The Russia House

Starring:Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider, James Fox, John Mahoney, Michael Kitchen, J.T. Walsh, Ken Russell, David Threlfall, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Mac McDonald, Nicholas Woodeson, Martin Clunes, Ian McNeice, Colin Stinton, Denys Hawthorne, George Roth, Peter Mariner, Ellen Hurst, Peter Knupffer
Director: Fred Schepisi
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video
Intelligent casting, strong performances, and the persuasive chemistry between Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer prove the virtues in director Fred Schepisi's well-intended but problematic screen realization of this John Le Carré espionage thriller. At its best, The Russia House depicts the bittersweet nuances of the pivotal affair between a weary, alcoholic London publisher (Connery) and the mysterious Russian beauty (Pfeiffer) who sends him a fateful manuscript exposing the weaknesses beneath Soviet defense technology. Connery's Barley is a gritty, all-too-human figure who's palpably revived by his awakening feelings for Pfeiffer's wan, vulnerable Katya, whose own reciprocal emotions are equally convincing. Together, they weave a poignant romantic duet.

The problems, meanwhile, emanate from the story line that brings these opposites together. Le Carré's novels are absorbing but typically internal odysseys that seldom offer the level of straightforward action or simple arcs of plot that the big screen thrives on. For The Russia House, written as glasnost eclipsed the cold war's overt rivalries, Le Carré means to measure how old adversaries must calibrate their battle to a more subtle, subdued match of wits. Barley himself becomes enmeshed in the mystery of the manuscript because British intelligence chooses to use him as cat's paw rather than become directly involved. Such subtlety may be a more realistic take on the spy games of the recent past, but it makes for an often tedious, talky alternative to taut heroics that Connery codified in his most celebrated early espionage role.

Amazon.com essential video

Intelligent casting, strong performances, and the persuasive chemistry between Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer prove the virtues in director Fred Schepisi's well-intended but problematic screen realization of this John Le Carré espionage thriller. At its best, The Russia House depicts the bittersweet nuances of the pivotal affair between a weary, alcoholic London publisher (Connery) and the mysterious Russian beauty (Pfeiffer) who sends him a fateful manuscript exposing the weaknesses beneath Soviet defense technology. Connery's Barley is a gritty, all-too-human figure who's palpably revived by his awakening feelings for Pfeiffer's wan, vulnerable Katya, whose own reciprocal emotions are equally convincing. Together, they weave a poignant romantic duet.

The problems, meanwhile, emanate from the story line that brings these opposites together. Le Carré's novels are absorbing but typically internal odysseys that seldom offer the level of straightforward action or simple arcs of plot that the big screen thrives on. For The Russia House, written as glasnost eclipsed the cold war's overt rivalries, Le Carré means to measure how old adversaries must calibrate their battle to a more subtle, subdued match of wits. Barley himself becomes enmeshed in the mystery of the manuscript because British intelligence chooses to use him as cat's paw rather than become directly involved. Such subtlety may be a more realistic take on the spy games of the recent past, but it makes for an often tedious, talky alternative to taut heroics that Connery codified in his most celebrated early espionage role.

Customer Reviews:

Checking Out The Cracks in Glasnost.......2007-03-05

The movie "Russia House," starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, is based on the spy novel of the same name, by that master spy-meister, the British John LeCarre. It's a very acute look at Russia, just as their "Glasnost," policy of openness begins to end --but not quite-- the cold war. The talented British playwright Tom Stoppard adapted the script, largely faithful to the novel. The respected director Fred Schepisi helmed. Like most of the movies adapted from LeCarre's oeuvre, it reflects his extraordinary abilities with plotting and dialogue. Though, mind you, the dialogue is quite mannered, as also reflects LeCarre's works, not to mention Stoppard's.

The plot, set in London, Russia, and some other glamorous continental cities, concerns an informant, unknown to the British Secret Service, MI5, who has suddenly popped up, in this period of glasnost, with very valuable, top secret data as to the Russian military's preparedness. The Secret Service doesn't quite know what to make of it, so they press Scott Barley Blair (Sean Connery), an alcoholic publisher specializing in Russian subjects, into service. He's to go to Russsia (several times, it turns out) to locate this most secret of spies. Along the way, he meets and falls in love with Michelle Pfeiffer, never better as an actress, nor more beautiful, as a single mother who works in publishing.

