Thursday, 28 March 2013

Post Interrogation & Training


Recruitment: Barley's Flat


Location:
88 Ecolas Das Gerais
Lisbon
Portugal

Details:
Ned and Walter follow Barley back to his flat.  They walk in to a trashed flat to find Barley surveying the mess and contemplating how he has "given offence" to his latest female companion - no doubt to his having gone AWOL on a bout of drinking.

“you live in a free society, you've no choice.
-any decent church would have burnt you bastards years ago ”



Notes:
The flat can be seen from Largo Das Portas Do Sol - at the end of the film, Barley can be seen looking out the window of this flat from a shot taken from this vantage point.  The scene inside the flat was also shot at this location - the view of Lisbon that can be seen over Barley's shoulder as he looks out his window would be the actual view from this lcoation.  

“you're a fool to use me - I let people down




Moscow - Katya's Office


Location:
Progress Publishers
Zubovsky Boulevard
Moscow
Russia

Details:
Street scene of traffic on Moscow Garden ring road outside the offices of "October Publishing" where  Michelle Pfeifer's character - Katya Orlova  - works.  The building is / was the offices of Progress Publishers on Zubovsky boulevard.  Inside the building, Katya is seen on the phone to Abercrombie & Blair, hoping to speak to Barley Blair.




Notes:
While the establishing shot shows the outside of Progress Publishers, I cannot confirm that Katya's office is actually in that building.  However, a book cover on the shelf in the office clearly shows the Progress Publishers logo. I "bagged" this location back in 88, three years before the film was released, on a trip to Moscow which included a visit to the book shop here before getting back on the bus to cross the road to visit Novosti Press Agency in the building on the opposite side of the street.


Training - Symons Street, Knightsbridge, London, UK

Location: Symons Street, Knightsbridge, London, UK






“-The source is the star of the show, and the star decides whether to make the meeting or abort.- This is fun, is that why you keep it secret?”


Details:
Barley being trained in aspects of spycraft by Ned (James Fox), of British Intelligence - making contact with a source, avoiding the pitfalls of surveillance: "crowds are good, if you keep moving, open spaces are good, talking in the street is OK if you have to; never ever talk in the car or in the hotel room unless its for the benefit of their microphones, and if you've heard anything of playing the radio or turning on the tap - forget it!"


Notes:
This is  street that runs alongside the Peter Jones store in Knightsbridge.  The quest to identify this scene has been a long one.  In the film, Ned is seen waiting inside the doorway of a butcher's shop, whose name is visible on the shop window - Cobb of Knightsbridge.





A search on the internet for that company will tell you that there was a butchers of that name, latterly part of the Dewhurst chain which is no more, and their last known address was Clifton Road in Maida Vale.  From a quick look on Google Streetview, it is clear that Clifton Road is not the location of this scene.  I'd almost given up trying to identify the street, when I spotted a Cobb of Knightsbridge model delivery van on Ebay.  On the van's livery, it is almost possible to read the original address - Symons Street.


As you can see from the above photo, this street has changed quite a lot over the last 20 odd years - gone are all the original shops: a dry cleaners, butchers, tile shop, wine merchant; all to be replaced by The White Company and some fashion retailers.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Training


Safe House - London

Location:
Symons Street
Knightsbridge
London
UK

Details:
Barley being trained in aspects of spycraft by Ned (James Fox), of British Intelligence - Using a single sheet of paper on a hard surface, if writing things down.

Notes:
I presume that the safe house is located in this street but I cannot confirm this.  In this scene, there are ornamental railings on a balcony outside the window, on the building opposite, I think, which correspond with a building at the end of this street on Sloane Square.





“If we trust the motive, we can trust the man, we can trust the material













Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Training

CIA Discuss the Notebooks
Location:
CIA headquarters
Langley, Virginia
USA

Details:
Russell Sheritan discusses the notebooks with Brady, Quinn and others
“Its everything we wanted to know about the Russians but were afraid to ask
-sounds like a pot of gold!
-sounds like a crock of shit!”
Notes:
The actual location cannot be identified from this shot



Training - Safehouse
Location:
Symons Street / Sloane Square
London
UK

Details:
Ned and Walter wish Barley “Bon Voyage” after giving hime a “sniff” of Dante’s notebooks he is supposed to be publishing.  The following scene shows Barley at the window of an aeroplane, then the scene cuts to Ned closing a car door and instructing his driver to take him to the Russia House – the Soviet department in MI6.


Notes:
Although I haven't been able to confirm the actual location of the safe house, it appears as if it is in a building on the corner of Sloane Square where it meets Symons Street.  Ned is seen getting into a car and is driven off from this location. 


Monday, 25 March 2013

In Moscow - Making Contact


Making Contact



Location:
Ukraine Hotel
Moscow
Russia

Details:
Barley rings Katya from his hotel room in the Ukraine Hotel and arranges to meet her outside the hotel.


Notes:
The Ukraine Hotel is one of the Seven Stalin skyscrapers which surround central Moscow at key locations.






Making Contact
Location:
Ukraine Hotel
Moscow
Russia




Details:
Katya is seen walking up the steps from the riverside up to the hotel Ukraine entrance, walking past a monument to Ukrainian National Poet – Taras Schevchenko.  Barley emerges from the hotel foyer and meets Katya in the hotel car park in front of the hotel. 
Katya and barley get a taxi from hotel to Red Square










Sunday, 24 March 2013

The Russia House

The Russia House
Location:
MI6 headquarters
Century House
Westminster Bridge Road
Lambeth
London
UK

Details:
Various scenes feature the interior of “The Russia House” – the department specialising in spying on the Soviet Union -  and the action in a number of the scenes cuts back frequently to the Russia House, with  MI6 staff: Ned, Clive, Walter etc, monitoring and analysing events as they unfold in Moscow.

Notes:
The SIS / MI6  headquarters was located here from 1964 to 1994 before moving to its current Vauxhall Cross building.  I have not been able to confirm that the interior shots of the Russia House department were filmed here.  There is a  scene later in the film, which I think is supposed to be Clive’s office on “the fifth floor” and therefore in the same building as the Russia House – this scene was filmed in a building just off Lambeth Bridge on the Albert embankment – on the opposite side of the bridge from the current MI5 headquarters.  However, the interior shots appear to be in an older building to the one where Clive's office is.

Saturday, 23 March 2013

Barley Makes Contact with Katya

Making Contact
Location:
Red Square & GUM
Moscow
Russia



Details:

Katya and Barley get a taxi to Red Square in order to talk in a public open space (to avoid microphones).  Barley tentatively mentions that he received the manuscript.  Katya  suggests lunch but first of all needs to buy shoes – with Perestroika, she explains – there is even less in the shops than before.  There is a shipment of shoes on sale at GUM (the shopping arcade on Red Square

Here are some picture of GUM (Gosudarstveny Universalny Magazin - State Universal Store) from my trip to Russia in 2002.  These photos were taken in May - a few days before the May 9 Victory Day celebrations.  As you can see, the side of GUM facing Red Square was adorned with huge banners depicting war medals commemorating victory in the Great Patriotic War.  There were similar banners hanging from the ceiling inside GUM as well.



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