Speaking Russian was forbidden in the cold war of Europe in the 1970's in front of French government officials. In communist Russia, certain citizens are allowed to defect on the agreement that they become involved in seemingly light espionage activities. KGB agent Yul Brynner shows up at a French airport to locate his wife (Nathalie Nerval) who is trying to defect, and suddenly is attempting to defect himself, alone. It's a confusing opening which results him agreeing to provide the CIA with names of double agents (I'd be confused enough spying for one country, let alone two), and it takes a while for the plot to really be grasped. So from France across the pond to Washington DC in the click of an eye, where the viewer gets a glimpse into the goings on of CIA translaters, focusing mainly on Russian language publications, searching for code.
It's never too expensive to keep informed is the motto of the movie script version of the CIA, showing Brynner taking a very complex lie detector test (including intrusive questions about his sexual habits and thoughts), and that introduces the sultry Virna Lisi to the story. They even hire female companionship for him which he rejects in a humorous way. Henry Fonda comes into the story at this point as the director of central intelligence with Dirk Bogarde coming in as the British equivalent. Efforts to trip up Brynner seem to fail as he explains why he's come to the desire to turn against his party, with lengthy scenes showing real life Russian leaders mixing Brynner in.
I couldn't help but giggle at video of a very lengthy Soviet military parade and the pretentious events surrounding it, although it reminded me of other similar parade and event newsreels taking place in Germany decades before this, with references to Hitler coming up in the film. I could have easily gotten distracted and bored by the convoluted elements of this film, since I've seen so many cold war thrillers that made little sense, but like the flick of a light switch became engaged to what was going on, as if the film finally arriving in America put together all the puzzle pieces missing in the first few reels. Robert Alda and Farley Granger have smaller parts. The film gets more intense as it goes on, making me glad I didn't tune out early on.
It's never too expensive to keep informed is the motto of the movie script version of the CIA, showing Brynner taking a very complex lie detector test (including intrusive questions about his sexual habits and thoughts), and that introduces the sultry Virna Lisi to the story. They even hire female companionship for him which he rejects in a humorous way. Henry Fonda comes into the story at this point as the director of central intelligence with Dirk Bogarde coming in as the British equivalent. Efforts to trip up Brynner seem to fail as he explains why he's come to the desire to turn against his party, with lengthy scenes showing real life Russian leaders mixing Brynner in.
I couldn't help but giggle at video of a very lengthy Soviet military parade and the pretentious events surrounding it, although it reminded me of other similar parade and event newsreels taking place in Germany decades before this, with references to Hitler coming up in the film. I could have easily gotten distracted and bored by the convoluted elements of this film, since I've seen so many cold war thrillers that made little sense, but like the flick of a light switch became engaged to what was going on, as if the film finally arriving in America put together all the puzzle pieces missing in the first few reels. Robert Alda and Farley Granger have smaller parts. The film gets more intense as it goes on, making me glad I didn't tune out early on.