Comrade X (1940)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

King Vidor

Writers:

Walter Reisch (story)
Ben Hecht (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

13 December 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

An American reporter smuggling news out of Soviet Moscow is blackmailed into helping a beautiful Communist leave the country.

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Hotel | Blackmail | Anti Communist | Soviet Union

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Clark Gable	...	McKinley B. 'Mac' Thompson
Hedy Lamarr	...	Golubka, aka Theodore Yahupitz and Lizvanetchka 'Lizzie'
Oskar Homolka	...	Commissar Vasiliev (as Oscar Homolka)
Felix Bressart	...	Igor Yahupitz aka Vanya, the Valet
Eve Arden	...	Jane Wilson
Sig Ruman	...	Emil Von Hofer (as Sig Rumann)
Natasha Lytess	...	Olga Milanava
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Michael Bastakoff
Edgar Barrier	...	Rubick, Commissar's Aide
Georges Renavent	...	Laszlo, World Press Attendee (as George Renevant)
Mikhail Rasumny	...	Arresting Russian Officer

Runtime:

90 min | USA:104 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:TV-G | Finland:S | Sweden:(Banned) (1947-1962) | Sweden:11 | USA:Approved (PCA #6794)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Paul Morrissey (director of many Andy Warhol films) once acknowledged that Comrade X was his favorite movie.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The script makes reference to the Soviet law that a person could divorce his or her spouse simply by sending them a postcard announcing that the marriage was over - but in 1936, four years before this film was made, Stalin had repealed that law when he rewrote the Russian constitution and made divorces considerably harder to get.

Quotes:

Mac Thompson: What, uh, what are they singing?
Vanya: Same thing they always sing in prison: "We are Free."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Las cosas del querer (1989)

Soundtrack:

Funiculi, Funicula

A nice comedy. Gotta love Hedy!

The second and final film Hedy Lamarr and Clark Gable made together. It's a fun comedy similar to Ninotchka only in its basic concept, not in context. Hedy Lamarr is just adorable as a staunch communist and we get to see her in a variety of interesting outfits, like the uniform she wears as a streetcar conductor, the "parachute" of a Soviet nightgown, and another much nicer nightie that she looks impossibly lovely in. Clark Gable's sarcastic humor works perfectly in this movie and he's quite amusing. There's some wonderful comedic violence here and there and a chase sequence as funny as the one(s) Hedy did with Bob Hope in My Favorite Spy just over a decade later. Felix Bressart from Ninotchka also appears in this one. Worth a look, it's a good time!