Ninotchka is a
1939The year 1939 in film involved some significant events.- Events :Movie historians and film buffs often look back on 1939 as "the greatest year in film history"...
American film made for Metro Goldwyn Mayer by producer and director
Ernst LubitschErnst Lubitsch , was a German-born Jewish film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch".- Biography :Born in Berlin, as son of a Jewish...
which stars
Greta GarboGreta Garbo was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age....
and
Melvyn DouglasMelvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.-Early life:Douglas was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Lena Priscilla , a Protestant Tennessee-born Mayflower descendant, and Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, a Jewish concert pianist and composer from Riga, Latvia...
. Ninotchka is
Greta GarboGreta Garbo was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age....
's first full comedy, and her penultimate
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
. It is one of the first American movies which, under cover of humorous light romance, deliberately criticizes the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
under
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
. It depicts the Soviet system as rigid and gray, comparing it to the free and sunny Parisian society.
Ninotchka is a
1939The year 1939 in film involved some significant events.- Events :Movie historians and film buffs often look back on 1939 as "the greatest year in film history"...
American film made for Metro Goldwyn Mayer by producer and director
Ernst LubitschErnst Lubitsch , was a German-born Jewish film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch".- Biography :Born in Berlin, as son of a Jewish...
which stars
Greta GarboGreta Garbo was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age....
and
Melvyn DouglasMelvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.-Early life:Douglas was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Lena Priscilla , a Protestant Tennessee-born Mayflower descendant, and Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, a Jewish concert pianist and composer from Riga, Latvia...
. Ninotchka is
Greta GarboGreta Garbo was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age....
's first full comedy, and her penultimate
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
. It is one of the first American movies which, under cover of humorous light romance, deliberately criticizes the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
under
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
. 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 KollontaiAlexandra Mikhailovna "Shura" Kollontai was a Russian Communist revolutionary, first as a member of the Mensheviks, then from 1914 on as a Bolshevik...
, a Soviet diplomat with unconventional views on sexuality that are echoed in one scene of the film.
Plot
Three Russians, Iranoff (
Sig RumanSig Ruman was a German-American actor known for his comic portrayals of pompous villains....
), Buljanoff (
Felix BressartFelix Bressart was a German-American actor of stage and screen.Felix Bressart was born in East Prussia, Germany and was already a very experienced stage actor when he had his film debut in 1928. He started off as a supporting actor, eg...
) and Kopalski (
Alexander GranachAlexander Granach was a popular German actor in the 1920s and 1930s.- Biography :Granach was born Jessaja Granach in Werbowitz to Jewish parents and rose to theatrical prominence at the Volksbühne in Berlin...
), are in Paris to sell jewelry confiscated from the aristocracy during the
Russian Revolution of 1917The Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In the first revolution of February 1917 the Czar was deposed and replaced by a Provisional government...
. Upon arrival, they meet Count Leon d'Algout (
Melvyn DouglasMelvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.-Early life:Douglas was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Lena Priscilla , a Protestant Tennessee-born Mayflower descendant, and Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, a Jewish concert pianist and composer from Riga, Latvia...
), on a mission from the Russian Grand Duchess Swana (
Ina Claire-Career:Born Ina Fagan in Washington, D.C., Claire began her career appearing in vaudeville. She performed on Broadway in the musicals Jumping Jupiter and The Quaker Girl and Lady Luxury sophisticated comedienne, and starred on Broadway in plays by some of the leading comic dramatists of the...
) 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 GarboGreta Garbo was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age....
), 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.
Cast
- Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age....
as Nina Ivanovna Yakushova, aka Ninotchka
- Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.-Early life:Douglas was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Lena Priscilla , a Protestant Tennessee-born Mayflower descendant, and Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, a Jewish concert pianist and composer from Riga, Latvia...
as Comte Léon d'Algout
- Ina Claire
-Career:Born Ina Fagan in Washington, D.C., Claire began her career appearing in vaudeville. She performed on Broadway in the musicals Jumping Jupiter and The Quaker Girl and Lady Luxury sophisticated comedienne, and starred on Broadway in plays by some of the leading comic dramatists of the...
as Grand Duchess Swana
- Sig Ruman
Sig Ruman was a German-American actor known for his comic portrayals of pompous villains....
