Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

jacobs-greenwood Walter Reisch, who contributed to the screenplay (and shared an Academy Award nomination in that category) for Ninotchka (1939), earned a Best Writing, Original Story Oscar nomination for this similar comedy drama starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr (in lieu of Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas). Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer wrote the screenplay for this one, which was directed and co- produced by King Vidor.Gable plays an American journalist, McKinley 'Mac' Thompson, in communist Russia who successfully, and secretly, gets his stories and photographs through the government censors. He's referred to as Comrade X, and obviously the Russians would like nothing more than to capture and execute him for these traitorous activities. Lamarr plays Golubka, aka Theodore Yahupitz, a 'cold' native and party idealist who's not only a streetcar conductor, but also the daughter of Mac's friendly, though seemingly clueless valet Vanya, aka Igor Yahupitz (Felix Bressart).Vanya discovers Mac's secret camera and true identity and, because he wants to protect his daughter from the instability inherent in the system during that time, he 'forces' him to agree to take Golubka out of the country for her own safety. Bressart and Sig Ruman, who plays a German journalist Emil Von Hofer, were both in Ninotchka (1939). Oskar Homolka plays Commissar Vasiliev, who's desperately trying to catch Comrade X while at the same time keep from being assassinated by others seeking a power grab. Eve Arden plays Jane Wilson, another American journalist, who'd had prior relations with Mac. Vladimir Sokoloff plays Michael Bastakoff, the underground communist leader that Golubka idolizes. Keye Luke appears uncredited as another journalist in the frustrated World Press corps.The comedy is not nearly as good as the aforementioned film and is much more screwball, in general, with fewer of its political jabs finding their target. Though both Gable and Lamarr are both as watchable as usual, there's no real chemistry between them even as he tries to 'crack' her cold committed demeanor.Natasha Lytess plays a silly Russian secretary, Olga Milanava, who gets drunk. Mac pretends to be a communist in order to convince Golubka to leave for the United States with him (e.g. to persuade Americans to join the party); the two even get married!The movie gets even more off track when Mac, Vanya and Golubka, escaping from Bastakoff who has now successfully replaced (executed) Commissar Vasiliev, find themselves in an elaborate, overlong and climactic, tank chase!

ilprofessore-1 Who would have guessed that the usually wooden but dazzlingly beautiful Hedy Lamarr could be so delightfully funny, adorable and charming as she is in this Ninotchka role. It's a pity that she was rarely --if ever again-- given another opportunity to play this sort of anything-goes screwball comedy. Hedy here is as real and believable as Carole Lombard at her best. The script written by Ben Hecht ("Nothing Sacred"), Charlie Lederer ("The Front Page" screenplay) and the uncredited Herman Mankiewicz ("Citizen Kane") is a bizarre hard-boiled political satire ending with a lengthy and totally absurd slapstick Russian tank chase through the woods and across the river into Rumania. It looks as if it came straight out of a Max Sennett movie. Gable is his usual tough and handsome self, wonderfully adept with the throw-away gags he is given. The rest of the cast is rounded out with some of the best European character actors then living in Hollywood --the Germans Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart and the Viennese Oskar Homoloka—- all playing Russians and Germans. As an added bonus there is the first on-screen appearance by the rarely seen Berlin-born actress, Natasha Lytess ("Olga"), best remembered now as Marilyn Monroe's first acting coach way before her Lee Strasberg days.

bkoganbing With the success MGM had with Ninotchka another lampooning of the Soviet Union seemed a natural. So the following year while the Hitler-Stalin pact was still active, MGM came up with Comrade X.Comrade X is a pseudonym for some journalist who is sending uncensored stories out about the real Soviet Union. It happens to be Clark Gable and the whole Soviet secret police apparatus is after him.But a valet at a hotel where the foreign correspondents stay played by Felix Bressart comes upon his secret. He offers a deal to Gable, he won't turn him in if Gable convinces Bressart's daughter Hedy Lamarr to leave the Soviet Union with him and come to America.Easier said than done because Lamarr is as committed a Communist as Greta Garbo was in Ninotchka. So like Melvyn Douglas in Ninotchka, Gable's got his work cut out for him.Comrade X's humor is a little more broad than Ninotchka's was. It even got a few good knocks in on Nazi Germany with Sig Ruman playing a German correspondent. The humor about the Soviets concerns what a dangerous thing it was to rise in the ranks of the party. Remember this was also the time of Stalin purging all kinds of people out of the party. Something that didn't stop until Hitler broke the non-aggression pact in 1941.And Hedy Lamarr is sure no Garbo, but she acquits herself nicely in the role of the fuzzy headed idealist. Gable, Lamarr, and Bressart get caught up in the internal politics of the Soviet Union and have to flee the country. What happens to them is the balance of the film and it is hilarious.One of the best films done by both of the stars. Grand comedy.

plaidpotato Hysterical anti-commie propaganda. A loony and implausible plot. A howlingly bad performance by Hedy Lamarr, trying to do a Garbo-as-Ninotchka impression, though sounding more like a particularly inept porn star monotoning through her lame dialogue. Clark Gable is stiff and goofy as ever, though still strangely charming as ever. He hasn't an ounce of chemistry with Hedy Lamarr, though it would be hard for anyone to make sparks with that sack of wet--though beautiful--cement. There are a few genuinely and intentionally hilarious moments. The tank chase was classic.I should probably rate this film a 4/10, because that's honestly about what it deserves. But it was so ludicrous, so breathtaking in its absurdity, it made for oddly compelling viewing. Kudos to King Vidor for allowing this film to be bad, because it would have been horrible if he'd tried to make it good, given the raw materials he had to work with.6/10