# Night Flight from Moscow > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Night_Flight_from_Moscow > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Night_Flight_from_Moscow.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Flight_from_Moscow > Source revision: 1341600082 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1973 film by Henri Verneuil Night Flight from Moscow French theatrical release poster French Le Serpent Directed by Henri Verneuil Screenplay by Gilles Perrault Henri Verneuil Based on Le 13e suicidé by Pierre Nord Produced by Henri Verneuil Starring Yul Brynner Henry Fonda Dirk Bogarde Philippe Noiret Michel Bouquet Virna Lisi Guy Tréjan Elga Andersen Marie Dubois Farley Granger Cinematography Claude Renoir Edited by Pierre Gillette Music by Ennio Morricone Production companies Les Films de la Boétie Euro International Films Rialto Film Distributed by Cinema International Corporation (France) Euro International Films (Italy) Tobis Film (West Germany) Release dates 5 April 1973 (1973-04-05) (France) 13 April 1973 (1973-04-13) (West Germany) 18 May 1973 (1973-05-18) (Italy) Running time 113 minutes Countries France Italy West Germany Languages English French German ***Night Flight from Moscow*** ([French](/source/French_language): ***Le Serpent***), also known as ***The Serpent***,[1][2] is a 1973 [Cold War](/source/Cold_War) [spy](/source/Spy_film) [thriller film](/source/Thriller_film) produced, co-written and directed by [Henri Verneuil](/source/Henri_Verneuil) and starring [Yul Brynner](/source/Yul_Brynner), [Henry Fonda](/source/Henry_Fonda), [Dirk Bogarde](/source/Dirk_Bogarde), [Philippe Noiret](/source/Philippe_Noiret) and [Michel Bouquet](/source/Michel_Bouquet). The score was composed by [Ennio Morricone](/source/Ennio_Morricone). ## Plot Aleksey Teodorovic Vlassov, a high-ranking [KGB](/source/KGB) official who defects while he is in [France](/source/France), possesses highly classified information as part of a deal with Western intelligence for his arrival in the [United States](/source/United_States). The debriefing is held at [Langley](/source/Langley%2C_Virginia) by [DCI](/source/Director_of_Central_Intelligence) Allan Davies and [MI6](/source/Secret_Intelligence_Service) representative Philip Boyle. Vlassov hands a list that he has of enemy agents in [Western Europe](/source/Western_Europe), including a deep penetration into [NATO](/source/NATO). Davies wants to begin operations to arrest the agents, but those on the list suddenly begin to die off. The CIA also has suspicions over the authenticity of Vlassov's claims. The CIA discovers that a defection photo of Vlassov had been taken in the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union), not in [Turkey](/source/Turkey), because of the contours of [Mount Ararat](/source/Mount_Ararat) in the background. Vlassov outsmarted a [lie detector](/source/Polygraph) test of the CIA by telling a minor lie to cover his real intentions. ## Cast - [Yul Brynner](/source/Yul_Brynner) as Aleksey Teodorovic Vlassov - [Henry Fonda](/source/Henry_Fonda) as Allan Davies - [Dirk Bogarde](/source/Dirk_Bogarde) as Philip Boyle - [Philippe Noiret](/source/Philippe_Noiret) as Lucien Berthon - [Michel Bouquet](/source/Michel_Bouquet) as Tavel - [Guy Tréjan](/source/Guy_Tr%C3%A9jan) as Robert Deval - [Martin Held](/source/Martin_Held) as Lepke - [Virna Lisi](/source/Virna_Lisi) as Annabel Lee - [Paola Pitagora](/source/Paola_Pitagora) as Jeannine Santelli - [Elga Andersen](/source/Elga_Andersen) as Kate Cross - [Marie Dubois](/source/Marie_Dubois) as Suzanne - Nathalie Nerval as Tatiana Vlassov - [Farley Granger](/source/Farley_Granger) as computer programming director - [Luigi Diberti](/source/Luigi_Diberti) as Lefevre - [Robert Alda](/source/Robert_Alda) as man interrogated by Tavel ## Reception The film received mixed reviews. *[Time Out](/source/Time_Out_(magazine))* called it "a very traditional spy fable" and stated, "The only thing that sets this film apart is the totally consistent layer of impenetrable gloss with which Verneuil covers it, and his general directorial tricksiness, which runs the gamut from the irrelevant to the pretentious and back."[1] *[TV Guide](/source/TV_Guide_(magazine))* described it as "a solid international espionage tale", and added, "This is a gritty, tightly directed look at international intrigue, and the performances are all finely tuned. Particularly effective is Bogarde who offers a insightful portrait of a cool, calculating agent."[2] A contemporary review by Tony Mastroianni in the *[Cleveland Press](/source/Cleveland_Press)* stated that the film demonstrated how in 1973, the [computer](/source/Computer) had replaced the [dagger](/source/Dagger) in [espionage](/source/Espionage). The reviewer also concluded the film had "more good moments than bad".[3] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) ["The Serpent"](https://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-serpent). *[Time Out London](/source/Time_Out_London)*. Retrieved 5 October 2019. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_2-1) ["The Serpent"](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-serpent/review/117263). [TV Guide](/source/TV_Guide). Retrieved 5 October 2019. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Mastroianni, Tony (23 November 1973). ["Review: *CIA spy film: It's not Dullesville*"](http://www.clevelandmemory.org/mastroianni/tm170.html). Cleveland State University Library. Retrieved 25 June 2013. ## External links - [*Night Flight from Moscow*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069251/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - [Trailer](http://www.pathfinderpictures.com/mov/trailers/nightflight.mov) v t e Films directed by Henri Verneuil Village Feud (1951) Full House (1952) Forbidden Fruit (1952) The Baker of Valorgue (1953) Carnival (1953) The Most Wanted Man (1953) The Sheep Has Five Legs (1954) The Lovers of Lisbon (1955) People of No Importance (1956) Paris, Palace Hotel (1956) A Kiss for a Killer (1957) Maxime (1958) The Big Chief (1959) The Cow and I (1959) It Happened All Night (1960) Love and the Frenchwoman (1960) The President (1961) The Lions Are Loose (1961) A Monkey in Winter (1962) Any Number Can Win (1963) Greed in the Sun (1964) Weekend at Dunkirk (1964) The 25th Hour (1967) Guns for San Sebastian (1968) The Sicilian Clan (1969) The Burglars (1971) Night Flight from Moscow (1973) The Night Caller (1975) Body of My Enemy (1976) I as in Icarus (1979) A Thousand Billion Dollars (1982) Les Morfalous (1984) Mother (1991) 588 rue paradis (1992) This article about a psychological thriller film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Psychological-thriller-film-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3APsychological-thriller-film-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Psychological-thriller-film-stub) This article related to a French film of the 1970s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:1970s-France-film-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3A1970s-France-film-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:1970s-France-film-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Night Flight from Moscow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Flight_from_Moscow) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Flight_from_Moscow?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). 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