The movie shows us quite a lot of snow, and life as it was lived in Russia at the time. The everyday struggles for the nonprivileged, as Pfeiffer's character, thankfully for us, is. Three generations living cramped in a tiny apartment, the queuing for necessities, the rarity of obtaining new clothes. The privileges of the privileged: the nice cars, the dachas (the greatly-desired country homes), the designer duds. It further deals with the usual suspicions between the British and American secret services. Finally, it gives us an honest, unsensational, non-mawkish view of middle-aged love, though it is burdened with a Hollywood happy ending that you won't find in the book.

Sean Connery shows us a side of him we don't often see in this movie: tenderness. His sax-playing among Russian friends (voiced by Branford Marsalis), is quite moving. Klaus Maria Brandauer is excellent as "Dante," the unusually secret volunteer spy. Pfeiffer does very well, as mentioned above. There was also some money spent on the supporting cast: Americans J.T. Walsh, Roy Scheider, John Mahoney. Brits, Ian McNeice, James Fox, Michael Kitchen, David Threlfall.

"Russia House" was written, and filmed, at the optimum time for its plot, and thereby acquires a resonance it might otherwise not have had. It was a lucky break for author, filmmakers, and us.

The Russia House.......2007-01-31

Great movie. Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer play very convincing parts. It is a very believable story.

wonderful movie.......2007-01-21

I just love this movie. I don't get tired of watching it. I even bought the soundtrack, which is also very good. One of Sean Connery's best. Good plot, good ending. Does he really play the sax? It seems to suit him.

One of the best Le Carre adaptations.......2006-12-16

The Russia House is one of Sean Connery's last really good performances before he realized that they'd still pay him the big bucks even if he was just sleepwalking through a part and refusing to do more than one take. It's also one of the best screen adaptations of a John Le Carre novel, a surprisingly ambitious screenplay by Tom Stoppard that folds chronology, character and plot points in on themselves like origami in the opening and closing scenes making for engaging and occasionally playful viewing. The excellent supporting cast, including an exceptionally good Michelle Pfeiffer, don't hurt either. Only the last minute studio-imposed happy ending grates, but not enough to do any real damage. Jerry Goldsmith provides a fine score, the love theme proving third time lucky after it was dropped from both Wall Street and Alien Nation.

Excellent film, actors not at its best.......2006-06-14

The script is a real spy story that deserves to be seen and maybe more then just once. Well done and very realistic.

The only thing I wasn't amazed is Katia, her russian phrases were with a very bad foreign accent so that she did not seem Russian at all. I think this has brought down the value a bit, otherwise the story seemed original and sceenes were great.

It is certainly not a standard 007 movie, this is far more historical and far less with special effects. In other words 007 movies are pure fiction, this one could have been 100% realistic. Scenery is great.

In any case worth to be seen.

Average customer rating:

Blah...
"Down with the lackeys of the bourgeoisie."
Classic Propoganda Film
Russian Revolution
This Is What Inspired Modern Day Cinema

October (Ten Days That Shook the World)
Starring: Vladimir Popov (II) , Vasili Nikandrov , Layaschenko , Mikholyev , and N. Podvoisky
Director: Grigori Aleksandrov , and Sergei M. Eisenstein
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305186774
Release Date: 1998-12-29

Amazon.com essential video

Officially produced to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Russian Revolution, October quickly became another of Sergei Eisenstein's experiments in film form. As in his masterpiece, Battleship Potemkin, Eisenstein uses explosive montage to create the spirit of revolution--in this case, the events in St. Petersburg during the months leading up to the Bolshevik revolt. Eisenstein's insistence on speaking the language of pure film (deploying space, shadow, movement, and rhythm to create his meaning) shoves his mad rush of images straight into the viewer's eye. A worker's rebellion in the streets, followed by the raising of bridges to isolate their neighborhood, becomes a visual symphony of panic. The film has also been known as Ten Days That Shook the World, its release title in the U.S. (borrowed from the book by John Reed). Its value as propaganda can be debated, but October is incredibly dynamic as film art. --Robert Horton

Description

Russian director Sergei Eisenstein's powerful retelling of the 1917 Russian Revolution, "October" is an acknowledged masterpiece in the use of editing, lighting, camera placement and mise-en-scene. An absolute must for any film connoisseurs collection.

Customer Reviews:

Blah..........2006-12-26

I liked the other Eisenstein movies that I've watched. Alexander Nevsky is a classic and would probably be more of a classic if it were American. Battleship Potemkin is pretty good and has some stuff that gets ripped off by Hollywood. So I thought I would give this one a try.

