Comrade X (1940)

If I were a Russian in 1940, with all the changes of commissars this film has, I would think that we Russians were awfully bad drivers. We keep losing so many commissars to traffic accidents. Well, whether it's traffic accidents, or a tank chase, or a secretary spy who succumbs to too much vodka, or a long walk from the trolley line back to Moscow – "Comrade X" is one very funny movie. It is another very lively, hilarious spoof of Soviet Russia. And, it joins another excellent spoof of the same genre by MGM just a year before – "Ninotchka."The settings for the two films are quite different, but the intended political ridicule is the same. And, they go about it in different ways. "Ninotchka" is a masterpiece of dialog, with running puns, metaphors and other witticisms. It has great acting as well in the expressions of its characters. "Comrade X" does not slay us with dialog, but instead mixes dialog with numerous situations. And those lend themselves very well to slapstick, screwball and goofy antics. One reviewer panned the big tank scene as silly. Of course it is. But, silly and goofy help make some comedies great. And the tank chase in this movie builds to a fitting climax for this film. It must surely be able to lay claim to being the greatest tank chase every filmed. The stars in "Comrade X" are all great. Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr play perfectly off each other as McKinley Thompson and Theodore. Did you catch her explanation for why she had a male name? Eve Arden does a hilarious job as American correspondent Jane Wilson, and Felix Bressart is very good as Vanya, Theodore's father. Other supporting actors are equally good. Sig Ruman is even better than his usual character of the insulted German, Emil Von Hofer. And, Vladimir Sokoloff is very funny as the demure communist, Michael Bastakoff, who was caught in the act of "committing a traffic accident." But Oskar Homolka stands out for his role as Vasiliev. His every line seemed to be delivered with a twinkle of humor in his eye. I think the entire cast must have had a ball making this film. The movie was released in the U.S. on Dec. 13, 1940, and in England on April 28, 1941. The Brits may well have appreciated as much the jabs at Nazi Germany in here. One of my favorite scenes is in the Kremlin Press Room. Jane Wilson (Eve Arden) says, "Probably the government has decided that from now on all foreign correspondents must be blindfolded and led around by seeing-eye-dogs. 'Anything to keep the truth out of print' is their motto." A nervous Von Hofer (Sig Ruman) says: "Please, Miss Wilson, do not speak for me. I am not complaining against the Russian government." Wilson responds, "My dear, Von Hofer, a German journalist is not in a position to complain against the absence of truth anywhere."Some other funny exchanges include this pick up from the above. A British journalist says, "Right you are Miss Wilson." Von Hofer says to him, "Excuse me!?" The Brit responds, "With pleasure, old boy." And Wilson concludes: "A fine world press we are. We can't even send out a weather report without having it censored."Vasiliev (Homolka) announces to the press room: "The former head of the press department was the victim last night of a traffic accident. I'm speaking at his grave at the Kapulski Cemetery at 3 o'clock." Thompson (Gable) says to Vanya (Bressart): "So the deal is, I get an obstinate lady motorman out of a country she doesn't want to leave?" Later, he is talking with Theodore (Lamarr), and she says: "I read in Pravda, 10 million people starved to death last winter in the United States, and there was nobody to bury them." Thompson says, "They don't bury people in the United States. They burn them." Theodore: "A nation of thieves." Thompson: "Yes! Ever hear of the Brooklyn Dodgers?" Theodore: "No!" Thompson: "They get murdered every day." Theodore: "Well then, what for?" Thompson: "For making some little errors." Theodore: "There must be a revolution soon in America."A newsman says to Vasiliev: "As God is my judge." Vasiliev says, "There is no God." The newsman: "Well, then whoever is in his place." Another person says to Vasiliev: "I can bring you witnesses that I never saw her before." Vasiliev to Thompson, "You have me at a disadvantage. I'll lay my cards under the table." Thompson, "As they say in my country, you can count me out." When they are thrown into prison, Thompson asks, "What are they singing?" Vanya says, "Same thing they always sing in prison – we are free." He yawns and says, "Oh, I'd like to get some sleep before I die." Bastakoff to Thompson: "My predecessor was the victim last night of a traffic accident." Thompson: "Is he expected to recover?" Bastakoff: "No, he caught pneumonia."Thompson, to Theodore: "What is love – an accident?" Theodore: "Gorsky says love is the failure of the mind to understand nature." Still later, the two are talking, and Gable describes the difficulty taking people away from hot dogs, boogie woogie, etc. Theodore says, "The problem of taking the masses away from boogie woogie is a difficult one." Later, when they have crossed a border river into Rumania in a tank, the Rumanian home guard flees in front of the tank. Thompson says, "You know, it's going to be tough to surrender to these people. You've got to catch them first.""Comrade X" is another great laugh fest that's guaranteed to entertain. It's a must for any serious film library.

Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr star in "Comrade X," a 1940 comedy from MGM also starring Eve Arden, Felix Bressart and Oscar Homolka. Gable and Arden are American journalists in Russia while the Russians search frantically for "Comrade X," a reporter sending out uncensored stories to the United States. One man knows the identity of Comrade X - a bumbling valet in the hotel where many of the reporters stay (Felix Bressart). He fears his outspoken daughter is in danger of being purged by the Russians like so many and blackmails Comrade X into getting her out of the country. Well, we've known from the beginning who Comrade X is - who else - and he reluctantly agrees to his assignment - reluctantly until he gets a look at the daughter (Lamarr), who is driving a streetcar using the name Theodore. Women can't drive streetcars.Everyone is very good in this film, and Lamarr's staggering beauty and Gable's macho man are pluses. The supporting cast is great - Homolka is a government official who says his predecessor "met with an unfortunate accident" - as many of them do throughout the film.I have to agree with one of the posters here - the scene with the tanks is absolutely priceless, particularly when you realize that films didn't have the mechanisms for "special effects" as they do today.Lots of fun at the expense of good old Mother Russia.

