Ninotchka
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Movie Reviews of Ninotchka
Movie Review: A Lovable Garbo, the Lubitsch Touch and Scintillating Wit from Wilder and His Cronies
Summary: 5 Stars
While it's a given that Greta Garbo was the most enigmatic of film stars during Hollywood's golden age, it's also fair to state that she may be the least relevant today for her austere beauty and cool, sometimes unapproachable demeanor. Yet, all that is erased with this 1939 comedy masterwork which brilliantly teams her with the master of innuendo-filled scintillation, Ernst Lubitsch. With a laser-sharp, witty script by Walter Reisch, Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder (before he became a master director himself), this classic is one part political comedy, one part screwball farce and one part romantic whimsy, all blended impeccably with the famous Lubitsch touch.
The plot involves Nina Ivanovna Yakushova, a Soviet envoy sent to Paris to ensure that the government receives the proceeds from the sale of jewels once owned and still coveted by the Grand Duchess Swana, now an expatriate. The cold, emotionless envoy goes about superseding the three lesser envoys who have been assimilating themselves into the frivolous, capitalistic world of Paris thanks to Count Leon, a tuxedoed dandy and the duchess's constant escort. It is Leon who dubs the envoy Ninotchka, and after initial resistance, the two find themselves falling in love but not at the expense of her convictions about the omnipotence of Communist values. The jewels become a negotiation ploy that complicates their affair as does the Grand Duchess herself. The plot develops in unexpected ways and through such clever observational humor that the ending comes all too soon.
While she is deified by many for the operatic tragedy of "Camille" and the mannered mystique of "Mata Hari", Garbo seems at first to be a parody of her sullen screen image with witty one-liners delivered in hilarious deadpan, but she, like her character, blossoms into a warm, comically romantic presence as the film progresses. It's a wondrous transformation and the one performance that assures Garbo her lasting stature more than any other. As Leon, Melvyn Douglas specialized in William Powell-knockoff roles like this one and while he does get a bit excessive in his 1930's-style romantic gestures, he is sophisticated and genial enough to have us believe Ninotchka may give up Mother Russia for him.
At first, stage legend Ina Claire seems like she will play the Grand Duchess Swana as a dotty ninny, but when her talons show, she is an excellent match for Garbo in their scenes together. As the trio of envoys ensconced in the good life, Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart and Alexander Granach make a merry chorus to the proceedings. I particularly like the scenes back in Russia when they share an omelet dinner with Ninotchka in her Soviet-sanctioned, multiple-occupant room. The print transfer on the 2005 DVD is pristine and brings out William Daniels' sparkling, black-and-white cinematography, though the only extra is the film's original trailer. This is truly a must-see.
Movie Review: Garbo laughs in this wonderful ecomedy
Summary: 5 Stars
In a documentary of the great Greta Garbo, one of her friends said that "Ninotchka" was the film that most reflected Garbo's personality. I never knew the lady herself but I do know that "Ninotchka" is a delightful, beautiful romantic comedy. The director is Ernst Lubitsch, and the famous "Lubitsch touch" is on display here.
Three Russian emissaries (Felix Bressart, Michael Iranoff, and Alexander Granach) are sent to Paris to sell some jewels, but they quickly become addicted to the Parisian's high-living life. Moscow finds out about the threesome's inefficient ways, so they send a senior emissary to straighten things out. This emissary, Nina Ivanovna Yakushova (aka Ninotchka) is of course played to perfection by Greta Garbo. Garbo as the stern Communist is hysterical -- the deadpan way she shakes her head at a ridiculous looking French hat reduced me to giggles. Soon Garbo meets Count Leon (Melvyn Douglas), a Parisian playboy. This leads to some priceless dialogue:
Ninotchka: I am interested only in the shortest distance between these two points. Must you flirt?
Leon: Well, I don't have to, but I find it natural.
Ninotchka: Suppress it!
Ninotchka: Your general appearance is not distasteful.
Leon: Thank you.
Ninotchka: The whites of your eyes are clear. Your cornea is excellent.
Leon: Your cornea is terrific. Ninotchka, tell me, you're so expert on things: can it be that I'm falling in love with you?
Ninotchka: Why must you bring in wrong values? Love is a romantic designation for a most ordinary biological - or, shall we say, chemical - process. A lot of nonsense is talked and written about it.
Leon: Oh I see. What do you use instead?
Ninotchka: I acknowledge the existence of a natural impulse common to all.
Leon: What can I possibly do to encourage such an impulse in you?
