Ninotchka

This is a fantastic movie. I can't understand why some people have problems with it. Makes me wonder if we don't have some people recoiling at some innocent cracks made at the Soviet Union's expense. As a romantic comedy it has very few peers and is a great introduction to black and white films for those used only to color. There are a plethora of interesting secondary characters. Garbo is wonderful, of course, and Dougless is as good as I've seen him any film. Lubitsch's direction is masterly, but not 'ground-breaking', a fault for which some are willing to run him under the harrow -- a case of holding someone to impossible standards. Nobody can break new ground in every film -- sometimes we have to settle for mere masterly competence. See this film! Unless you happen to romanticize the former Soviet Union, you will enjoy it.

Three Russian traders come to Paris to negotiate the jewels of a former Grand Duchess of the Russian empire. The former owner of the jewels, Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire), is exiled in Paris, and try to retrieve the possession through the French justice. Her lawyer and lover, Count Leon d'Algout (Melvyn Douglas), advises the Russians to wait for the sentence of the justice. Meanwhile, the Russian supervisor Nina Ivanovna Yakushova "Ninotchka" (Greta Garbo)" is sent to Paris to survey and evaluate the performance of the negotiators, and incidentally meets Count Leon d'Algout. They feel initially attracted for each other, and later they fall in love for each other. However, the Grand Suchess becomes jealous and their love become impossible due to the Russian closed political system. "Ninotchka" is a delightful romantic comedy and funny satire to the fight of classes. The chemistry between Melvyn Douglas, who has a magnificent performance, and Greta Garbo, gorgeous as usual, is amazing. The confrontation between the capitalism and socialism systems is exaggerated, labeled and caricatured, but very funny, provoking many laughs. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Ninotchka"

Ninotchka is a great film classic with great acting by Melvyn Douglas, who really supports Greta Garbo. Garbo is an actress with class and great abilities not found in movie stars today, she was ahead of her times, deep and spiritual. Her supporting actors, Sig Ruman used every expression he could to portray a fumbling Russian and Bela Lugosi showed the movie industry that he had great acting abilities he was never given a chance show to his many fans.

This film shows aspiring actors just how to perform to the highest level of their art.

My all-time favorite comedy! All right, I am a Garbo fan regardless of the role, and I happen to think that Melvyn Douglas was perfectly cast here. In fact, the entire cast excels, without exception, in one of Lubitsch's finest and most elegant films. Those who think that lines like "The show trials were a great success...there are now fewer, but better, Russians" are dated, or that making fun of totalitarianism is tasteless and politically incorrect need to lighten up. Garbo is not only very funny in this classic, she is inexpressibly lovely (as always). A must-see for any lover of beautifully crafted and entertaining film comedies.

The only word to describe this Ernst Lubitsch comedy is: sparkling.

Tremendously sweet and funny in that gentle way that was unique to Ernst Lubitsch comedies, "Ninotchka" features a winning Greta Garbo as a Soviet envoy dispatched to Paris to check up on the work of her comrades. They have been sent to sell the confiscated jewels of a Russian countess, played haughtily by Ina Claire. She refuses to let them go without a fight, and enlists the help of her attorney and playboy (Melvyn Douglas) to win them back. Unfortunately for her, he falls under the charms of Ninotchka, as do we.

I have never been a fan of Garbo or the moody brooding she was always asked to do in her films. Lubitsch completely understood the image she had in the public's collective mind, and so for the first half of this movie, Garbo presents a parody of herself, refusing to crack a smile despite Douglas's herculean efforts to make her. But then Ninotchka gradually begins to fall under the spell of Paris, its good food and fashionable hats, a pratfall involving Douglas is finally enough to make her laugh, and from that moment on, she's a delight. For an example of just how good a comedienne Garbo could be, watch Ninotchka's face as Douglas's character tells her corny joke after corny joke in an attempt to win a smile from her; or the scene set in a nightclub when Ninotchka discovers the capitalist wonders of champagne.

Grade: A+