I really wanted to like this movie. It's about the Russian Revolution but for me it lays things on a little too thick. I could only get to about half way through the movie (as the horse is hanging off the bridge is where I stop). Excellent cinematography and music but I couldn't watch more of it. Way too thick for me.

"Down with the lackeys of the bourgeoisie.".......2006-10-22

"October" ("10 Days That Shook the World") written and directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov was commissioned by the Soviet Central Committee to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. As such, the film is a landmark slice of propaganda depicting the events of 1917, a relic not just for film lovers, and it's a remarkable piece of revisionist history too.

The black and white silent film is told in documentary style and focuses on the efforts of the provisional government to maintain the country after deposing the Tsar in February 1917. The film was made in 1927, and by that time, Lenin was dead, and Trotsky--one of the main figures behind the Bolshevik revolution was already in the hot seat with Stalin and was effectively being cut out of the Soviet political system.

The film shows scenes with Trotsky, and doesn't identify him at first, but then when it does it's in a negative light. Some of the best unsubtle scenes involve the bourgeoisie women who beat up the Bolshies and tear up their flag. General Kerensky is also depicted negatively--he throws himself on the bed, covers his head with pillows and has a temper tantrum--and the tantrum continues while scene after scene depicts growing unrest in the country. The large-scale mob-scenes of the revolution remain fairly bloodless, and the emphasis is on events in Petrograd and the ineptness of the provisional government. There are some great scenes of the Mensheviks, the Savage Division and the Women's Death Battalion. The scenes involving Lenin show the people going wild with adulation at their hero. No doubt Stalin realized that it was better (and safer) to immortalize a dead politician (Lenin), and wiser to marginalize a live one (Trotsky). As Winston Churchill said, "History is written by the victors"--displacedhuman

Classic Propoganda Film.......2006-10-05

October is a re-telling of the events of the Russian revolution. However, it was commissioned as a propoganda piece so that the only "character" that stands out is Lenin, who, of course is idolized. There are the populace and soldiers who are on the side of the Bolsheviks but they are basically nameless and faceless as is the other side (mensheviks). However, its not the plot that makes the movie fascinating but the use of montage and imagery, sometimes dizzying. Not quite as good as Battleship Potemkin but still fascinating. Certainly, not as morally disturbing as Triumph of the Will (which it influenced) but still, a film made to support a government sanctioned point of view. However, the crowd shots and the quick cuts from one scene to the next in a rapid but still coherent fashion, resonates through current film and even music videos.

Russian Revolution.......2006-06-29

As a girl from Russia i want to tell - this is a very good movie about turning point of my Fatherland's history

This Is What Inspired Modern Day Cinema.......2005-12-13

The film is a documentary about the The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution. This film may be very very hard to follow. But it is probably one of the most important films in history. Many people don't realize how this film was revolutionary.

Sergei Eisenstein revolutionized a new style of cinema known as the Soviet Montage that defied many of the rules established by classical Hollywood cinema. For Eisenstein the important aspect of film was not to deliver a narrative that was already pre-constructed but rather to stimulate the viewer's senses, emotions and thinking as the film was being projected.

For example, Eisenstein's montage style is best displayed in the sequence where there are abrupt jump cuts from one distinct image to the next. The intent was to stimulate the spectator by creating conflict and collision between shots. For Eisenstein, he created a montage style that juxtaposed two shots that had no causal relationship with one another, which liberated the spectator from any conventional meaning and allowed them to actively take part in the intention of the film. Basically, the storytelling takes place in how the audience decides to make meaning from the fast changing images.

The progression of the film is to portray a causal change by the public where they go from being chaotic to organized. For Eisenstein, he historicizes the event of the October Revolution for the public audience who have experience the Russian revolution. This further enhances the montage technique he uses because the Russian audience can make a local meaning of the images displayed to create a continuous storyline. This is why the film is so hard to follow without a great understanding of Russian history.

Interestingly enough, the reason why this montage styles was created was merely financial. It was cheaper to use stock footage already processed and splice them together than to take footage with a camera. Despite this, what he created was a revolution to the art of filmmaking. So if you are interested in filmmaking, this film is a must see!

