The Kremlin Letter

I can't believe anyone would not think this is a 4 star movie, great performances, complex plot and no "James Bond" gadgetry, this is really good stuff. The film has a grainy quality that's perfect for the time and subject matter. The characters are real, human, flawed and believable. In a time where most "thrillers" insult our basic reasoning, this presents a picture of all the human foibles that allow people to be manipulated in various fashions. Similar in feel and texture to " The Spy Who Came in From The Cold " this movie offers some unique performances from some "big names" in unusual roles. The ending is filled with some twists and turns that make this movie well worth seeing.

The Museum of Modern Art in NYC is having a "Huston family" festival and they showed this film last night. Big crowd to see this film that was a flop when originally released. I had been wanting to see it for some time out of curiosity: George Sanders appears in drag as a San Francisco gay bar pianist, and Barbara Parkins has a role, three years after "Valley of the Dolls." (I love Parkins not just for the "Valley" connection. I think she's talented and beautiful and I love her voice.) I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. So much better than the stuff Hollywood cranks out today, although sometimes just as difficult to follow. There's lots of verbal exposition in the movie, and at one point I think it's even implied that the Orson Welles character is a homosexual.

The sexual politics of the film are outdated, perhaps. But, then, the political correctness of today is even more numbing.

The movie pops up on the Fox Movie Channel occasionally. Be sure to see it in letterbox.

By the way, Pauline Kael hated the movie. Funny, bitchy review in her book "Deeper Into Movies." But just because Pauline hated it, doesn't mean you will. She complains about the sound, but I didn't notice a problem. She also complains about the look of the film, but I think the verite style was intentional.

One tiny thing I thought I noticed, the old lady who is the mother of the Russian thief Barbara Parkins lives with seems to have too nice a manicure! I could be wrong. The moment flew by.

Mainly a TV star ("Have Gun, Will Travel"), and mainly a Western star in his movies, Richard Boone gives one of his rare contemporary film performances in "The Kremlin Letter" and just about saves the picture. His trademark moustache shaved and his dark hair bleached an alarming white-blond, Boone does a deadpan, deadly good ol' boy of a spymaster with crackel barrel charm and ice cold menace. He simply cannot read a line wrong; check out the scene near the end where he tells "hero" Patrick O'Neal that he's going to Paris. Director John Huston frames the shot to catch Boone's always expressive hand movements as Boone delivers a long speech with delightful vigor and spin.

The movie is a disappointing Huston film and really pretty awful in general, but of some historic importance. The new ratings code was in place since 1968, "R" and "X" ratings were in, older directors like Huston felt the need to sex up their movies. "The Kremlin Letter" astonishes in the depravity of its characters. Message: spying is a dirty business, with no loyalties, and anything goes: prostitution, drug pushing, kidnapping of innocents, blackmail, torture, murder.

Along with the great, underrated Boone, this was among the last films for the elegant George Sanders and the interesting Nigel Green. Along with sweet-faced, mean-voiced Dean Jagger ("White Christmas"), these actors demonstrate just how deadly an "over-the-hill-gang" of old secret agents can be.

Not a good movie, not a coherent movie, but worth seeing for: Boone, Sanders, Green, Jagger -- and Huston's desperate attempt to get sexually trendy as the New Hollywood of the 70's kicked in. Problem: hard to see. Is it even available on tape?

Just how seriously John Huston took any of this is hard to say but "The Kremlin Letter" is still one of his most entertaining pictures. A shaggy dog story with a plot that is virtually impossible to follow, it's possibly his daftest picture since "Beat the Devil". An all-star cast play various spies, both Russian and American, and they would all seem to be after the letter of the title; that much is clear...or is it! Huston himself wrote it, together with Gladys Hill, from a novel by Noel Behn though like "Beat the Devil" you feel as if they're making it up as they go along, which is all part of the fairly nasty fun. The superb cast act with the straightest of faces, (there's a great cameo from Orson Welles while Max Von Sydow and Bibi Andersson as usual walk away with it). Sold at the time as a serious antidote to the Bond movies the film wasn't a success but is now seen as a cult classic.

I saw the original release (uncut) and was not disturbed by George Sanders in drag. It seems to me that this one point raised by almost all of the movie anthologies indicates that none have seen the film but only copied one person's comment. The story is clever espionage, keeps you guessing, and keeps your interest. I do not want to say anything else about the story for it will spoil it for those who have not seen it. The performances are all strong and the graphic portrayal may have been too much for the critics. If you want to sense the power and fear of espionage, this is the film to see. There is no holding back. Even the great one, "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold", does not push the cruelty of the spy game as far as this one does. I wish we could get some interest going so that this film will be released on video. I would like to revisit this unique spy film.