Ninotchka: You don't have to do a thing. Chemically, we're already quite sympathetic.
The script was written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. Douglas and the three Russian emissaries, as well as Ina Claire as Grand Duchess Swana (Count Leon's ex and Ninotchka's rival) are all wonderful. But this is Garbo's picture. She is simply hysterical. Her wonderfully deadpan way of delivering her lines will reduce you to giggles. Later on, she is radiant as she falls in love and gets drunk from champagne. If you ever want to know what Garbo was all about, watch Ninotchka. Her charisma, her humor, her charm, her magnificence are on full display.
Movie Review: "With Ina Claire"
Summary: 5 Stars
For Ina Claire NINOTCHKA was a last chance to show posterity what she could do, for there wouldn't be many film opportunities offered her. She'd been a leading lady of the stage for nigh on thirty years, and her elegant beauty, very much a high-bred Dina Merrill type look, was still aglow. She was one of Carl Van Vechten's favorite subjects and he took photo after photo of her, staring imperiously against a wall of baize, or reclining on a lace pillow as fleecy as her beautiful blonde hair.
She suffered the ultimate indignity the following year at MGM, when her part in I TAKE THIS WOMAN was taken away from her and given to the cheaper Verree Teasdale. Her director, Josef Von Sternberg was also let go, and in fact the whole picture was redone so many times studio wags called it I RE-TAKE THIS WOMAN! The "woman" in question was Hedy Lamarr; after Ina Claire's hilarious showdowns with Garbo in NINOTCHKA, the studio might have thought her perfect for the part of Lamarr's Central European rival. A year or so later, and Edmund Goulding put her to work as Dorothy McGuire's mother in the charming, underrated CLAUDIA, but that is definitely a mother part and as such, put an end to Ina Claire's film career.
As the countess "Swana" she gets lots of Billy Wilder's best lines and laughs. She's not afraid of anyone, much less Garbo. Much has been written about the chemistry between Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, indeed a delightful mix, but the picture would have lacked a lot of its edge without Swana's steely, icy hauteur and her adroit manipulations.
In real life Ina Claire lived on to a great old age. She was 92 when the last curtain fell for her, and here in San Francisco, where she spent most of her life, all the lights in her building went off for an hour, precisely at 8:30, while her fans stood on the street, devoted and vigilant in our own way as the fans surrounding the Dakota Hotel when John Lennon died.
Movie Review: (On the West) It's a waste of electricity.
Summary: 5 Stars
How ironic that after so many years and having lost in name, communism triumphed in a much subtler way, through the unguarded back-door of peace and democracy. All the positions before held ridiculous and laughable, like in this movie, have now become the norm in our culture.
Garbo's communist character:
On Western civilization: "I don't deny its beauty, but it's a waste of electricity."
To the train station porter: "it's social injustice. -That depends on the tip (says the porter)."
Modern eating habits: "Perhaps something to eat? -I've had all the calories necessary for today (she says)."
"And what do you do for mankind? (she asks Melvin Douglas) -Not too much for mankind; for for womankind my record isn't quite so bleak." That question is not at all foreign to our self-righteous and liberal moguls/preachers in the media, who convict us of the great sin of capitalism, the original sin doctrine sieved through Marx instead of Jesus.
"(I'm) a tiny cog in the great wheel of evolution. -You're the most adorable cog I've ever seen. (says Douglas to her)." There's the epitaph for what modern man is expected to be today, don't you agree?
The movie is filled all through with terrific lines like these, and they are so funny and they sound so uptodate it makes this film a must see again and again. A worthy recovery from the shelves of timeless classics. Truly, socialists make such a laughable and pretentious stock!
I dedicate this movie to millionaire Al Gore's gloomy acolytes.
Movie Review: A true leap to the future!
Summary: 5 Stars
Taking into account this bold film was made in the WW2' Prelude, we must recognize the notable bitterness and sharp cynicism all along the road. Greta Garbo is the designed Russian Commissar to undertake a serious investigation about three delegates who have been seduced by the lovable environment of the decadent Western World: the City Light: Paris.
So when you watch it, take all these elements as smart reference that will make you laugh of autumnal memories, if you want. But no one will deny we are in front of one the most emblematic and creative films ever made.
Besides notice carefully the presence of a young promise: a newcomer called Billy Wilder who was involved in the making of the script.
Greta was splendid and Melvyn Douglas colossal in his feature as actor. And a definitive proof about the kind of filmmkaer who Ernst Lubitch was.