The Girl in the Kremlin

The Girl in the Kremlin

Year: 1957

Runtime: 81 mins

Language: English

Director: Russell Birdwell

MysteryDramaThriller

In 1953 Moscow, four frightened female prisoners are presented to Joseph Stalin, who selects the striking Dasha and humiliates her by having her hair shaved. A plastic surgeon then escorts Stalin into surgery, altering his appearance beyond recognition. After the covert procedure, Stalin disappears, prompting OSS operative Steve Anderson to track him across Europe.

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The Girl in the Kremlin (1957) – Full Plot Summary & Ending Explained

Read the complete plot breakdown of The Girl in the Kremlin (1957), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.

In Moscow, plastic surgeon Dr. Petrov transforms the face of dictator Joseph Stalin, Maurice Manson, to the point where he is unrecognizable. After publicly announcing that Stalin has died, his handlers smuggle him away to a hidden hideout. Meanwhile, Lithuanian woman Lili Grisenko Zsa Zsa Gabor has been searching for her twin sister Greta ever since Russian troops invaded their homeland and took Greta to Moscow. To locate Greta, Lili hires private investigator Steve Anderson, Lex Barker, an American with anti-Communist sentiments living in Berlin. Steve soon discovers Greta is working in Moscow.

Steve takes Lili to the home of one-armed spy Mischa Rimilkin, Jeffrey Stone, who reveals that Greta has been working for Petrov. The men also mention Dasha, a prisoner Stalin tortured. Now confined to a mental hospital, Dasha claims that Stalin has been surgically altered and is living clandestinely with Greta as his nurse.

The next day, Lili meets with Steve again and comes up with the idea to force Stalin into action by announcing over the radio that he is alive. Stalin hears the broadcast, which mentions Steve as the one who discovered the scheme. Furious, Stalin orders Igor Smetka, Michael Fox, to kill Steve.

Mischa then brings Steve and Lili to Abensburg, West Germany, where Stalin’s son Jacob lives in secret since the Allies captured him during World War II. On the train, Steve and Mischa note the presence of a nun wearing combat boots. Once in Abensburg, Mischa follows the nun into a church. Meanwhile, Steve and Lili visit Jacob, who hates Stalin.

That night, Steve and Lili kiss. From Lili’s hotel room window, Steve spots the nun approaching, races downstairs and finds a knocked out Mischa. Steve subdues the nun. He also removes the nun’s disguise, revealing Tata Brun. In return for permission to see his exiled family, Tata has also been ordered to kill Steve. The two agree to part without violence.

Mischa, Steve and Lili later study old films of Stalin to learn his mannerisms. Before the screening, Steve spots Igor. Steve orders Lili to return to the hotel and waits with Mischa in the screening room for an attack. Tata eventually arrives with a cab driver who announces that Igor has abducted Lili. Steve notifies the police and agrees to act as bait to attract Stalin’s men. Surrounded by undercover agents, Steve and Mischa walk the streets near the screening room and are attacked. They eventually capture one of the assailants, a Communist agent who previously tortured Tata. Tata tortures the man into confessing that Stalin is in the Greek mountains.

After the agent dies from his injuries, Steve and Mischa travel to the mountains and learn from bistro owner Count Molda, Maurice Manson, that a mysterious group took over a nearby monastery years earlier. Curious, Steve and Mischa sneak into the monastery at night, but are captured by three Russian women and four Russian men, including Molda. They have captured and tortured Tata and later kill him there. They then place Steve and Mischa in a cell near Lili’s.

That night, Greta Grisenko Zsa Zsa Gabor visits and attacks Lili. In the ensuing fight, Greta’s wig comes off, revealing her shaved head. Stalin has ordered the shaving of her head. Meanwhile, the other women whip Steve mercilessly, but he refuses to talk. Steve eventually returns to the cell he shares with Mischa, who uses his prosthetic arm to bludgeon a guard. The two men escape their cell, subdue Greta and free Lili. Together, the three stumble onto a room full of stolen cash and burn the currency in a fireplace. Greta then bursts in and kills Mischa, forcing Steve to slay her.

Steve and Lili are recaptured and taken to Molda, who orders them killed. However, Jacob later enters, shoots Russian henchmen and recognises Molda as Stalin. Jacob orders Stalin at gunpoint into the former’s car. As Steve and Lili follow them in another car, Stalin tries to reason with Jacob, to no avail. Desperate, Stalin shoots at Jacob to make him stop. Jacob steers the car over a cliff and dies with his father.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:17

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