Ninotchka (1939)

Greta Garbo: Ninotchka

Photos 

Quotes 

• Buljanoff : How are things in Moscow?

  Ninotchka : Very Good. The last mass trials were a great success. There are going to be fewer but better Russians.

• Ninotchka : Why should you carry other people's bags?

  Porter : Well, that's my business, Madame.

  Ninotchka : That's no business. That's social injustice.

  Porter : That depends on the tip.

• Ninotchka : I have heard of the arrogant male in capitalistic society. It is having a superior earning power that makes you that way.

  Leon : A Russian! I love Russians! Comrade, I've been fascinated by your five-year plan for the last fifteen years.

  Ninotchka : Your type will soon be extinct.

• Ninotchka : Must you flirt?

  Leon : Well, I don't have to, but I find it natural.

  Ninotchka : Suppress it.

• Ninotchka : We don't have men like you in my country.

  Leon : Thank you.

  Ninotchka : That is why I believe in the future of my country.

• Leon : Ninotchka, it's midnight. One half of Paris is making love to the other half.

  Ninotchka : You merely feel you must put yourself in a romantic mood to add to your exhilaration.

  Leon : I can't possibly think of any better reason.

• Ninotchka : I should hate to see our country endangered by my underwear.

• Leon : Do you like me just a little bit?

  Ninotchka : Your general appearance is not distasteful.

• Ninotchka : What have you done for mankind?

  Leon : Not so much for mankind... for womankind, my record isn't quite so bleak.

• Iranoff : What a charming idea for Moscow to surprise us with a Lady Comrade.

  Comrade Kopalski : If we had known, we would have greeted you with flowers!

  Ninotchka : Don't make an issue of my womanhood. We're here to work, all of us.

• Iranoff : Do you want to be alone, comrade?

  Ninotchka : No.

• Ninotchka : I must have a complete report of your negotiations and a detailed expense account.

  Buljanoff : No, non, Ninotchka. Don't ask for it. There's an old Turkish proverb that says: If something smells bad, why put your nose in it?

  Ninotchka : And there is an old Russian saying: The cat with cream on his whiskers had better find good excuses.

• Pere Mathieu, Cafe Owner : Now, what shall it be?

  Ninotchka : Raw beets and carrots.

  Pere Mathieu, Cafe Owner : Madame, this is a restaurant, not a meadow.

• Ninotchka : I am so happy. Oh, I'm so happy! No one can be so happy without being punished. I will be punished and I should be punished.

• Ninotchka : I am a traitor. When I kissed you, I betrayed a Russian ideal. I should be stood up against the wall.

  Leon : Would that make you any happier?

  Ninotchka : Much happier!

  Leon : All right.

  [Walks Ninotchka over to the wall, puts a blindfold on her and pops open a cork of champagne] 

  Ninotchka : I have paid the penalty. Now, let's have some music!

• Leon : What kind of a girl are you, anyway?

  Ninotchka : Just what you see. A tiny cog in the great wheel of evolution.

  Leon : You're the most adorable cog I've ever seen.

• [Ninotchka is examining a map of Paris] 

  Leon : Pardon me, are you an explorer?

  Ninotchka : No. I'm looking for the Eiffel Tower.

  Leon : Good heavens, is that thing lost again? Oh, are you interested in a view?

  Ninotchka : I'm interested in the Eiffel Tower from a technical standpoint.

  Leon : Technical? No, no, I'm afraid I couldn't be of much help from that angle. You see, a Parisian only goes to the tower in moments of despair to jump off.

  Ninotchka : How long does it take a man to land?

  Leon : Now isn't that too bad? The last time I jumped, I forgot to time it.

• Ninotchka : [to Leon]  I want to tell you something which I thought I would never say, which I thought nobody should ever say because I thought it didn't exist. And Leon, I can't say it.

• Leon : Ninotchka, tell me, you're so expert on things, can it be that I'm falling in love with you?

  Ninotchka : Why must you bring in wrong values? Love is a romantic designation for a most ordinary biological or, shall we say, chemical process. A lot of nonsense is talked and written about it.

  Leon : Oh, I see. What do you use instead?

  Ninotchka : I acknowledge the existence of a natural impulse - common to all.

