Review of The Kremlin Letter (1970) by Gene B — 12 Oct 2016

It's a dirty rotten low-down movie about dirty rotten low-down people. And delicious.

The plot: 5 Americans sent out to infiltrate the Moscow sex-and-drugs underworld to retrieve an incriminating document.

Viewing tips:

Try not to pay too much attention to the fate of the letter itself; that's just the McGuffin. I think an over-concentration on the letter is what turned off many reviewers when the movie was released. Let it go. It isn't really about the letter; it's about personal betrayal.

Stories are told about the old days of espionage, of people and incidents. It's great to have a film with a rich sense of history, and this works well to provide context and atmosphere, but it's actually more than that; try to pay close attention. It'll pay off.

OK, some of it's hokey around the edges; again, let it go.

General notes:

It's closely based on a novel by Noel Behn--descendant of Aphra Behn (d. 1698), the first woman in history to make a living playwriting. She was also a foreign spy for Charles II. Perhaps it's ironic (or genetic) that, as Wikipedia says,.

"[B]iographer Janet Todd noted that Behn 'has a lethal combination of obscurity, secrecy and staginess which makes her an uneasy fit for any narrative, speculative or factual. She is not so much a woman to be unmasked as an unending combination of masks'".

What a cast list(!) They all give sterling performances, there are no star turns here. Using all their considerable talents, they completely inhabit their characters. But you have to give it up for the star turn by the spectacular and wonderful Richard Boone.

It also has one of the best abduction scenes ever--dynamic, surprising and excruciatingly suspenseful, worthy of the best Hitchcock.