The Girl in the Kremlin

Last updated
The Girl in the Kremlin
Kremlin lobby card.jpg
A promotional lobby card for "The Girl in the Kremlin."
Directed by Russell Birdwell
Screenplay by Gene L. Coon
Robert Hill
Based on Harry Ruskin
DeWitt Bodeen
(Based on a story by)
Produced by Albert Zugsmith
Starring Lex Barker
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Jeffrey Stone
Cinematography Carl Guthrie
Edited by Sherman Todd
Color process Black and white
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • April 11, 1957 (1957-04-11)
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Girl in the Kremlin is a 1957 American film noir mystery film directed by Russell Birdwell and starring Lex Barker, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Jeffrey Stone. [1]

Contents

Plot

In Moscow, four terrified women prisoners are brought to the office of Joseph Stalin, who chooses Dasha, the smallest and most beautiful, and punishes her by shaving off her black hair. Moments later, plastic surgeon Dr. Petrov leads Stalin into the operating room and transforms his face so that he is unrecognizable. After his handlers announce publicly that Stalin has died, they secret him away to a hideout, where Greta Grisenko serves as his nurse. Meanwhile, Greta's twin sister Lili continues searching for her, as she has been ever since Russian troops invaded their home country of Lithuania and took Greta, against her will, to Moscow. Earlier, Lili had engaged private investigator Steve Anderson, an American living in Berlin, to find Greta, and now locates him there and asks why he has failed to contact her with information about her sister. Steve has discovered that Greta is working in Moscow and, despising Communists, refuses to work with Lili until she convinces him that her sister is an innocent victim of the Russians.

Steve takes Lili to the home of Mischa Rimilkin, a one-armed espionage agent who reveals that Greta has been working for Petrov. Upon receiving assurance from the U.S. Army that Lili is not a spy, the men divulge to her that Dasha, now confined to a mental hospital, claims that Stalin has been surgically altered and is living clandestinely with Greta.

The next day, Lili once again pleads with Steve to help her locate Greta, but Steve protests that the job is too dangerous. He is won over, however, by Lili's clever idea to force Stalin into action by announcing over the radio that he is alive. As they have hoped, Stalin hears the broadcast and orders his henchman, Igor Smetka, to kill Steve.

Mischa then brings Steve and Lili to Abensburg, West Germany, where Stalin's son Jacob has been living in secret since the Allies captured him during World War II. On the train, Steve and Mischa note the suspicious presence of a nun wearing combat boots, and once in Abensburg, Mischa follows the nun into a church. At the same time, Steve and Lili visit Jacob, who hates his father and, after conceding that he may be alive, warns them that they are in grave danger.

That night, Mischa and Steve vie for Lili's attention, and although Steve eventually wins a kiss, he then insults her, prompting her to slap him. From Lili's hotel room window, Steve spots the nun approaching and races downstairs, where he finds that Mischa has been knocked out. Steve overpowers the nun and removes the disguise, revealing his old cohort, Russian Tata Brun. Tata explains that he has been ordered to kill Steve in return for permission to see his exiled family, and the two agree to part without violence.

In the next few days, Mischa, Steve and Lili study old films of Stalin to become familiar with his mannerisms. Before one screening, Steve spots Igor and, suspecting impending danger, orders Lili to return to the hotel. Although Steve and Mischa wait in the screening room for an attack, none comes. Soon after, Tata arrives with a cab driver who announces that Lili has been abducted by Igor. Steve notifies the police and agrees to act as bait to attract Stalin's men. Surrounded by undercover agents, Steve and Mischa walk the streets near the screening room, and as planned, they are attacked. With Tata's help, they capture one of the assailants, whom Tata recognizes as one of the Communist agents who tortured him. Tata now returns the favor, torturing the man into confessing that Stalin is in the Greek mountains.

