter, a document signed by a high ranking US intelligence official promising American support to the Soviet Union should the Russians decide to wage war on Red China.
Along for the ride are Janis (Nigel Green), a seedy pimp and drug pusher; “The Warlock†(George Sanders), an urbane homosexual and San Francisco drag queen who is willing to use his sexual proclivities to unlock secrets from closeted gay men in Moscovite society; and B.A. (Barbara Perkins of Valley of the Dolls fame), who has the uncanny ability to crack safes with her feet.
Much of the movie is devoted to watching these unlikely spies do all sorts of things in Moscow. The movie shifts from one scene from another, but if it’s continuity you’re looking for, you’re not going to find it here. If you want a bleak portrayal of a cruel world where spies will do anything for their respective countries, The Kremlin Letter may be exactly what you’re looking for.
There’s no James Bond glamour here, but there’s plenty of cruelty and manipulation. As for the Kremlin letter that the team is looking for, it turns out to be a McGuffin. But despite Huston in the director’s seat, The Kremlin Letter is far from being a prized black bird from Malta that’s worth killing for.
March 31st, 2018 at 8:46 pm
I found this almost impossible to follow when I saw it first-run in a theater But I was pretty baked when I watched it that time, so I chalked it up to the grass (I am a child of the Sixties after all).
So I gave it another chance on TV years later: I could follow it better but it was still pretty incoherent sure enough. There are some interesting moments/performances but it’s mediocre John Huston.
March 31st, 2018 at 9:08 pm
It’s a tough movie to follow, that’s for sure, under any circumstances. I’ve watched it only once and have meant to try it again — I think it’a worth the effort — but so far, I haven’t done so.
March 31st, 2018 at 9:17 pm
I saw it the second time on COMMERCIAL television. As you’d imagine the editing and inserted TV commercials added to the incoherence…
March 31st, 2018 at 9:55 pm
Obviously the film lacks clarity, but is a compelling and beautifully acted picture. A sidebar: Patrick O’Neal was a business friend of mine starting in the mid-sixties. When he went off to shoot The Kremlin Letter all was well, but they broke for Christmas, and on his return, George Sanders who had seemed a fine strong fellow for his age, came back in obvious physical decline. I was reminded of this a few years later when Sanders committed suicide, and not for the reason, boredom, stated. It all just fell apart. Financially, socially, physically and mentally.
March 31st, 2018 at 11:50 pm
O’Neal and Bone are the best part of the film though Sanders is good and Greene always worth watching, but the script is never really coherent, unlike the fine novel, and the film never rises to the level of tension it should.
It’s one of those we’re as bad as them films of the era, but as everyone is always betraying everyone else and the resolution is anti- climactic it fizzles out.
The ending is powerful in the novel, here it is barely ironic, and since you can’t fault the cast I’m afraid the screenplay and Huston’s direction have to take the fall.
It plays out as if there was too much drinking on the set trying to keep warm in the cold location shoot,and the storyline was forgotten.
It is actually a linear adaptation of the book, but that doesn’t do the book justice since its a different media. This would have worked better as an episodic limited series than a film.
April 1st, 2018 at 8:02 am
I have to go with the general consensus here, except to say that on balance I enjoyed it a lot.
April 1st, 2018 at 5:01 pm
O’Neal received some unfair criticism for the film, because he played the character of Charles Rone as Noel Behn wrote it.
In the novel Rone is a man emotionally shut down because of a childhood trauma, and it turns out chosen by Boone’s Ward because of that. Ward is not only using Rone in the book, he’s grooming him to be his replacement if he survives.
O’Neal tries to convey all that, but the script leaves much of that out so that O’Neal’s performance seems remote. Likely much of that ended up on the cutting room floor either literally or in the script phase.
Add to the problem his role is fairly thankless against such scene steamers as Boone, Sanders, and Greene, and Larkin’s, while attractive,doesn’t bring much to the film, it is an almost impossible role to play.
Like Dan I like parts of the film, but it never really congeals and by the end even a careful and attentive viewer is likely to go, huh?
It’s that”huh?” that means THE KREMLIN LETTER ultimately fails.
April 6th, 2018 at 9:58 am
Bibi Andersson…though if we remake her as Italian by adding a final A to her name, if it means that she as she was in 1970 considers dating me, I’ll go with it…
December 4th, 2020 at 5:57 pm
The Kremlin Letter is completely underrated. This is a brilliant glimpse inside the world of real espionage. The twists and turns are unexpected and all the performances are first rate. You all need to look a little deeper into this film.
The final twist is unexpected and very realistic, especially in light of the revelation that we now have open communists and ho headed both the CIA and FBI in recent years. The novel was written by a former CIA agent and gives a glimpse into the world of real spy craft not the fantasy realm of Bond.
I like my espionage down and dirty, gritty and violent with a serpentine plot that keeps you on your toes. The Kremlin Letter fulfills that on all counts.
Also underrated is Houston’s The MacIntosh Man starring Paul Newman which has excellent mood and memorable scenes.
March 28th, 2021 at 7:46 pm
As much dirt and two timing deceit as any spy movie. I especially liked the Sturdivant twist at the end.