Dir: King Vidor | Cast| Clark Gable, Hedy Lamar | US 1940 104’
Reviewed by Richard Chatten
An ersatz ‘Ninotchka’ – later dismissed by its director as an “insignificant light comedy” – ‘Comrade X”, could only have been possible during the brief honeymoon between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union – described by Eve Arden as run by “stuffed shirts plotting to double-cross the masses” – between the Non-Aggression Pact of 1939 and the German invasion of Russia in 1941; which this presciently anticipates.
True to form it manages to include players of many and varied nationalities, the one solitary authentic Russian being Vladimir Sokoloff; while as the Soviet ice maiden Hedy Lamarr – fetchingly clad in Cossack boots and greatcoat – shows a disarmingly light touch, whose experience driving a streetcar comes in handy when at the conclusion she takes over the controls of a tank. What follows is a priceless sequence depicting cute models of Russian tanks trundling hither and thither about the Hollywood hills. Great fun!
NOW ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS