Movie Type: Psychological Thriller, Unglamorized Spy Film
Themes: Mind Games, Traitorous Spies/Double Agents
Main Cast: Yul Brynner, Henry Fonda, Dirk Bogarde, Philippe Noiret
Release Year: 1973
Country: IT/FR/WG
Run Time: 120 minutes
Plot
In this convoluted spy thriller, a Russian ambassador places his life on the line when he steals classified documents and defects to the U.S. The papers he carries could rock the free world. Unfortunately, the C.I.A. must first prove that they are real. The film is also known as The Serpent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Robert Alda - Interrogator; Elga Andersen - Kate Cross; Michel Bouquet - Tavel; Luigi Diberti - Lefevre; Larry Dolgin - Atamian; Marie Dubois - Suzanne; André Falcon - French Diplomat; Farley Granger - Computer Programming Chief; Martin Held - Lepke; Virna Lisi - Annabel Lee; François Maistre - Airport Police Inspector; Nathalie Nerval - Tatiana; William Sabatier - Mercadier; Paola Pitagora - Duty Free Shop Salesgirl; Guy Tréjan - Deval
Credit
Henri Verneuil - Director, Pierre Gillette - Editor, Ennio Morricone - Composer (Music Score), Bruno Nicolai - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jacques Saulnier - Production Designer, Claude Renoir - Cinematographer, Henri Verneuil - Producer, Jean Rieul - Sound/Sound Designer, Tom Rowe - Screenwriter, Henri Verneuil - Screenwriter, Gilles Perrault - Screenwriter, Pierre Nord - Book Author
Night Flight from Moscow or Le Serpent is a French thriller made in 1973. It was produced and directed by Henri Verneuil. The music was written by Ennio Morricone.
Plot
Aleksey Teodorovic Vlassov (Yul Brynner) is a high ranking KGB official who defects while in France. He has with him highly-classified information as part of a deal with Western intelligence for his arrival in the United States. The debriefing is held at Langley by DCI Allan Davies (Henry Fonda) and MI6 representative Philip Boyle (Dirk Bogarde). Vlassov hands off a list of enemy agents in Western Europe including a deep penetration into NATO. Davies wants to begin operations to take down the agents; however, those on the list suddenly begin to die off. The CIA also has suspicions over the authenticity of Vlassov's claims. The CIA discovers that a defection photo of Vlassov was taken in the Soviet Union, not in Turkey, judging from the contours of the mountain in the background (the Ararat mount). Vlassov also fails a lie detector test after he angrily protests about sexual related questions asked by the CIA during the test.
