Knight Without Armor (1937) Knight Without Armour (original title)

Director:

Jacques Feyder

Writers:

James Hilton (novel)
Frances Marion (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

23 July 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

The woman of flame -- the man of steel -- together !

Plot:

After two years as a Czarist British agent posing as a Russian Commissar, he rescues a Russian countess from her Bolshevik captors.

Plot Keywords:

Countess | Russia | Siberia | Rescue | Bolshevik

Cast

Marlene Dietrich	...	Countess Alexandra Vladinoff
Robert Donat	...	Ainsley J. Fothergill aka Peter Ouronov
Irene Vanbrugh	...	Duchess of Zorin
Herbert Lomas	...	General Gregor Vladinoff
Austin Trevor	...	Colonel Adraxine
Basil Gill	...	Axelstein
David Tree	...	Alexis Maronin
John Clements	...	Poushkoff
Frederick Culley	...	Stanfield
Laurence Hanray	...	Forrester
Dorice Fordred	...	The Maid
Franklin Kelsey	...	Tomsky
Laurence Baskcomb	...	Commissar (as Lawrence Baskcomb)
Hay Petrie	...	Station Master
Miles Malleson	...	Drunken Red Commissar (as Miles Malieson)
Allan Jeayes	...	White General
Lyn Harding	...	Bargee
Raymond Huntley	...	White Officer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Evelyn Ankers	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Derek Aylward	...	Extra (uncredited)
Noel Brophy	...	Irishman (uncredited)
Peter Bull	...	Commissar (uncredited)
James Carew	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Peter Cozens	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Lisa d'Esterre	...	Czarina (uncredited)
Mark Daly	...	Hospital Orderly (uncredited)
Stephen Haggard	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Edward Lexy	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Gordon McLeod	...	Scottish Doctor (uncredited)
Peter O'Brien	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Noel Purcell	...	First Train Driver Trying to Clear Track (uncredited)
Guy Rolfe	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Miklós Rózsa	...	Pianist (uncredited)
Harry Terry	...	Commissar Who Claims That He's Innocent (uncredited)
Torin Thatcher	...	British Passport Official (uncredited)
Peter Evan Thomas	...	General Andreyevitch (uncredited)

Directed by
Jacques Feyder

Writing credits
James Hilton		(novel "Without Armour")
Frances Marion		(adaptation)
Lajos Biró
Arthur Wimperis		(dialogue & scenario)

Produced by
Alexander Korda	....	producer

Original Music by
Miklós Rózsa		(as Miklos Rozsa)

Cinematography by
Harry Stradling Sr.		(as Harry Stradling)

Film Editing by
Francis D. Lyon		(as Francis Lyon)

Costume Design by
Georges K. Benda		(as Georges Benda)

Makeup Department
Tom Shenton	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
David B. Cunynghame	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Imlay Watts	....	assistant director

Art Department
Lazare Meerson	....	settings designer
Hal Waller	....	assistant art director (as Halfdan Waller)

Sound Department
A.W. Watkins	....	sound
John W. Mitchell	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Ned Mann	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
W. Percy Day	....	matte painter (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bernard Browne	....	assistant camera
Jack Cardiff	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
William Hornbeck	....	supervising editor
Adam Dawson	....	second assistant editor (uncredited)
Eric Hodges	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Muir Mathieson	....	musical director
Frederick Lewis	....	music arranger: Tchaikovsky excerpt (uncredited)

Other crew
Roman Goul	....	technical advisor
Maxwell Wray	....	associate director for dialog

Production Companies

• London Film Productions

Distributors

• United Artists Corporation (1937) (UK) (theatrical)
• Dr. Hauser & Company (1937) (Austria) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1937) (USA) (theatrical)
• Embassy Home Entertainment (1987) (USA) (VHS) (For Samuel Goldwyn Home Entertainment)
• Elephant Films (2012) (France) (video)

Also Known As:

"Knight Without Armour" - UK (original title)

Runtime:

107 min | West Germany:100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless System)

Certification:

Australia:G | West Germany:16 | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1937) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

London Film Studios, Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

London Film Productions

Trivia:

During the shooting Robert Donat had a severe attack of asthma and the film was delayed for almost a month. The producers wanted to replace him but Marlene Dietrich refused.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Peter Ouronov buries Alexandra in the fallen leaves, Alexandra is facing up. When he returns, she comes out from the leaves facing down.

Quotes:

Countess Alexandra Vladinoff:[Asking about a bribe] And all he wanted was your wristwatch?
Ainsley J. Fothergill aka Peter Ouronov:[Rhetorically] Well, what use is a wristwatch when trains are to be a week late?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010)

Soundtrack:

Alexandra's Song

Fantastic film; watch, pay attention, enjoy!

One truly cares about the characters in "Knight Without Armour" (1937) (which at present is only available on Region 4 DVD---officially, that is). John Clements almost steals the film with a role that is little more than a cameo, but superbly acted. One can see how this part led to his being cast as the lead in "The Four Feathers" (1939), the very best motion picture produced by Alexander Korda and released by London Films, and one of the best movies of all time. Other character actors such as Miles Malleson also do memorable bits.

This atypical role for Marlene Dietrich---a truly vulnerable, feminine character, though noble and glamorous---is superbly realised by the German actress, here playing a Russian countess. Robert Donat, excellent as always, is the lead, an Englishman travelling incognito in Russia before, during, and after the Revolution.

There is one scene early in the film which is an interesting reversal of a portion of "Battleship Potemkin"'s Odessa Steps sequence: in "Potemkin" the "White" Cossacks, a faceless, cruelly efficient horde simultaneously gun down a "Red" woman who tries to appeal to them for mercy for her dying child. In "Knight Without Armour" a horde of Reds trudge en masse across the palatial estate of "White" Countess Alexandra, played by Marlene Dietrich. The scene in which she encounters the unsympathetic, destructive mob on her great lawn, and the momentary lull before they act, is unmistakably a comment upon "Potemkin" and its pro-Red propaganda.

American audiences may find the various, regional British accents of the Russian characters a bit jarring. Filmed during the height of the Depression, this is a great lovers-on-the-run film with a world-falling-apart backdrop, irresistible entertainment in any era. Find this one! Used VHS copies are easily had. Miklos Rozsa's score, one of his first for film, has the same warmth and pathos that embodies most of his splendid catalog of work.