Ernst Lubtisch's classic comic statement about Communist Russia, NINOTCHKA, came out in 1939. Whether it "influenced" the production (also by MGM) of COMRADE X or not I could not say. Certainly there are similarities between the comedies. Lubitsch set his comedy in Paris, where a Communist trade mission is living it up, being corrupted by an émigré Russian noble (Melvin Douglas) so he can try to retrieve jewelry that the trade mission is using as collateral. The Russian government does not trust the three men sent, so they send a fiercer ideologue (Greta Garbo in the title role) who starts straightening out the mission, until she falls for Douglas's charm. In the end she is lured back (with her three associates) to the west and away from the Soviet paradise.NINOTCHKA had Felix Bressart and Sig Ruman in the cast as two of the members of the trade mission. Comments on this thread point out that in the 1930s "accents" were fairly interchangeable in Hollywood, so that the Swedish Garbo (and later the Austrian Lamarr) became Russian. So did German Ruman and German - Jewish Bressart (who would also play a Hungarian in THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER).Unlike NINOTCHKA, COMRADE X is set inside that nightmare land, Stalinist Russia. Somebody is sending out unofficial (but thoroughly correct) news stories showing the crimes being committed in Russian by the government against the people (i.e. the purges), as well as the idiotic projects and waste mismanagement illustrative of how poorly the government is as effective government. This is being resented by the Presidium, who is represented by Oscar Homlolka (Commissar Vasiliev). Please note that Homolka's make-up makes him look a tremendous bit like one Joseph Stalin. At a public funeral covered by the press court, someone tries to shoot Vasiliev (who does all he can to hide the assassination plot). Mac Thompson (Clark Gable), the American reporter, manages to snap a photo of an odd site - a bearded man who a moment before the shooting opened up the lid of the coffin and popped out. This bearded gentlemen turns out to be one Michael Bastakoff (Vladimir Sokoloff), a rival of Vasiliev for power. He is made to look a tremendous bit like one Leon Trotsky.Get the message from Hollywood here? Vasiliev's agents have been trying to pin down the news leaks, and has narrowed it to two figures: Thompson, and one Emil Von Hofer (Sig Ruman) who is the news representative from Nazi Germany. Ruman manages to demonstrate it ain't him, so (despite Gable's breezy denials) Vasiliev believes it is the American.Gable has a close friend in Moscow, one Ygor Yahupitz (Felix Bressart) who is his sometimes valet. Ygor's daughter is Galubcha (Hedy Lamarr) who is a streetcar operator. Ygor wants Gable to try to smuggle Galubcha out of the Soviet Union into the U.S. And the film shows (among other things, including overcoming Galubcha's fierce belief in the Communist ideal) Gable eventually saving both the girl and her father.The comedy is quite amusing, even if it lacks the style and grace of the Lubitsch touch of the first film. But it certainly comments on the atmosphere within Russia in a way that NINOTCHKA failed to do so. The centering of the comedy in Moscow, the suggestiveness of a Stalin - Trotsky rivalry clone, and the heavy control over information is certainly more realistic than Douglas' being elegant and eloquent about the beauties of Paris.One more thing to keep in mind is a scandal which is on target with this film, and which (in 1940) finally began to raise eyebrows. In the early 1930s the New York Times had a reporter named Walter Duranty in Moscow. He turned out to be a fantastically well informed reporter in the Soviet Union, and came out with interviews and articles that were tremendously informative. In fact, he would win the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Moscow. But as time passed, Duranty's methods and sources were heavily questioned. He also tended to take an official line about the Purge Trials (i.e., that Bukhanin, Radek, Zinoviev, Tuchochevsky, and the other hundreds and thousands of victims were all actual traitors against the Stalinist regime). After the signing of the non-aggression pact with Germany in 1939, the Times became very suspicious of Duranty, and replaced him. The quality of the articles became very much more even handed. Duranty was later revealed to be a Stalinist agent. Interestingly enough, the Pulitzer Committee has repeatedly rejected requests to take back their award from Duranty's heirs as his work was pure propaganda. So the issue about the control over the news from Russia was very, very real.

I came in on "Comrade X" during the climatic tank chase scene. I don't know about the film as a whole, but the tank scene was wonderfully done. If it were done today it wouldn't be all that impressive. You'd be like "Hmmm, nice computer work!" But in 1940 it had to be done with actual existing props. So what you have is a swarm of "real" tanks chasing Gable's tank. On command they all stop, spin about and race in the opposite direction. Excellent cartoon like direction and fantastic execution of that direction. If you're a fan of cartoon like sequences done as live action then this film, or at least the final sequences thereof, are for you. Someone just tell me how they did this back in '40! One of the finest examples I can think of a great bit of work stuck somewhere in an almost forgotten film.I did go back and research the special effects for this film. They were done by none other than A. Arnold Gillespie who won four Academy Awards out of thirteen nominations. Besides "Comrade X", he worked on such little films like "The Wizard of Oz" and "Ben-Hur". As for "Comrade X" a true case of an industry giant being handed what had to be a small assignment considering his considerable talents. The studio system works!