as Michael Simonavich Iranoff
- Felix Bressart
Felix Bressart was a German-American actor of stage and screen.Felix Bressart was born in East Prussia, Germany and was already a very experienced stage actor when he had his film debut in 1928. He started off as a supporting actor, eg...
as Buljanoff
- Alexander Granach
Alexander Granach was a popular German actor in the 1920s and 1930s.- Biography :Granach was born Jessaja Granach in Werbowitz to Jewish parents and rose to theatrical prominence at the Volksbühne in Berlin...
as Kopalski
- Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen, well known for playing Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version...
as Commissar Razinin
- Tamara Shayne as Anna, Ninotchka's roommate in Moscow
- Rolfe Sedan
Rolfe Sedan was an American character actor.Born Rolfe Edward Sedan in New York City, his mother was a Broadway theatre fashion designer and his father a symphony conductor....
as Hotel Manager
- Gregory Gaye
Gregory Gaye was a Russian-born actor. Born Gregory De Gay in St. Petersburg, Gaye came to the United States after the Russian Revolution in 1917. He appeared in small roles in over a hundred movies....
as Rakonin
- Edwin Maxwell
Edwin Maxwell was an Irish character actor in Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, frequently cast as shady businessmen and shysters, though often ones with a dignified bearing....
as Mercier
- Richard Carle
Richard Carle was an American film actor. He appeared in 132 films between 1915 and 1941.He was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
as Gaston
Marketing and release
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 ChristinaQueen Christina is a American pre-code historical drama film directed by Rouben Mamoulian. The film was written by H. M. Harwood and Salka Viertel with dialogue by S. N. Behrman, based on a story by Salka Viertel and Margaret P. Levino...
saw her laughing and playing romantic-comedy moments with her co-star
John GilbertJohn Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover", he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw...
, although the movie is generally regarded as a historical drama.
Released in 1939 in the United States, the movie was released during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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.
Legacy
The Broadway musical
Silk StockingsSilk Stockings is a musical with a book by George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, and Abe Burrows and music and lyrics by Cole Porter.Loosely based on the Melchior Lengyel story Ninotchka and the 1939 film adaptation it inspired, it focuses on special envoy Nina Yaschenko, who is dispatched from the...
was written with this film as the source of its book. It also provided the basis of a
1957 filmSilk Stockings is a 1957 MGM musical film remake of Ninotchka. It was directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse...
directed by
Rouben MamoulianRouben Mamoulian was an Armenian-American film and theatre director.-Biography:Born in Tbilisi, Georgia to an Armenian family, Rouben relocated to England and started directing plays in London in 1922...
and starring
Fred AstaireFred Astaire , born Frederick Austerlitz, was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films...
and
Cyd CharisseCyd Charisse was an American actress and dancer.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s...
. Actor
George TobiasGeorge Tobias was an American character actor.Born to a Jewish family in New York, he began his acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. He then spent several years in theater groups before moving on to Broadway and, eventually, Hollywood...
, 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.
In 1990,
Ninotchka was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was also included on two
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
lists: #40 on
AFI's 100 Years... 100 PassionsPart of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Passions is a list of the top 100 love stories in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 11, 2002 in a CBS television special hosted by American film and TV actress Candice Bergen.-The...
and #52 on
AFI's 100 Years... 100 LaughsPart of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs is a list of the top 100 comedy movies in American cinema. A wide variety of comedies were nominated for the distinction that included slapstick comedy, romantic comedy, satire, black comedy, musical comedy, comedy of manners and comedy...
. It was also included on
Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies.
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
recognition
- 2000: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs is a list of the top 100 comedy movies in American cinema. A wide variety of comedies were nominated for the distinction that included slapstick comedy, romantic comedy, satire, black comedy, musical comedy, comedy of manners and comedy...
#52
- 2002: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Passions is a list of the top 100 love stories in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 11, 2002 in a CBS television special hosted by American film and TV actress Candice Bergen.-The...
#40
Awards
Ninotchka 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 LengyelMelchior Lengyel, born Lebovics Menyhért, was a Hungarian writer, dramatist, and film screenwriter.-Biography:...
.
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."