After the agent dies from his injuries, Steve and Mischa travel to the mountains, and there learn from bistro owner Count Molda that a nearby monastery was taken over years earlier by a mysterious group. Curious, Steve and Mischa sneak into the monastery at night, but are immediately captured by the waiting Molda, who introduces them to three other men and their women companions. Unable to discern which man is Stalin, Steve offers them all political asylum in the West, but the men respond by showing them Tata, who has been tortured and killed. They then place Steve and Mischa in a cell next to the imprisoned Lili.

That night, Lili receives a visit from Greta, and although Lili is thrilled to see her sister, Greta attacks her. When Lili pulls at Greta's hair, Greata's wig comes off in her hands, and Lili realizes that her sister has been enslaved and brainwashed. Although the women whip Steve mercilessly, he refuses to talk, and when Steve returns to the cell, Mischa uses his fake arm to bludgeon the guard. The two men then manage to free Lili, and together they stumble onto a room full of stolen cash and burn the currency in the lit fireplace. Just then, Greta bursts in and kills Mischa, forcing Steve to slay her.

Steve and Lili are soon recaptured and taken to Molda, who orders them killed. Just then, however, Jacob enters and shoots Stalin's henchmen. Molda steps forward, tenderly addressing Jacob as "son," but Jacob is unmoved and orders his father at gunpoint into a waiting car. As Steve and Lili follow them in another car, Stalin tries to reason with his son, but Jacob resists, denouncing his father's violence and campaign of terror against their people. Steve pulls up to the car and shoots at Jacob to make him stop. Trapped, Jacob willingly steers the car over a cliff. While Steve and Lili watch the fiery explosion, they note a nearby Biblical inscription reading "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

Cast

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zsa Zsa Gabor</span> Hungarian-American socialite and actress (1917–2016)

Zsa Zsa Gabor was a Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jolie Gabor</span> Hungarian American jeweler and socialite (1896–1997)

Jolie Gabor, Countess de Szigethy was a Hungarian-born American jeweler and socialite, known as the mother of actresses and fellow socialites Magda, Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eva Gabor</span> Hungarian-American actress and businesswoman (1919–1995)

Eva Gabor was a Hungarian-American actress, businesswoman, singer, and socialite. She voiced Duchess and Miss Bianca in the animated Disney Classics, The Aristocats (1970), The Rescuers (1977), and The Rescuers Down Under (1990). She was popular in her role on the 1965–71 television sitcom Green Acres as Lisa Douglas, the wife of Eddie Albert's character Oliver Wendell Douglas. Gabor was successful as an actress in film, on Broadway, and on television. She was also a successful businesswoman, marketing wigs, clothing, and beauty products. Her elder sisters, Zsa Zsa and Magda Gabor, were also actresses and socialites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magda Gabor</span> Hungarian-American socialite and television personality (1915–1997)

Magdolna "Magda" Gabor was a Hungarian-American actress and socialite, and the elder sister of Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor.

<i>Lili</i> 1953 film by Charles Walters

Lili is a 1953 American film released by MGM. It stars Leslie Caron as a touchingly naïve French girl whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, and was also entered in the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. It was later adapted for the stage under the title Carnival! (1961).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikolai Yezhov</span> NKVD director under Joseph Stalin

Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov was a Soviet secret police official under Joseph Stalin who was head of the NKVD from 1936 to 1938, during the height of the Great Purge. Yezhov organized mass arrests, torture and executions during the Great Purge, but he fell from Stalin's favour and was arrested, subsequently admitting in a confession to a range of anti-Soviet activity including "unfounded arrests" during the Purge. He was executed in 1940 along with others who were blamed for the Purge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabor sisters</span>

The Gabor sisters were three Hungarian-American actresses/socialites: Magda, Zsa Zsa, and Eva. Born in Budapest, Hungary, the trio relocated to the United States in hopes of starting film careers.

Maria and Daria Krivoshlyapova were Ischiopagus tripus conjoined twins from Russia.

