wed 04/12/2024

DVD: The Kremlin Letter | reviews, news & interviews

DVD: The Kremlin Letter

DVD: The Kremlin Letter

John Huston's star-packed spy caper is ageing well

Patrick O'Neal and Bibi Andersson in 'The Kremlin Letter': as bleak a movie as John Huston ever made

John Huston’s 1970 spy movie is the sort of baggy, eccentric work that is routinely dismissed by critics at the time, but whose untidy pleasures become apparent with age. Max von Sydow and Orson Welles are among the cheap but arresting all-star cast in what begins as a colourful and camp 1960s caper, only to darken shockingly. It’s the DVD debut of as bleak a film as Huston made.

John Huston’s 1970 spy movie is the sort of baggy, eccentric work that is routinely dismissed by critics at the time, but whose untidy pleasures become apparent with age. Max von Sydow and Orson Welles are among the cheap but arresting all-star cast in what begins as a colourful and camp 1960s caper, only to darken shockingly. It’s the DVD debut of as bleak a film as Huston made.

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