The Man from Moscow (1985) User Reviews

very good drama based on a true story

[theomsbudsmen · 8/10 · 24 August 2006]

Iam probably coming from a different angle than most as i worked on this production as a scenery painter .....but i did read the book before the filming started so i knew what to expect . Filming took part first in France then in various parts of england including liverpool,glasgow,edinburgh,grennock and drimen . My memories of it are the crew all got on very well ...the cast were all nice people ,and the locations were very interesting . On a very personnel level one true story to come out of it was when we were filming in "drimen" (not sure of spelling) it was to be a night shot and the area was a disused anti-aircraft WW2 gun-sight , the construction crew (to which i was one) arrived ahead of the crew to build and paint a prison camp in which penkovski commits suicide at the end of the programme ...we arrived and were all busy working ,A carpenter friend of mine was standing on the edge of a four foot thick concrete round gun base which was filled with water that had stagnated and stunk , my friend accidentally kicked his brand new hammer into the water and as it was new wanted it back so we made hooks out of wire and attached them to long pieces of wood in an attempt to retrieve the hammer , after a while i thought i had it only to find out it was an old shirt which i flicked onto the ground , having eventually retrieved the hammer i went over to the "old shirt" lying on the ground and opened it up using the wire - stick to reveal a bullet hole in the back of it complete with blood-stain....where was the body ? was it in the water ? was it a murder ? or from the war ? We never did find out ..but its remained a mystery ever since ...David Livermore

Based on a riveting true story of espionage and military secrets during the Cold War.

[suzyhartfineart · 10/10 · 2 March 2015]

This was a superbly acted series based on a true story which I still remember vividly 30 years later. Jim Broadbent plays a Russian in the upper military echelon who wants to leak information to the British. He comes to trust a British businessman and their story is truly gripping. I wish I could find a copy. The story is based on a book by Andrew Carr, called "Wynne and Penkofsky". What makes this tale extraordinary is that these two are ordinary people caught up in ugly realities. The direction and performances were flawless. It is to be hoped this series becomes available again. The lead actors, David Calder and Jim Broadbent have had stellar careers and together they were pure theatrical magic.