<i>Queen of Outer Space</i> 1958 film by Edward Bernds

Queen of Outer Space is a 1958 American science fiction feature film shot in DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope. Produced by Ben Schwalb and directed by Edward Bernds, it stars Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, and Laurie Mitchell. The screenplay by Charles Beaumont, about a revolt against a cruel Venusian queen, is based on an idea supplied by Ben Hecht and originally titled Queen of the Universe. Upon its release, the film was promoted by Allied Artists and distributed to some locations as a double feature with Frankenstein 1970 starring Boris Karloff

The Second Moscow Conference between the major Allies of World War II took place from August 12, 1942, to August 17, 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt</span> German-American businessman

Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt is a German-American businessman best known as the last husband and widower of Zsa Zsa Gabor. He took on his new name in 1980, after Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt adopted him as an adult.

<i>The Nun</i> (2005 film) 2005 Spanish film

The Nun is an English-language 2005 Spanish horror film directed by Luis De La Madrid.

Famous for being famous is a term for someone who attains celebrity status for no clearly identifiable reason and appears to generate their own fame, or someone who achieves fame through a family or relationship association with an existing celebrity.

<i>Were Not Married!</i> 1952 film by Edmund Goulding

We're Not Married! is a 1952 American anthology romantic comedy film directed by Edmund Goulding. It was released by 20th Century Fox.

<i>Vacation of Petrov and Vasechkin, Usual and Incredible</i> 1984 film

Vacation of Petrov and Vasechkin, Usual and Incredible is a 1984 Soviet musical film, sequel to Adventures of Petrov and Vasechkin, Ordinary and Incredible.

<i>The Berkut</i> 1987 novel by Joseph Heywood

The Berkut is a 1987 secret history novel by Joseph Heywood in which Adolf Hitler survives World War II. It is set in the period immediately after the fall of The Third Reich. This book pits a German colonel and a Russian soldier from a secret organization against each other. The German, Günter Brumm, has been given orders to safely get the Führer out of Germany with the remaining resources of the Reich at his disposal, while Vasily Petrov, the Russian, has been given orders by Joseph Stalin to capture Hitler with the full resources of the Soviet Union at his disposal. In essence, Hitler says "Get me out of Germany, alive", while Stalin says, "Get me Hitler, alive." The book explores Brumm and Petrov pursuing their goals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zsa Zsa Carter</span> UK soap opera character, created 2010

Zsa Zsa Carter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders and its internet spin-off EastEnders: E20, played by Emer Kenny. She is the daughter of Tina Carter. She made her first appearance in EastEnders on 5 January 2010 and appears in all twelve episodes of the first series of EastEnders: E20. The character was created by a team of 13 writers aged between 17 and 22 and is described as bright, sarcastic and a rebel. In May 2010 the character's departure from the show was announced, and her last appearance was on 30 September 2010.

<i>Drop Dead Darling</i> 1966 film by Ken Hughes

Drop Dead Darling is a 1966 British-American black comedy film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Tony Curtis, Rosanna Schiaffino, Lionel Jeffries and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

<i>Virgin Territory</i> 2007 film by David Leland

Virgin Territory is a 2007 romantic comedy film directed by David Leland and starring Hayden Christensen, Mischa Barton, Tim Roth, Rosalind Halstead and Kate Groombridge. Based upon Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, it has also been known under the working titles The Decameron, Angels and Virgins, Guilty Pleasures and Chasing Temptation. The film's Italian title Decameron Pie pays tribute to both the title of the original source inspiration and to American comedy film American Pie. The film was released in France on December 12, 2007, under the title Medieval Pie, and was released directly-to-DVD in the U.S. in August 2008. It was the last film produced by Dino De Laurentiis.

Ninotchka is a 1960 American TV film. It is a remake of the 1939 Greta Garbo film Ninotchka. It was directed by Tom Donovan.

References

  1. "The Girl in the Kremlin (1957)". Turner Classic Movies.