Ninotchka
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ninotchka | |
 original film poster |
|
| Directed by | Ernst Lubitsch |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Ernst Lubitsch Sidney Franklin |
| Written by | Melchior Lengyel Charles Brackett Billy Wilder Walter Reisch |
| Starring | Greta Garbo Melvyn Douglas |
| Music by | Werner R. Heymann |
| Cinematography | William H. Daniels |
| Editing by | Gene Ruggiero |
| Distributed by | Metro Goldwyn Mayer |
| Release date(s) | November 9, 1939 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,365,000 (est.) |
Ninotchka is a 1939 American film made for Metro Goldwyn Mayer by producer and director Ernst Lubitsch which stars Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. Ninotchka is Greta Garbo's first full comedy, and her penultimate film. It is one of the first American movies which, under cover of humorous light romance, deliberately criticizes the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. It depicts the Soviet system as rigid and gray, comparing it to the free and sunny Parisian society. The persona of the title character may have been based on that of the female Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai, a Soviet diplomat with unconventional views on sexuality that are echoed in one scene of the film.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Three Russians, Iranoff (Sig Ruman), Buljanoff (Felix Bressart) and Kopalski (Alexander Granach), are in Paris to sell jewelry confiscated from the aristocracy during the Russian Revolution of 1917. Upon arrival, they meet Count Leon d'Algout (Melvyn Douglas), on a mission from the Russian Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire) who wants to retrieve her jewelry before it is sold. He corrupts them and talks them into staying in Paris. The Soviet Union then sends Nina Yakushova ('Ninotchka' Ivanoff) (Greta Garbo), a special envoy whose goal is to go through with the jewelry sale and bring back the three men. Rigid and stern at first, she slowly becomes seduced by the West and the Count, who falls in love with her.
The three Russians also accommodate themselves to capitalism, but the last joke of the film is that one of them carries a sign protesting that the other two are unfair to him.
[edit] Cast
- Greta Garbo as Nina Ivanovna Yakushova, aka Ninotchka
- Melvyn Douglas as Comte Léon d'Algout
- Ina Claire as Grand Duchess Swana
- Sig Ruman as Michael Simonavich Iranoff
- Felix Bressart as Buljanoff
- Alexander Granach as Kopalski
- Bela Lugosi as Commissar Razinin
- Tamara Shayne as Anna, Ninotchka's roommate in Moscow
- Rolfe Sedan as Hotel Manager
- Gregory Gaye as Rakonin
- Edwin Maxwell as Mercier
- Richard Carle as Gaston
[edit] Release
Released in 1939 in the United States, the movie was released during World War II in Europe, where it became a great success. It was, however, banned in the Soviet Union and its satellites. Despite this, it went on to make $2,279,000 worldwide.
Although much of the marketing surrounding Ninotchka played on Garbo's super-serious image, suggesting she had never laughed or played comedy on film before, an examination of her canon reveals this not to be the case. Most notably her 1933 film, Queen Christina saw her laughing and had her play clear romantic-comedy moments with her co-star John Gilbert, although the movie is generally regarded as a historical drama.
In 1990, Ninotchka was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was also included on two American Film Institute lists: #40 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions and #52 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs. It was also included on Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies.[1]
American Film Institute recognition
- 2000: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs #52
- 2002: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions #40
[edit] Awards
It received four Academy Award nominations, for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Original Story, and Best Screenplay. The story is based on the book of the same title by Melchior Lengyel.
[edit] Quotes
- Ninotchka, on her arrival at the train station, updating her fellow countrymen about latest news in Moscow: "The last mass trials were a success: there will be fewer, but better Russians."
[edit] Miscellany
The musical Silk Stockings was written with this film as the source of its book. It also provided the basis of a 1957 film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Actor George Tobias, who played the commissar in Silk Stockings, also had a small role in Ninotchka as the man who gets punched by Leon for refusing him a visa.
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- Ninotchka at the Internet Movie Database
- Ninotchka at the TCM Movie Database
|
|||||||||||||||||
