BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Milan I had no doubt that this effort from prolific French director Henry Verneuil ("Le Clan Des Siciliens","Mélodie En Sous-Sol",and terrific "I... comme Icare)", will be better than your usual cold war spy thriller. This is a sort of movie that mature film fan expects to see, no James Bond nonsense, no Russians that only speak broken English, no Russians with M16 rifles and ridiculous plots. This movie rings true, even 60's and 70's strongmen such as Yul Brynner is very good and very plausible as Soviet KGB colonel Alexei Vlassov, and the supporting cast of greats: Henry Fonda, Dirk Bogarde and Philippe Noiret, wee the web of high echelon government espionage, that keeps viewer guessing to the end. French title "Le Serpent" is much better than unfortunate English one ("Night flight from Moscow),that has nothing to do with plot whatsoever. Le Serpent or the serpent is a snake in the grass that strikes whenever it feels threatened. It's poison is deadly and quick, but ultimately it has to shed skin and reveal it's trail. Look for this great film if you're a fan of intelligent spy films. Satisfaction is guaranteed.

ma-cortes Prototypical Cold War thriller deals about an aging soviet spy named Vlassov (here Yul Brynner plays Russian Colonel Alexei Vlassov , as such, Brynner plays a character of his own nationality ; Brynner's full birth name was Yuli Borisovich Bryner) who attempts to defect the East world . The CIA chief named Allan Davies (Henry Fonda) interrogates him, using polygrapher (interrogator played by Robert Alda), computer programming , and other means . Then Davies must decide if he's saying the truth .This complex espionage picture is packed with thrills, suspense, tension and extraordinary performances . This movie was made and released about two years after its source French novel "The Thirteenth Who Committed Suicide" by Pierre Nord was first published in 1971 . Good spy movie , in fact the Spy agencies featured in this film include the CIA, KGB, Mi6 and the West German intelligence service . It's a slow moving spy-movie with emphasis on de-glamorizing espionage . Sensational acting by two big star names, Yul Brynner as spy who defects with a fistful of important documents and Henry Fonda as chief who must discover the truth . Strong secondary cast with Dirk Bogarde, Farley Granger, Philippe Noiret, gorgeous Virna Lisi and several others . Interesting and thrilling screenplay by the same producer and director Henry Verneuil . Atmospheric musical composed by Ennio Morricone and conducted by Bruno Nicolai . Superbyly realistic and adequate cinematography by Claude Renoir .The picture was splendidly directed by Henry Verneuil, a Turkish director working in France from the 40s . Although not a director of great reputation among the critics, his movies have almost all been aimed squarely at the commercial market. Verneuil is an expert on heist-genre such as he proved in ¨The Sicilians clan(68)¨ with Jean Gabin and Alain Delon, ¨The burglars(1971)¨ with Omar Shariff and Jean Paul Belmondo , furthermore on Warlike genre : ¨Weekend at Dunkirk¨ and ¨The 25th hour¨, espionage as ¨ Night flight from Moscow¨ and even directed one Western : ¨Guns of San Sebastian¨ (68). He seemed to have dropped out of the film-making after 1976, but in 1981 unexpectedly reappeared with yet another of his caper film : ¨Thousand millions of dollars¨. Rating : Acceptable and passable, a must see for French cinema lovers and Fonda and Bryner fans

elshikh4 At that era, there were a lot of big production movies with a lot of international stars, something to challenge the mighty power of television back then, and the strange mood of films that hit the genres' formulas in the groins ! Maybe someday I'll give you a list of this kind of movies as it ended up mostly being flops, real proud turkeys, and another huge titanics.Here, it fulfilled all the previous conditions, yet the ambition was just well meaning. Actually after the astonishing (Z - 1969) the term "political thriller" became encouraging. 4 years later (Night Flight from Moscow) tries to make something balanced between the serious satire (the cold war is never over despite any detente), and the commercial sense of suspense, to achieve eventually mediocre work both ways. It could've been genuinely one great espionage movie where all the parties enjoying deceiving each others, but the final result was that tasteless and a little bit embarrassing putting in mind the big names.It's frigid, and that's strange when you look into the history of its director (Henri Verneuil) !, it's silly like a noir movie where all the killings and all the killers are complicatedly successive, it's idiot when you examine the evidences that finally exposed the Russians' real trick.. You've got to think whether the whole Russian intelligence is so dumb? Or the real dumb ones are whom want to convince you with some things as low as this ?! It's, though, a fest of stars, one paranoiac movie, and an early time to launch a twist that surprising ..I think, despite some weakness, it was unpredictable and even more, considering the year of production, as since the 2000s, this became ordinary fashion in movies.It deserves a view; for all the aforementioned and for the wicked sentence that (Yul Brynner) said to his watchers through the camera, plus the way he said it.

bkoganbing Talk about international cast, this French film Le Serpent boasts players from America, The United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany and Russia. It's an espionage story with Yul Brynner as a high ranking KGB colonel defecting to the west and bringing a whole lot of goodies with him.What Brynner is bringing to CIA chief Henry Fonda is a list of fifth columnists who've been operating for years in the west in all the western allied countries. A lot of deaths start occurring in all these countries as problems are dealt with one way or another.Of course this information wreaks havoc with the intelligence services of the west. Which just might have been the desired Soviet intention.In this cast the best performance hands down is that of Dirk Bogarde as a Kim Philby like MI5 man. Somebody's had their eye on him for a long time.Spying can be a dirty business and Le Serpent certainly shows the seamier side of it. If you're looking for James Bond like heroics this isn't your film.Le Serpent is in the tradition of the Richard Burton classic The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Not as good but better than a whole lot of stuff these old timers were appearing in during the Seventies.