Ninotchka (1939)
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Duration: 110 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Ernst Lubitsch
Stars: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas and Ina Claire
IMDb score:
7,8 (25.247)
Releasedate: 23 November 1939
Ninotchka plot
"It's only human to kiss."
Three Russian spies (Buljanoff, Iranoff, Kopalski) are sent to Paris to sell the jewels of a Russian aristocrat. Once in Paris, they get used to the wonderful, capitalist life there. To put an end to this, Moscow sends Comrade Ninotchka to Paris. But there Ninotchka falls in love with the carefree bachelor Leon.
Actors and actresses
Nina "Ninotchka" Ivanovna Yakushova
Count Leon d'Algout
Grand Duchess Swana
Commissar Razinin
Comrade Iranoff
Comrade Buljanoff
Comrade Kopalski
Count Alexis Rakonin
Hotel Manager
Mercier
Reviews & comments
scorsese
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- 13671 messages
- 11439 votes
Excellent film in which three Russian spies arrive in Paris to sell jewelry. Entertaining characters and, above all, wonderful, sharp dialogues (partly from the pen of Billy Wilder). The differences between communism and capitalism make for funny scenes. As far as the cast goes, Greta Garbo stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Film Pegasus (moderator films)
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- 31491 messages
- 5627 votes
It says something about the even more stereotypical career of many Hollywood actors that the film was promoted with 'Garbo laughs'. Now compare it to if a movie were released with 'Tom Hanks as a bad guy'. However, the film could count on Ernst Lubitsch and writer Billy Wilder. Big names in the field of old comedies.
The film itself seems a bit outdated. Visually it's not that special either. We are talking about the film year 1939 when Hollywood still had glamor with titles such as Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz and Mr. Smith goes to Washington. In Ninotchka it is mainly about Russians (even before the Cold War), but you also see someone at the train station giving the Hitler salute. The war had not yet started, the impact of such a salute was not yet known then.
Fortunately, the film can count on a comic script. The trio of Russian spies is quite fun to watch. And Garbo is also worthwhile as a Russian spy in America. She fares better than when she starts laughing, because ironically it comes across as forced. The chemistry with her co-star Melvyn Douglas is also poor. It is Garbo who steals the show. And you can see that she comes from the era of silent films. How she is busy with her hat in the mirror, for example. On the other hand, Garbo will never have become a legend with this film alone.
Nice film thanks to the necessary professionals and Garbo, but the title easily disappears among the competition of that year. And Garbo, Lubitsch and Wilder have each done better.
Translated from Dutch · View original
clubsport
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- 4241 messages
- 7193 votes
I had seen Silk stockings before, so when a review referred to this original, I became curious and really wanted to see this version to make a comparison.
This time no film producer and composer but a more serious theme as a starting point in the form of jewels to be sold by the Russian state in Paris.
the 3 emissaries have to sell the jewels but are thwarted by the rightful owner
The envoys are then seduced by the western pleasures of life, after which Moscow sends a new vassal in the form of the ice rabbit Garbo.
Garbo does it slightly more convincingly than her remake version, but the romance is actually just as hastily developed.
Both versions have their charm, but I slightly prefer silk stockings
Translated from Dutch · View original
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