Sean Connery is a publisher and saxophone player swept up in Cold War antics as an agent trying to smuggle scientific secrets of some sort out of Russia and into the West.

I never liked the soprano saxophone. I don't know why it exists. It's usually too shrill and is associated with supermarkets, cheap commercials, and Kenny G. Why isn't the clarinet good enough, hey? This is one sluggish movie and a bit complicated, as the author's plots tend to be. It's redeemed by the shenanigans of the CIA/MI5 or MI6, a group of puppeteers behind Connery and his contact, Michelle Pfeiffer, led by a hot-headed Roy Scheider and a dry, ironic James Fox. J. T. Walsh -- my co-star in the superlative "Windmills of the Gods", or what it "Rage of Angels?", I forget -- is the ironbound US Army officer who suspects everyone of being a ComSymp and wants to bomb them all -- "a hard-head from the ***hole up," as someone describes him.

They put Connery through a lie detector test to make sure he's not a commie, and the scene puts on display the movie's most charming feature -- its witty screenplay.

The wily interrogators ask Connery about his politics, his motives, his past. "Have you ever associated with any musicians with known anarchist tendencies?" Connery frowns thoughtfully. "Well, there was one trombone player. Willie Brown was his name. He was the only musician I've ever known who was completely devoid of any anarchist tendencies." The performances are uniformly good, even Roy Scheider who seems about to stroke out at any moment and who shouts scatological imprecations. I think the role calls for it. I can't understand why all the men are so awfully sun tanned though. The weather in Moscow and St. Petersberg are about what we can expect -- more clouds of gray than any Russian play could guarantee.

The photography of Russian cities and their monuments is memorable.

"The Russia House" is a film that surprised me. After all, it's an espionage story and stars Sean Connery and a stellar supporting cast. But it's surprising because the film manages to be incredibly dull.

The story begins in Russia. Katya (Michelle Pfeiffer) is looking for Barley (Connery) as she has some books to give this publisher. However, these aren't ordinary books...they contain Russian state secrets about their defense systems! Naturally, MI-6 (the British equivalent of the CIA) is excited and enlists Barley's help to track down the author of these books as well as determine what other secrets they can glean from their Russian 'friend'.

The film has a romance...but it's not all that believable. It also has a wide variety of intrigues...not of which include action of any kind! In other words, the film is quite static...and despite good acting the story just never interested me.

Russia House should have been a great film. Certainly with spirit of glasnost prevailing at the time, the western crews who came to the soon to be extinct Soviet Union to make this film got some great location cinematography of Leningrad, Moscow and other points of interest on the European continent. Sean Connery's name heading the cast should have guaranteed box office and I'm sure a few people paid for movie tickets for Russia House.

Unfortunately what they got was one two hour long boring story. Connery is a book publisher who gets a manuscript from a Russian scientist telling the truth about their defense capabilities. Of course the spy agencies from the UK and the USA find out about it and enlist Connery in some dangerous games to prove the authenticity of the manuscript.

This is a spy story with no guns, no gadgets, but unfortunately no real story. Totally unlike other John LeCarre stories done for the screen like The Spy Who Came In From the Cold or Smiley's People. Try as I might I just could not get into this film, not even for Sean Connery.

Michelle Pheiffer is the go between for the Russian scientist and Connery the publisher. A little May/December romance evolves between Connery and Pheiffer, but it doesn't save the story.

If you're expecting James Bond from Russia House, don't bother. But I can't say see it if you expect something like The Spy Who Came In From the Cold.