Film Review: Ninotchka (1939)

History can set difficult challenges to film makers, like, for example, dropping earth-shattering events in middle of production and thus turning works with contemporary settings into period pieces. It requires a great deal of talent behind and in front of camera for the film to overcome such adversity. Ninotchka, 1939 comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, had all that and not only became popular and critically acclaimed, but also earned reputation of one of the finest and most celebrated comedies of Classic Hollywood.

The plot is set in late 1930s Paris, city, which, together with France, United Kingdom, Germany and Poland, in September 1939, two months before the film’s premiere, became involved in Second World War. Producers address the issue with semi-ironic opening title that remind the audience that what they are about to see is Paris’ recent peacetime past. We are introduced to three Soviet trade officials – Iranoff (played by Sig Ruman), Buljanoff (played by Felix Bressart) and Kopalski (played by Alexander Granach) – who arrived to France to sell valuable set of jewels confiscated by Bolsheviks after Revolution in order to finance country’s modernisation. They are spotted by Count Alexis Rakonin (played by Gregory Gaye), hotel waiter and former aristocrat who gives notice to fellow White Russian émigré Grand Dutchess Swana (played by Ina Claire) who used to own the jewels. Her French boyfriend, aristocratic playboy Count Léon d’Agoult (Melvyn Douglas), volunteers to help her retrieve the jewels and his actions lead to exhausting lawsuit. Unhappy with the lack of progress by trio of officials, their boss Commissar Razinin (played by Bela Lugosi) sends another official to supervise them. It is Nina Ivanovna “Ninotchka” Yakuhsova (played by Greta Garbo), cold and rigid official whose task is to win lawsuit. By chance, he would meet Count d’Agoult who almost immediately starts to flirt with her, but his attempts of seduction appear to go nowhere until Ninotchka, being subjected to the glamour, luxury and relaxed atmosphere of the French capital, begins to fall under his spell. Count d’Agoult, on the other hand, begins to fall in love with Ninotchka, and that complicates his relationship with Grand Dutchess.

Ninotchka originated as rather simple idea by executives at MGM, which was top Hollywood studio at the time. Greta Garbo, the biggest Hollywood star at the time, has never before appeared in “proper” comedy and the film could be easily advertised with the words “Garbo laughs” just as Anna Christie, her 1930 sound film debut, was advertised with the words “Garbo talks”. The chosen script for the comedy was developed by Hungarian writer Melchior Lengyel who had made original concept in 1937. His script, which was quite critical of Soviet Union, represented something relatively rare for Hollywood, whose many writers were either Communists, Soviet sympathisers or considered Stalin’s regime lesser of two evils that was threatening Europe at the time. Lengyel takes very good aim at the Soviet Union, which was at the time going through one of the darkest periods of its history and, among other things, references horrors of ongoing Great Purge. Anti-Soviet credentials of Ninotchka are further validated with the scenes take place in Ninotchka’s Moscow apartment, a crummy little place which is forced to share with two other women under the watchful eye of neighbour that works as informer for secret police. In one of the scenes, Ninotchka even points to similarities between Communism and Nazism, something that became quite relevant after Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. But, Lengyel’s script isn’t without its nuances and doesn’t succumb into cheap anti-Communist propaganda. The only true villain of the film is not the faceless Soviet system, but the flesh and blood character of Swana, an aristocrat who, when talking with Ninotchka as her ideological enemy and romantic rival, displays same kind of arrogance and cruelty that made impoverished Soviet masses embrace Bolshevism and support Revolution.

But, in the end, political commentary was something audience at the time cared little about and something that most viewers would now ignore and probably enjoy Ninotchka as great display of talents. One of the biggest talents was Ernst Lubitsch, German director famous for his sophisticated comedies and legendary “Lubitsch touch”. In this film he handled MGM resources very well. He recreated Paris and Moscow in studio with ease and made the plot flow naturally, helped by Lengyel’s brilliant dialogue and great actors who excelled even in small parts. Garbo, for whom Ninotchka would be penultimate film, has delivered what could be described as best performance of her career. She portrayed woman who began as rigid caricature of totalitarian system, only to gradually discover her femininity and individuality. She had great help in Melvyn Douglas, actor playing character that, like Ninotchka, goes through transformation; he begins as calloous overconfindent playboy, then, in helplessly falls in love and even starts adopting some of Ninotchka’s ideology before proving himself worthy of her love. Douglas and Garbo had great chemistry and it also helped that Ina Claire was something of Garbo’s romantic rival in real life, having a widely publicised affair with famous silent era star John Gilbert. Perfectly directed, well-written and confidently acted, Ninotchka represented one of the most celebrated Hollywood films made in annus mirabilis of 1939. Its reputation is deservedly high, despite somewhat clumsy and not particularly convincing way to obtain happy ending for protagonists and audience.

Ninotchka proved to be great success and MGM tried to repeat it by pairing Douglas and Garbo in Two-Faced Woman, a film that became a flop and convinced Garbo to end film her career. Ninotchka disappeared from cinemas later during the war, after USA and Soviet Union became allies and anti-Soviet films suddenly became inconvenient. When the allies became bitter rivals in Cold War, Ninotchka was rediscovered and, among other things, became remade as popular Broadway musical Silk Stockings, later adapted into 1955 film starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Although not exactly the last film in Garbo’s career, Ninotchka earned reputation of the swan song for one of the greatest goddesses of cinema and one of the great films of the Hollywood’s first Golden Age.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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