Average customer rating:

Understanding the Chechens
Absolutely Amazing.
Intensely Good and Beautiful Based on an Intense True Story
House of fools proves to be stunning.
a rare beauty from Russia

House of Fools
Starring: Yuliya Vysotskaya , Yevgeni Mironov , Sultan Islamov , Stanislav Varkki , and Yelena Fomina (II)
Director: Andrei Konchalovsky
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0000C2IQA
Release Date: 2003-10-28

Amazon.com

It takes place during the Russian-Chechen war, but House of Fools has the aura of the 1960s about it, specifically the anti-war picture of the King of Hearts variety. Set in a mental hospital near the front lines, the movie poses the age-old question: what happens when the inmates take over the asylum? The doctors have fled from the fighting, so the patients create their own society. Julia Vysotsky, a livewire actress, plays the central role, a blissfully unbalanced woman convinced she is the girlfriend of the singer Bryan Adams (and, game for the challenge, Adams plays himself, endlessly crooning his hit "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman"). Director Andrei Konchalovsky (Runaway Train) finds suspense here, and also absurdity, but it's hard to see what the film adds to the roster of "war is hell" movies. The conflict in Chechnya deserves attention, but Konchalovsky overstates his case. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Understanding the Chechens.......2005-10-12

For most of us in the US it is hard to comprehend the Chechyna insurrection. This movie is worth watching if only to watch the interaction between the Russian soldier and the Chechen commander who have a unique bond from the past. The dance scene with the Chechen soldiers and how they slip into a powerful song is one of the best scenes in any movie I've seen. This movie is much more than a King of Hearts plot.

Absolutely Amazing........2005-10-01

This is my first review on Amazon after years of using it, because I just watched this movie, and was blown away by the visuals. I'm no big foreign film fan, I'm really not much of a film fan period, I bought this DVD because I'm learning Russian, and wanted some movies to watch as aids. This movie blew me away. There is a scene, where a helicopter crashes behind Janna while she plays the accordian that I could never in a million years forget.

Intensely Good and Beautiful Based on an Intense True Story .......2005-03-31

The beautiful images, sophisticated expression of mental illness without making it too depressing, and the perfect timing of story development make this film one of the best I have seen. The intense content and equally intense beauty mix together, forming the uniqueness of this film. It is based on a true story, triggering me to think and imagine how it would actually have been.

House of fools proves to be stunning. .......2005-03-31

While searching for a movie I was sure no one else in my family would want to see, I stumbled into the forgeign film section of Blockbuster. I was intregued by the title of this film and gave it a shot. This turned out to be one of the best movies I've ever seen! Unfortunatly, my family ended up watching it with me, but they loved it too. Though they are generally umm.. American in their ways and don't appriciate films from or about other cultures, they too loved this movie.

a rare beauty from Russia.......2005-02-20

This is like almost from Russia with love to Hollywood. The story of a mental assylum in the war torn Russia Chechnya border. This is one of the best war satires I have seen. The character cast can be compared to that Satyajit Ray and photography is superlative. The back drop of the movie is tragic but still there is a sense of carnival - as you compare the inmates of the assylum and soldiers you tend to see the similarities - the walls between the normal owrld and the world of insanity breaks down - war is after all measured insanity

Andrei Kochalovsky's film setting is a run-down psychiatric hospital on the Chechen border, where a Russian doctor (Vladas Bagdonas) cares for patients of a lunatic assylum. There is quite a mix of chareters among them are Ali (Stanislav Varkki), a large but reticent man who writes and wears a bulging backpack filled with his scribblings; Vika (Marina Politseimako) and a variety of other types-including a dwarf. But the central character is Janna (Julia Vysotsky), a fragile but vulnerable, sweetly-smiling person who is lost in her world of love with Bryan Adams. Janna is a musical sort--she plays polkas on an accordian--and her benign madness involves believing that she's the girlfriend of pop singer Bryan Adams (who periodically shows up playing himself in her mental ramblings). War breaks through and torns down the peaceful rambling of the assylum - chaos was already there but it becomes mortally danferous.Chechen rebels groups take over the assylum -one of whom jokingly offers to marry Janna, leading her to abandon her beloved Bryan and go off to him. In the disorder the inmates literally take over the asylum when the doctor disappears to secure a bus for the inmates to transport them to safety. I was touched by a scene where theRussian soldiers and Chechen rebels exchange corpses, money and munitions.
When it seems that the assylum will be destroyed then the doctor returns and a small twist to the story occurs which I am not going to mention. This movie is worth watching - better than most Hollywood flicks

Average customer rating:

CURTAIN UP! BACK TO THE USSR? GLADLY!

