Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13596 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-09-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Customer Reviews

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
Coming on the heels of Garbo's "Ninotchka" this film was somewhat dismissed as lightweight, but in retrospect it is a delightfully hilarious blend of political satire and slapstick comedy from King Vidor. The writing team of Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer gave the legendary director a gem of a script, poking fun at communism while still allowing its stars, Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr, to be, well Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr. The result was a film that was much funnier and way more entertaining than "Ninotchka."

Gable plays hard drinking and fun loving American reporter McKinley B. Thompson. Thompson has been secretly sending unflattering reports about the goings on in Russia back to the states as "Comrade X." But the Russian chief of police is desparate to expose who Comrade X is and shut him up for good. When Thompson gets a photo of that same police chief being knocked off by the soon to be new police chief, who just happens to be the communist guru of revolutionist Hedy Lamarr, he's got a big story.

But all that may have to wait. It just so happens that Thompson's hotel valet, Vanya (Felix Bressart), knows he is Comrade X. You can guess who his daughter is, and what he wants is for Thompson to get her out of Russia before she gets killed. She is in much danger, as Vanya tells Thompson, because communist are being shot so that communism can prosper! Thompson doesn't have much choice and the real fun begins.

Even a stoic communist can make your jaw drop if she's Hedy Lamarr. She runs a Russian streetcar and Thompson hops on to do some fast takling. Gable and Lamarr are great together and how he convinces her he loves communism and needs to take her back to America to educate the masses is a riot! Not even Russian tanks can keep Thompson from getting the story, and the entire Red army couldn't keep him from falling for the cutest little communist you've ever seen.

Eve Arden also has a nice turn as Thompson's fellow foreign correspondent gal pal in director King Vidor's hilarious take on apple pie vs. communism. They don't make stars or films like this anymore and if you don't own this, you're really missing out. The last two lines of this film are unforgettable. A must have for film buffs.

Amazingly Frank Satire of Stalinist Russia
Many movies poke fun at the Soviets. Having traveled to Russia several times, this is my favorite. When so many misguided leftists of the 1940's were defending communism, this film courageously suggests the pervasiveness of the totalitarian government of Stalin. (It was filmed just before Russia was attacked by the Germans in World War II)

Clark Gable plays a journalist who is also doubling as an American spy. When his spy activity is discovered by a hotel employee cleaning his hotel room, Gable is blackmailed into helping the Russian's daughter (Hedy Lamar) who is fanatical about the progress of communism. He has to get her out of the country before Lamar gets into trouble with her enthusiasm. What's so hilarious is that to "get the girl", Clark Gable pretends he loves communism too, all for the purpose of enticing the daughter to trust him. He promises they will both spread communism outside Russia. (I think his pro-communist stance, even taken in jest, caused the film to be unpopular). Nevertheless, the movie has a great cast, a wonderful love affair, humorous situations, and biting satire and wit. You'll enjoy this one.

Unvarnished truth is so rare as to be uncomfortable to watch
It's a light hearted comedy in which about a hundred innocents are politely executed and the people are sheep armed only with idealist slogans and happy-faced song while awaiting slaughter. The juxtaposition of the politely murderous and naively suicidal is admirably bold for Hollywood, precisely because it is political and real, if uncomfortably strange.

Gable plays the typical driven ... romantic lead of the genre. The hero in the story is his "presser" (a valet) who wants his daughter (Lamar) out before her heavily propagandisized ideals and big mouth gets her shot in a country as full of real political zigs as the movie's plot. The mix of slapstic romantic comedy and deadly serious Stalinist politics of the late 30's is a unique combination I have never seen before. Not even Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" was this "over the top" in terms of convention. Must see!