Ninotchka

Arguably the greatest tag line ever: "Garbo Laughs". Incredible that such a simple statement would provide more than ample marketing hook; Greta Garbo is perhaps cinema's most enigmatic star, and one who was known for being serious almost as much as she was known for being mysterious. Coming to the United States in the early 1930's amidst great ballyhoo, Garbo was the ultimate foreign import: beautiful, exotic, seductive, and mystifying. Immediately put under contract at MGM, Garbo starred throughout the 1930's in a wave of hit dramas for the studio, her first prompting the tagline "Garbo Talks", and then she shocked audiences in 1939 by starring in her first comedy, hence "Garbo Laughs". "Ninotchka" is a film with an impressive comedic resume; directed by famed director Ernst Lubitsch and written by a young Billy Wilder (with his early parnter Charles Brackett), "Ninotchka" plays as you would expect: elegant, smooth, and funny. Despite the unorthodox casting of Garbo in a comedy, she really is quite perfect for the role: her serious nature and stoic demeanor are the butt of most of the film's best gags, the film also benefits from its other unorthodox casting choice, featuring Melvyn Douglas as the suave playboy Count Leon. Pundits have argued since the film's release that had someone like William Powell played this part (hard to argue with really), the film would have been better, but Douglas does his role, and the film justice, and really, the film is all about its leading lady: the great Garbo.

The concept of the film is brilliant, Garbo, playing Nina Ivanovna Yakushova, later dubbed "Ninotchka" is dispatched to Paris to oversee the sale of jewels that used to belong to the royal family of Russia. The agents initially sent to complete the transaction, a hilarious trio of rambunctious older men, Buljanoff, Iranoff and Kopalski, quickly succumbed to the pleasures of western capitalism, and instead of selling the jewels and returning to the Mother Land, have been living the lives of playboys, enjoying luxurious suites, champagne and limousines, all at the expense of the Kremlin. Also delaying the sale is Count Leon, a rougish character, who represents the Grand Duchess Swana, the jewels former owner. Intent on securing the jewels for his employer (and mistress, as the film alludes to), Leon introduces the three Russians to the romantic side of Paris, quite an appealing deterrent considering its Paris. All the fun stops however, when Ninotchka arrives. She immediately relieves the three agents of their duty (much to their dismay), and also bristles at the advances of Count Leon, who quickly turns on his charm. A funny vignette early on in Leon’s pursuit of Ninotchka occurs when the two return to Leon’s suite, both somewhat intoxicated, and Ninotchka sympathizes with Leon’s put upon manservant, then asks if Leon wants to see her battle scar. Imagining something quite different, Leon agrees and is disappointed when Ninotchka reveals a wound on the back of her neck, and regales him with the tale of when she killed the men who gave her that scar. All of this sounds serious, but when you consider Leon is trying desperately to woo her, coupled with Garbo’s impeccable deadpan, these scenes really play quite well. At first resistant to Leon’s advances, Ninotchka’s inner romantic soon reveals itself, and her icy façade begins to melt.

Leon, of course, is playing both sides of the game. But this being a romantic comedy, he soon finds himself really falling for the frosty Russian agent and plans on betraying his loyalty to the Duchess, quite the icy personality herself. Ninotchka’s transformation to full fledged capitalist comes when she purchases an obnoxious hat, see in a shop window, which she condemned upon initially arriving in Paris. The Duchess, however, is not about to lose to a Russian, and relinquishes her protest of the jewels’ transaction, on the condition that Ninotchka return to Russia immediately, without a final word to Leon. Let me say that the scene in which Leon attempts to procure a Russian visa has got to be one of the funniest Wilder ever wrote (he does not exactly take “no” for an answer). Ninotchka is wracked with guilt over her decision to leave Leon, and in a funny bit, cannot even console herself with Leon’s love letters, which the Communists have completely censored, leaving her with pages filled with thick black bars. All is resolved however, when Ninotchka convinces the cold Communist Commissar (played, strangely by Bela Lugosi!) to send her on another mission, this time to Istanbul, again on the pretext of cleaning up a mess created by the three bumbling Russian agents. Awaiting her arrival in Istanbul is Count Leon, and the odd couple is happily reunited, able to spend the rest of their days in western decadence. “Ninotchka” was unfortunately the second to last film Garbo would ever make. A few years later she made another romantic comedy, “Two Faced Woman”, but spurned by this film’s tepid reaction, she completely withdrew from Hollywood, and spent the rest of her life living in New York, never to return to movies, despite near constant requests for small roles and cameos, such was the allure Garbo possessed well into her life. The fact that this film comes at the tail end of her career gives it an extra special cache; while the famed actress was about to disappear from the silver screen, Billy Wilder’s career was just taking off. After seeing what they could achieve together, it is unfortunate they were never afforded another opportunity.