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Title: The Russia House (1990)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Sean Connery | ... | Barley | |
| Michelle Pfeiffer | ... | Katya | |
| Roy Scheider | ... | Russell | |
| James Fox | ... | Ned | |
| John Mahoney | ... | Brady | |
| Michael Kitchen | ... | Clive | |
| J.T. Walsh | ... | Quinn | |
| Ken Russell | ... | Walter | |
| David Threlfall | ... | Wicklow | |
| Klaus Maria Brandauer | ... | Dante | |
| Mac McDonald | ... | Bob | |
| Nicholas Woodeson | ... | Niki Landau | |
| Martin Clunes | ... | Brock | |
| Ian McNeice | ... | Merrydew (as Ian McNiece) | |
| Colin Stinton | ... | Henziger | |
Three notebooks supposedly containing Russian military secrets are handed to a British publisher during a Russian book conference. The British Secret Service are naturally keen to learn if these notebooks are the genuine article. To this end, they enlist the help of the scruffy British publisher Barley Blair, who has plenty of experience with Russia and Russians. Barley, an unconventional character who doesn't respond well to authority, finds himself in a game more complex than he first thought when he digs into the origin of the notebooks. Written by Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
I have read a few John Le Carre books (although not The Russia House) and was not as impressed as most other people seemed to be. People say that the movie is slow and cerebral (and it is) but really that is how Le Carre's books read. Sean Connery never puts in a bad performance, and neither does Michelle Pfeiffer. And it never hurts that she is sooooo beautiful. Klaus Maria Brandauer is also always good and still is here. The problem is the script, which relates back to the source material. It is a little bit of a bore. Not badly, just a bit. It looks like the filmmakers were so proud to be filming in the USSR, that they went a little overboard. Not every place in Russia is St. Basil's and the Winter Palace. Overall the film is OK.