Ninotchka
Short description
Ninotchka is a 1939 romantic comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Three Soviet envoys travel to Paris to sell jewels confiscated from a Russian grand duchess, but the comforts of the French capital prove distracting, and the sale stalls. Moscow sends a dedicated revolutionary, Nina Ivanovna Yakushova, known as Ninotchka, to correct the situation. In Paris she encounters Count Leon d'Algout, an associate of the grand duchess, who personifies the privileged world she disapproves of; her stay complicates her political convictions.
The film stars Greta Garbo as Ninotchka, Melvyn Douglas as Count Leon, and Ina Claire as Grand Duchess Swana, with Bela Lugosi, Sig Ruman and Felix Bressart among the credited cast of 57. The screenplay was written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch. It followed Lubitsch's Design for Living (1933) and preceded The Shop Around the Corner (1940) in a run of films that also included Trouble in Paradise (1932) and Broken Lullaby (1932) earlier in the decade.
Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on a budget of about 1 million dollars, the film returned roughly 2 million dollars worldwide. It holds a rating of 7.8 out of 10 on IMDb from more than 22,000 votes and 7.5 out of 10 on TMDB from several hundred votes. A critics' rating of 8.4 out of 10 from 40 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The slogan “Garbo laughs!” appeared even before the script for this film was written; moreover, the film itself is built around this slogan, which had already become legendary. Here's its story. Greta Garbo (1905-1990), a star of silent cinema, starred in her first sound film – Clarence Brown’s (1890-1987) melodrama “Anna Christie” (1930) – and the advertising slogan for this film was “Garbo speaks!”. When she was filming it, the slogan became “Garbo laughs!”, which was certainly pleasing to the actress’s numerous fans.
- According to the legendary director and screenwriter Billy Wilder (1906-2002), director Ernst Lubitsch (1892-1947) contributed so much to writing the screenplay for this film that he and other screenwriters Charles Brackett (1892-1969) and Walter Reisch (1903-1983) took the unprecedented step of appealing to the Writers Guild of America for permission to include Lubitsch's name among the screenplay authors in the credits. Their request was denied.
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