Headscratchers / Goncharov

• Goncharov’s death is left ambiguous, his death never truly confirmed: only the fact that he was stabbed by Andrey.
• Who is funding the capitalist uprising? The British Ambassador (Michael Gough) seems rather perplexed by the whole events, and rather sad at the demolition of Soviet symbols (if only for their historical worth), while McCarthyist Senator Milburn (Joseph Cotten) is determined to make trade deals possible with the Capitalists, suggesting that there is no US involvement.
• Just, what side is the Sinister Hungarian Informant on? He seems to be following our heroes about, but he turns out to be KGB-allied. However, he reports on the Soviet thinktank on the ship. It is possible he's just a renta-informant with no real political ties, who merely informs on who is willing to pay.
• When is the film set? It begins with an uprising of Capitalists in what could be anywhere between the late 1950s and 1973, and there is mention of the Vietnam War and Kennedy's death, and the elderly Senator Milburn is mentioned as being 'like a son to Joseph McCarthy', but when it cuts to twenty years later, a newspaper is dated 1973.
• In the final scenes set in Russia, has a Communist government been re-elected? The President of the Council (Anthony Dawson) is standing behind a picture of Lenin.
• Why is an English soldier fighting in Moscow? The British Ambassador says that the British have not made any attempt to intervene in the uprising. If he is an Embassy guard, why is he in a back street? Is he a mercenary? If so, why is he in uniform?
• Who is DiNosso? In the original script, he is Lino Pescegrande's bodyguard and godson who betrays 'the Big Fish' and becomes Goncharov's guide in New York and an ally to the Russian community. In the actual film, he is introduced as a pimp and a chauffeur, who spits on 'reds' and 'Russkies'. He says he'll see Goncharov at the meeting, but among the massacre, he is never seen or even mentioned. Hell, we never know whose side he is actually on.