  Leon : What can I possibly do to encourage such an impulse in you?

  Ninotchka : You don't have to do a thing. Chemically, we're already quite sympathetic.

• Ninotchka : Let's form our own party.

  Leon : Right. Lovers of the world, unite!

  Ninotchka : And we won't stretch up our arms?

  Leon : No! No-no-no.

  Ninotchka : We won't clinch our fist?

  Leon : No. No.

  Ninotchka : Our salute will be a kiss.

  Leon : Yes. A kiss. Salute!

  [kiss] 

• Ninotchka : Now, don't misunderstand me. I do not hold your frivolity against you. As basic material, you may not be bad; but you are the unfortunate product of a doomed culture. I feel very sorry for you.

• Ninotchka : What's that?

  Comrade Kopalski : It's a hat, Comrade. A woman's hat.

  Ninotchka : How can such a civilization survive which permits their women to put things like that on their heads. It won't be long now, Comrades.

• Leon : Your finger, please.

  Ninotchka : Why do you need my finger?

  Leon : It's bad manners to point with your own.

• Ninotchka : So, it's your house?

  Leon : Well, let's say I live in it. It's such a pleasant little place. It has all the comforts. Easy to reach - near the subway, bus and streetcar...

  Ninotchka : Does it mean you want me to go there?

  Leon : Oh, now, please, please, don't misunderstand me.

  Ninotchka : Then, you don't want me to go there?

  Leon : No, no, no, no. No, no. I didn't say that either. Naturally, nothing would please me more.

  Ninotchka : Then, why don't we go? You might be an interesting subject of study.

  Leon : I'll do my best.

• Leon : Good evening, Gaston.

  Gaston : Good evening, Monsieur.

  Ninotchka : Is this what you call the butler?

  Leon : Yes.

  Ninotchka : Good evening, Comrade.

  [shakes Gaston's hand] 

  Ninotchka : This man is very old. You shouldn't make him work.

  Leon : He takes good care of them.

  Ninotchka : He looks sad. Do you whip him?

  Leon : No. But, the mere thought makes my mouth water.

  Ninotchka : A day will come when you'll be free. Go to bed, little father. We want to be alone.

• Leon : You like Scotch stories?

  Ninotchka : Never heard one.

  Leon : Well, two Scotchmen met on the street - and I don't know the name of the street, it doesn't matter anyway - one's name was McGillicuddy. The other one's name was McIntosh. McGillicuddy said to McIntosh, "Hello, Mr McGillicuddy." McGillicuddy, McIntosh said to McGillicuddy, "Hello, Mr. McIn - Mr. McGillicuddy." Then, McGillicuddy says to McIntosh, "How's Mrs. McIntosh?" And McIntosh says to McGillicuddy, "How's Mrs. McGillicuddy?"

  Ninotchka : I wish they'd never met.

• Ninotchka : [3 pretty cigarette girls eagerly enter hotel suite, and are dismayed to confront a scornful Ninotchka]  Comrades, you must have been smoking a lot.

• Ninotchka : How much does this cost?

  Iranoff : 2,000 Francs.

  Ninotchka : A week?

  Iranoff : A day!

  Ninotchka : Do you know how much a cow cost, Comrade Iranoff?

  Iranoff : A cow?

  Ninotchka : 2,000 Francs. If I stay here a week, It will cost the Russian people seven cows. Who am I to cost the Russian people seven cows?

• Ninotchka : It's never too late to change. I used to belong to the petty bourgeoisie, myself.

  Leon : No.

  Ninotchka : My father and mother wanted me to stay and work on the farm. But, I preferred the bayonet.

• Ninotchka : Would you like to see my wound?

  Leon : I'd love to!

• Ninotchka : The Revolution is on the March... bombs will fall, civilizations crumble -- but not yet! Let us have our time. Let us be happy.

• Grand Duchess Swana : Isn't it amazing? One gets the wrong impression of the new Russia. It must be charming. I'm delighted conditions have improved so. I assume this is what the factory workers wear at their dances?

  Ninotchka : Exactly! You see, it would have been very embarrassing for people of my sort to wear local gowns in the old Russia. The lashes of the Cossacks across our backs were not very becoming. And you know how vain women are.