Sacred Stage: The Mariinsky Theater
Director: Joshua Waltezky
Manufacturer: First Run Features
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Ballet & Dance | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

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Bournonville - Napoli / Royal Danish Ballet, Arne Villumsen, Linda Hindberg

ASIN: B000B5XST4
Release Date: 2005-11-22

Description

Narrated by RICHARD THOMAS,the Mariinsky Theater(also known as the Kirov) of St.Petersburg has somehow maintained it's artistic excellence through War,revolution, and the collapse of Communism.Features stunning clips from opera and ballet,as well as candid interviews with luminaries, such as Placido Domingo.

Customer Reviews:

CURTAIN UP! BACK TO THE USSR? GLADLY!.......2005-11-29

Ex-Waltonite Richard Thomas narrates the story of the famed Russian theater set against the backdrop of the magical White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg --- a documentary as revealing as it is riveting. This is as much the story of the survival of the space held so dear for so many decades to a nation as it is a study of the collapse of Communism and a candid look at the life and work of Valery Gergiev, the Mariinsky's artistic director, a mighty, magical maestro whose life is populated with artists, politicians, financiers and socialites. The perfect recipe for those who think Soviet culture is colder than a bowl of borscht

Average customer rating:

Interesting socialist propaganda from the past!

We Live Again
Starring: Anna Sten , Fredric March , Jane Baxter , C. Aubrey Smith , and Sam Jaffe
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
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Blood and Sand

ASIN: B0006TPE1A
Release Date: 2005-03-08

Description

Based on the classic novel by Leo Tolstoy, this "compellingly beautiful" (The Hollywood Reporter) love story stars Anna Sten in "an outstanding performance" (The Film Daily) and two-time OscarÂ(r) winner* Fredric March. Filled with tenderness, deep pathos and tragedy, We Live Again is a "visually and dramatically stirring" (The New York Times) film. When Dmitri (March) returns from military service, he finds his childhood sweetheart Katusha (Sten) has grown into a beautiful and desirable woman. But he's a royal prince and she's a lowly peasant. Andin Czarist Russia, such a romance is not just condemned it is strictly forbidden! *1946: Actor, The Best Years of Our Lives; 1931: Actor, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Customer Reviews:

Interesting socialist propaganda from the past!.......2005-12-18

This was the classic prototype of past socialist propaganda which adored Communistic Russia, was an apologist for the excesses of the communist regime, and could easily sway the idealists of that time or this time that matter. The KGB subsequently learned that a consistent subtle propaganda is more effective and believable than this movie's approach. This movie is not subtle in its message.
The story line is obscured by the obvious propaganda. The story line is unrealistic and hard to believe. The photography and editing, especially considering it was made in 1934 are excellent.

Charlie Rose with Stephen Cohen & Steven Solnick; Halle Berry; Terrence Riley (August 9, 1999)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Stephen Cohen & Steven Solnick; Halle Berry; Terrence Riley (August 9, 1999)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

First, Stephen Cohen of New York University and Steven Solnick of Columbia University weigh in on Boris Yeltsin's recent dismissal of the Russian prime minister, Sergei Stepashin. Solnick is also the author of Stealing the State: Control and Collapse in Soviet Insitutions. Next, an interview with actress Halle Berry. Berry discusses her new film Playing Dorothy Dandrige, in which she plays the title role. Last, the chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, Terrence Riley, talks about an exhibit at the museum called The Un-Private House.

Average customer rating:

Checking Out The Cracks in Glasnost
The Russia House
wonderful movie
One of the best Le Carre adaptations
Excellent film, actors not at its best

The Russia House [Region 2]
Starring: Sean Connery , Michelle Pfeiffer , Roy Scheider , James Fox , and John Mahoney
Director: Fred Schepisi
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B000063BME

Amazon.com essential video

The problems, meanwhile, emanate from the story line that brings these opposites together. Le Carré's novels are absorbing but typically internal odysseys that seldom offer the level of straightforward action or simple arcs of plot that the big screen thrives on. For The Russia House, written as glasnost eclipsed the cold war's overt rivalries, Le Carré means to measure how old adversaries must calibrate their battle to a more subtle, subdued match of wits. Barley himself becomes enmeshed in the mystery of the manuscript because British intelligence chooses to use him as cat's paw rather than become directly involved. Such subtlety may be a more realistic take on the spy games of the recent past, but it makes for an often tedious, talky alternative to taut heroics that Connery codified in his most celebrated early espionage role.

Customer Reviews:

Checking Out The Cracks in Glasnost.......2007-03-05

The Russia House.......2007-01-31

Great movie. Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer play very convincing parts. It is a very believable story.

wonderful movie.......2007-01-21

One of the best Le Carre adaptations.......2006-12-16

Excellent film, actors not at its best.......2006-06-14

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