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Ninotchka is a 1939 American film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. It received four Academy Award nominations, for Best Picture, Best Actress in a leading role, best Original Story and best Screenplay. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1990.[1] Furthermore, it was included on two American Film Institute lists: #40 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions and #52 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs. It was also included on Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies. [2]
SynopsisSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Three Russians, Iranoff (Sig Ruman), Buljanoff (Felix Bressart) and Kopalski (Alexander Granach), are in Paris to sell jewelry confiscated from the aristocracy during the Russian Revolution of 1917. Upon arrival, they meet Count Leon d'Algout (Douglas), on a mission from the Russian Grand Duchess Swana who wants to retrieve her jewelry before it is sold. He corrupts them and talks them into staying in Paris. The Soviet Union then sends Nina Yakushova (Garbo), a special envoy whose goal is to go through with the jewelry sale and bring back the three men. Rigid and stern at first, she slowly becomes seduced by the West and the Count, who falls in love with her. The three Russians also accommodate themselves to capitalism, but the last joke of the film is that one of them carries a sign protesting that the other two are unfair to him. Spoilers end here.
CommentaryLaunched with the tagline "Garbo Laughs!", Ninotchka is Greta Garbo's first full comedy, and her next to last film. It is one of the first American movies which, under cover of humorous light romance, deliberately criticizes the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. It depicts the Soviet system as rigid and gray, comparing it to the free and sunny Parisian society.
Although much of the marketing surrounding Ninotchka played on Garbo's super-serious image, suggesting she had never laughed or played comedy on film before, an examination of her canon reveals this not to be the case. Most notably her 1933 film, Queen Christina saw her laughing and had her play clear romantic-comedy moments with her co-star John Gilbert, although the movie is generally regarded as an historical drama. A detailed description of the film, and historical commentary, is available here: [[3]] Cast
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fr:Ninotchka it:Ninotchka nl:Ninotchka ru:Ниночка (фильм) sv:Ninotchka
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