  Grand Duchess Swana : Yes. You're quite right about the Cossacks. We made a great mistake when we let them use their whips. They had such reliable guns.

• Ninotchka : It's funny to look back. I was brought up on goat's milk, had a ration of vodka in the army, and, now, champagne.

  Leon : From goats to grapes! That's drinking in the right direction.

• Ninotchka : Problems were never solved by bowing from a balcony.

• Ninotchka : That's how they live in the other world. Here we dress to cover up our bodies - to keep warm.

  Anna : And there?

  Ninotchka : Sometimes they're not completely covered; but, they don't freeze.

• Ninotchka : What do we do now?

  Leon : Shall we have some music?

  Ninotchka : Is that customary?

  Leon : It helps. It has ever since King David wooed Bathsheba with his harp. Not being so fortunate as to having my harp at hand, I'll turn on the radio.

• Leon : Where shall we begin?

  Ninotchka : I will start with you.

  Leon : Excellent! Now, let's see, I'm 35 years old, just over six feet tall, and weigh 182 pounds, stripped.

• Leon : Ninotchka, why do doves bill and coo? Why do snails, the coldest of all creatures, circle interminably around each other? Why do moths fly hundreds of miles to find their mates? Why do flowers slowly open their petals? Oh, Ninotchka, Ninotchka, surely you feel some slight symptom of the divine passion? A general warmth in the palms of your hands. A strange heaviness in your limbs. A burning of the lips that isn't thirst, but, something a thousand times more tantalizing, more exulting than thirst.

  Ninotchka : You're very talkative.

  Leon : [Leon kisses Ninotchka]  Was that talkative?

  Ninotchka : No, that was restful. Again.

  [kiss] 

  Ninotchka : Thank you.

• Ninotchka : If you wish to approach me...

  Leon : You know I want to!

  Ninotchka : Then, do it through my lawyer.

• Ninotchka : What are you after?

  Leon : Must one always be after something?

  Ninotchka : Your tactics are useless.

• Leon : Ninotchka, when we first went to my apartment, did I have the slightest idea that you were connected to this deal?

  Ninotchka : You know now. And I know now that you're a man who employs business methods which in Russia would be punished by death.

• Ninotchka : Isn't that amazing? At home there is still snow and ice and here - look at the birds. I always felt a little hurt when our swallows deserted us in the winter for capitalistic countries. Now, I know why. We have the high ideals. But, they have the climate.

• Ninotchka : Oh, yes. I know what that is. There's one around here somewhere. It has a little knob that you turn.

  Leon : A little knob, that's right.

  Ninotchka : Yeah, maybe it's in here.

  Leon : It has a little knob.

  Ninotchka : It has a knob, now. Maybe it's in here?

  Leon : It has a little knob.

  Ninotchka : Let's see. There it is! There's the knob.

  Leon : There's the knob!

• Leon : Now, what should we get? The news?

  Ninotchka : No, news. We don't want to know what's happening in the world. We want to be left alone. Don't we?

• Ninotchka : Leon, I want to confess.

  Leon : I know - it's the Russian soul.

  Ninotchka : Well, everyone needs to confess. And if they don't confess, they make them confess.

• Ninotchka : You must be reasonable, comrades.

  Iranoff : She is right. Anyhow, let's talk ourselves into it

  Buljanoff : It's great!. It's marvelous! It's wonderful!

• Swana : You took away my czar, my country, my people - everything I had. But nothing more.

  Ninotchka : People can't be taken away, madam. Neither a hundred and sixty million, nor one - not if you have their love. You hadn't.

• Anna : You mean to tell me you wear a different dress for different times of the day?

  Ninotchka : Yes.

  Anna : Now, Ninotchka, you are exaggerating.

• Ninotchka : And I know now that you're a man who employs business methods which in Russia would be punished by death.

  Leon : Oh, drat, death - aways so glum.

• Ninotchka : What is it you people always say, regardless of what you mean? "I'm delighted to have you here."

• Buljanoff : They can't censor our memories, can they?

  Ninotchka : No.

• Leon : You kissed me.

  Ninotchka : I kissed a Polish Lancer too, before he died.

• Ninotchka : Comrades, once and for all, we are in Moscow.

  Comrade Kopalski : Yes, there is no doubt of that. Just look out of the window and there it is.