An American reporter smuggling news out of Soviet Moscow is blackmailed into helping a beautiful Communist leave the country.
Acting
Hedy Lamarr's triple-role accent gymnastics deserve more respect.
Direction
King Vidor balancing political satire with MGM gloss.
Writing
Screenplay by Ben Hecht, who actually knew what he was mocking.
Director
King Vidor
Clark Gable
McKinley B. 'Mac' Thompson
Hedy Lamarr
Golubka / Theodore Yahupitz / Lizvanetchka 'Lizzie'
Oskar Homolka
Commissar Vasiliev
Felix Bressart
Igor Yahupitz / Vanya
Eve Arden
Jane Wilson
Sig Ruman
Emil Von Hofer
Natasha Lytess
Olga Milanova
Vladimir Sokoloff
Michael Bastakoff
Edgar Barrier
Rubick
Georges Renavent
Laszlo
Leon Belasco
Comrade Baronoff
Michael Mark
Goronoff
Sven Hugo Borg
Streetcar Passenger
John Bleifer
Russian Marriage License Clerk / Russian Tank Co-Pilot
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ben Hecht wrote this in 1935 as a play; MGM bought it specifically to compete with Warner Bros' Ninotchka. Garbo vs. Lamarr: studio warfare by satire.
Released June 1940, after the Nazi-Soviet pact collapsed and before Pearl Harbor—making its 'Stalin is a joke' stance suddenly politically complicated. Audiences laughed anyway.
US
