Balalaika (1939)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Reinhold Schünzel

Writers:

Charles Bennett (writer)
Jacques Deval (writer)

Release Date:

29 December 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Romance

Plot:

A Russian prince disguised as a worker and a cafe singer secretly involved in revolutionary activities fall in love.

Plot Keywords:

Revolutionaries | Cossack | Aristocracy | Emigrés | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Nelson Eddy	...	Prince Peter Karagin, aka Peter Teranda
Ilona Massey	...	Lydia Pavlovna Marakova
Charles Ruggles	...	Nicki Popoff (as Charlie Ruggles)
Frank Morgan	...	Ivan Danchenoff
Lionel Atwill	...	Prof. Marakov
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Gen. Karagin
Joyce Compton	...	Masha (Lydia's maid)
Dalies Frantz	...	Dimitri Marakov
Walter Woolf King	...	Capt. Michael Sibirsky
Phillip Terry	...	Lt. Smirnoff
Frederick Worlock	...	Ramensky
Abner Biberman	...	Leo Proplinski
Arthur W. Cernitz	...	Capt. Sergei Pavloff
Roland Varno	...	Lt. Nikitin
George Tobias	...	Slaski (bartender)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Movie Connections:

Featured in From the Ends of the Earth (1939)

Soundtrack:

Silent Night (Stille Nacht)

A well-made underrated musical with some good songs and some fine sequences.

I am generally a soft touch for movies that have fictional characters in a well-known historical setting, and this one is no exception. Based on a 1936 underrated musical that opened in London, and set on the eve of both World War I and the Russian revolution, it involves a Russian Prince, Nelson Eddy, and a singer and revolutionary, Ilona Massey, who deceive each other as to who they really are, and fall in love. But even after they discover their true identities, they remain in love until separated by the war and then the revolution.

The sets and costumes are first-rate and director Reinhold Schunzel keeps the film moving at a nice pace and handles the crowd scenes extremely well. Mild comedy is provided by Charlie Ruggles and Frank Morgan. Although I'm not much of a fan of Nelson Eddy - he's somewhat bland in his acting - he does have a good voice, so I did enjoy lots of his singing. The stirring "Ride, Cossack, Ride" while the Cossacks are on horseback riding towards the camera, which keeps moving back to avoid a collision, is beautifully photographed. His rendition of "Silent Night" in German, while in the trenches during WW I, answering the Austrian enemy soldiers singing of that song, was a wonderful tender sequence. Eddy also sings the Toreador song from Bizet's "Carmen" which will surely will be liked by opera fans.

But I loved best the last 15 minutes or so, when the Russian emigrés who have gathered in Paris after the war, meet at the Paris version of the Balalaika Cafe to celebrate the Russian New Year. Instead of the joy you would expect on such an occasion, you see the sadness in everyone's eyes at having had to leave their homeland. Frank Morgan sings about his "Land of Dreams," and it moved me to tears.