GARBO GOES GAY

Evening Star, Issue 23687, 21 September 1940, Page 7

GARBO GOES GAY

COMEDY HIT FOR STAR ‘ Ninotchka,’ which opened yesterday at the Regent, is a very clever and amusing satire on the pre-war condition of Europe, with a final reference to Russia. The action takes place in Paris, with occasional excursions to Moscow and Constantinople, so the cosmopolitan atmosphere is very well maintained. The importance! of dialogue in a film of this bind is such as to make or break the picture. ‘ Ninotchka ’ in this respect is one of the brightest films to be released here for a number of years. The modern Russia, with its numerous and sudden Inundations and its heavy seriousness, is well parodied, and there are some brilliant patches where the long arm of the Soviet reaches out to its erring envoys in Paris. In the leading role, Greta Garbo emerges from her characteristic shell of reserve to produce a really first-rate comedy role. For one short minute her unsmiling appearance as the envoy plenipotentiary of the Soviets leads one to expect a performance of an entirely different kind. She is well supported by Melvyn Douglas, who continues to impress in any role be happens to play, comic or serious. The film has been directed by Ernst Lnbitsch. who lias turned out a hundred polished films that have done him credit, and the latest effort on his part is sufficient ■ proof that he has not lost liis cunning in the art. The great Garbo is east as a Rolsbevik agent whose job is lo spy upon the “ comrades ” to see that they carry through their assignment successfully. How she does it and what happens make up a picture

that is far above the average, has topicality to the greatest degree, and reveals something of the humorous — and sometimes tragic—machinations that go on behind the facade of dictatorship. Sig Rumann, Felix Brossart, and Alexander Granach are having a luxurious time when Greta is sent after them to restore their sanity _ and a judicious contempt for capitalism and its frumpery and wicked way of life, and Garbo does it thoroughly. _ Accidentally meeting Douglas, who is much struck with her beauty, she allows him to act as a cicerone round Paris, though nothing which is the result of the capitalistic system gives her the least thrill or interest. However, Douglas, who is now in love with her, by determined persistence, wears down her resistance, and she goes gay, buying lovely clothes and the rest. Ina, having got possession of the jewels, is able to force Greta to return home, and to pay for her relinquishing of Douglas, Greta gets the jewels. But in Russia she is still haunted by her memories of Douglas, and later meeting liim in Constantinople, she is overcome with joy. The three very human comrades had been sent to that capital on business, and Douglas had worked the old trick of enslaving their senses to the dereliction of duty, hoping Greta would again he sent after them which she was. The three are so delighted with the freedom of capitalism that they follow Mclvyn’s advice and sot up in a cafe in the southern capital.