Comrade X (1940)

An American journalist (Clark Gable) in pre WWII Russia sneaks out stories revealing the corruption of the Soviet government. He's blackmailed by a valet (Felix Bressart) into taking his daughter (Hedy Lamarr) out of Russia before she's executed by the present Soviet regime. Directed by King Vidor (DUEL IN THE SUN), it sounds grim but it's a political comedy that doesn't take itself seriously and neither should you. This cynical and somewhat politically naive comedy loosely resembles Lubitsch's NINOTCHKA but without the wit. Still, taken on its own terms it's (very) modestly entertaining if dated and frankly I prefer it to NINOTCHKA. Gable and Lamarr work nicely together but it's a pity Lamarr doesn't have a comedienne's timing. When I say the film is politically naive it doesn't mean it wasn't prescient. The film makes jokes about Germany declaring war on Russia and German tanks invading the Ukraine and a year later, Germany did just that! The film also chastises a Nazi sympathizer (Sig Rumann) and this was before the U.S. entered the war. With Eve Arden, Oscar Homolka, Vladimir Sokoloff and Natasha Lytess, who later became Marilyn Monroe's acting coach for several years.