Ninotchka

"Ninotchkas" is the satirical story of three old-style Bolshevik diplomats who go to Paris to sell a diamond tiara and necklace so that the Moscow government can buy much-needed farm machinery. When Moscow hears of their failure, a more efficient agent is sent-Greta Garbon, Envoy Extraordinary.

Garbo is very persuasive as a hard-boiled, sexless Comrade, and her mission is ultimately successful. But she loses her Marxist ways when she encounters an antagonist, Melvyn Douglas. Champagne and class struggle don't mix, and the result is marriage for Garbo and Douglas and a capitalistically-operated Russian restaurant for the old trio.

The film is a re-issue which has not been on the American screen since 1936. It has been used successfully by liberal and rightist candidates in the post-war Italian and French elections, although its versions of Western life are dishonest. The major fault of the film is in the directing; the transition between Garbo the Comrade and Garbo the Siren is to abrupt. However, the plot and dialogue are extremely amusing. People should see "Ninotchka" and get all possible laughs from black-bearded Communism of fifteen years ago.