The Kremlin Letter is a 1970 American spy thriller film in Panavision[2] directed by John Huston and starring Richard Boone, Orson Welles, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Patrick O'Neal, and George Sanders.

[3] The screenplay by Huston and Gladys Hill was based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Noel Behn, who had worked for the United States Army's Counterintelligence Corps.

[4] Said by reviewers to be "beautifully"[5] and "engagingly"[6] photographed, the film is a highly complex and amoral tale of bitter intrigue and espionage[6] set in the winter of 1969–1970 at the height of the US–Soviet Cold War.

The Kremlin Letter was a commercial failure and thinly reviewed in 1970, but the film has gathered steady praise from some critics throughout the decades since its release.

The group must retrieve a letter, written without proper authorization, that promises United States aid to the Soviet Union in destroying Chinese atomic weapons plants.

The group blackmails Captain Potkin, the Soviet head of counterintelligence in the U.S., threatening his family to force him to allow them the use of his vacant apartment in Moscow.

Years before, Bresnavitch sought to oust Kosnov from his job, in favor of Robert Sturdevant, a primary operator in The Highwayman's old group.

Bresnavitch had used Polyakov to fence stolen art works in Paris, so Ward, an old partner of the Highwayman and a member of Rone's current group, decides to go there in search of leads.

[3][5] Mostly aerial stock footage from the summer of 1969 showing Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City is also seen in the film.

"[6] A much later TV Guide review said the film was "Beautifully photographed... [but] a hopelessly convoluted spy drama with so many intricate interweavings that you truly need a scorecard to keep track of the plotters.

"[12] Craig Butler of Allmovie wrote, "Although it has its partisans, most consider The Kremlin Letter to be a big disappointment... the plot of the novel upon which it is based is simply too dense to be translated to the screen in a film of normal length."

Butler went on to note that "Richard Boone really shines, turning in a very fine performance that leaves the rest of the actors in the dust... there are those who will greatly enjoy Kremlin for its twisted plotting and cynicism..."[13] In 2005, UCLA scholar Bob Hudson noted in the journal Lingua Romana that French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville "...used the term magisterial in praise of John Huston's The Kremlin Letter (1970), which he had just viewed the night before the interview.

"[7] The Time Out Film Guide calls The Kremlin Letter "powerful... possibly the clearest statement of Huston's vision of a cruel and senseless world in operation.