Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Top Billed Actors: Great Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 4 more:
Outstanding Production - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Actress - Greta Garbo
Best Story - Melchior Lengyel
Best Screenplay - Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch, and Billy Wilder
Plot: Russian girl saturated with Bolshevist ideals goes to fearful, capitalistic, monopolistic Paris. She meets romance and has an uproarious good time. Capitalism not so bad, after all.
Top Billed Actors: Great Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 4 more:
Outstanding Production - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Actress - Greta Garbo
Best Story - Melchior Lengyel
Best Screenplay - Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch, and Billy Wilder
Plot: Russian girl saturated with Bolshevist ideals goes to fearful, capitalistic, monopolistic Paris. She meets romance and has an uproarious good time. Capitalism not so bad, after all.
Garbo Laughs! Ninotchka (1939) is Greta Garbo's penultimate film and her first comedy. Although this film was banned in the Soviet Union and its satellite states, it did well enough elsewhere for it to be considered a financial success. Therefore, Garbo and co-star Melvyn Douglas were shoved together for Garbo's final picture in which she received the worst reviews of her career. That movie is not part of the Project and this one is so let's revel in Garbo lightening up and letting loose. This is also the first Hollywood movie to recognize the Soviet Union and its communist ideology. Of course, it had to be in a comedy thick with satire. Its ideals and hilarity stood the test of time as it was inducted into the National Film Registry in only the second year of the annual process of selecting films.
Whether you like the jokes or not, the main attraction is obvious - Greta Garbo. Her transformation from a stoic Russian that toes the party line to a hopeless romantic is rewarding and delightful. She has to play the straight man as Douglas goes off with his dad jokes, but it's all the more pleasing to see her unemotional responses eventually turn to laughter. The humor is silly and there's even a choice pratfall that breaks the ice, but whenever Garbo is on screen, I am more than happy to sit through a few jests that might not always land (however, some jokes are bad on purpose!). One name sticks out when looking at the Oscar-nominated screenwriters - Billy Wilder. There's no need to say anything about him now as he will appear in this Project many many more times, but it's neat to see his credit pop up before his career takes off in the 1940s.
The original story, which was also nominated for an Oscar, is documented by only a three sentence blurb (see the Plot description above). Set during Paris before the looming threat of the Second World War, Garbo arrives a staunch and rigid communist and learns to live, laugh, love despite her capitalistic environment. There are many jokes at the expense of the Soviet Union and it often feels like propaganda for capitalism, albeit in a very entertaining and humorous manner. However, poking fun at another country's politics and way of life made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I understand that capitalism vs. communism was seen as a very "right" and "wrong" manner in 1939. To a lot of Americans, it still is. It just feels off when the three Bolsheviks oaf around and marvel at the luxuries of the West.
Overall, Garbo laughs and we laugh with her. A funny light romance that sunsets the iconic actress's career as she commands every scene she is in. Although some scenes come off as insulting towards another country's way of life, you can't help but root for Garbo as she navigates the capitalistic setting against her communistic ideals.
My Score: 7/10
Whether you like the jokes or not, the main attraction is obvious - Greta Garbo. Her transformation from a stoic Russian that toes the party line to a hopeless romantic is rewarding and delightful. She has to play the straight man as Douglas goes off with his dad jokes, but it's all the more pleasing to see her unemotional responses eventually turn to laughter. The humor is silly and there's even a choice pratfall that breaks the ice, but whenever Garbo is on screen, I am more than happy to sit through a few jests that might not always land (however, some jokes are bad on purpose!). One name sticks out when looking at the Oscar-nominated screenwriters - Billy Wilder. There's no need to say anything about him now as he will appear in this Project many many more times, but it's neat to see his credit pop up before his career takes off in the 1940s.
The original story, which was also nominated for an Oscar, is documented by only a three sentence blurb (see the Plot description above). Set during Paris before the looming threat of the Second World War, Garbo arrives a staunch and rigid communist and learns to live, laugh, love despite her capitalistic environment. There are many jokes at the expense of the Soviet Union and it often feels like propaganda for capitalism, albeit in a very entertaining and humorous manner. However, poking fun at another country's politics and way of life made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I understand that capitalism vs. communism was seen as a very "right" and "wrong" manner in 1939. To a lot of Americans, it still is. It just feels off when the three Bolsheviks oaf around and marvel at the luxuries of the West.
Overall, Garbo laughs and we laugh with her. A funny light romance that sunsets the iconic actress's career as she commands every scene she is in. Although some scenes come off as insulting towards another country's way of life, you can't help but root for Garbo as she navigates the capitalistic setting against her communistic ideals.
My Score: 7/10