Friday, 29 March 2013
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Post Interrogation & Training
Recruitment: Barley's Flat
Location:
88 Ecolas Das Gerais
Lisbon
Portugal
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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.
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“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.
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“you're a fool to use me - I let people down”
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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.
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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.
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Training - 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.
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”
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Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Training
CIA Discuss the Notebooks
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Location:
CIA
headquarters
Langley,
Virginia
USA
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Details:
Russell Sheritan discusses the notebooks with Brady, Quinn and others
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“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!”
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Notes:
The actual location cannot be identified from this shot
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Training - Safehouse
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Location:
Symons
Street / Sloane Square
London
UK
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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.
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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.
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Monday, 25 March 2013
In Moscow - Making Contact
Making Contact
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Location:
Ukraine
Hotel
Moscow
Russia
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Details:
Barley rings Katya from his hotel room in the Ukraine Hotel and
arranges to meet her outside the hotel.
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Notes:
The Ukraine Hotel is one of the Seven Stalin skyscrapers which
surround central Moscow at key locations.
Making Contact
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Location:
Ukraine
Hotel
Moscow
Russia
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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
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Sunday, 24 March 2013
The Russia House
The Russia House
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Location:
MI6
headquarters
Century
House
Westminster
Bridge Road
Lambeth
London
UK
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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.
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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.
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