If any film is chosen by most people as the typical Ernst Lubtisch comedy, it is NINOTCHKA. TROUBLE IN PARADISE is usually pointed at as his best comedy, and his best musical comedy is THE MERRY WIDOW with Chevalier and MacDonald, but NINOTCHKA is the elegant comedy of some point that people recall. I think the real reason is that it is, for most people, the best known of Greta Garbo's movies (after all, she laughed in it), and it does dismiss Communism with such sweet aplomb.
Actually it does not do so that well. It shows that given an opportunity to relax and speak one's mind, and not worry about informers and gulags, people will be happier. That is true, but one could also say (as Lubitsch would show in TO BE OR NOT TO BE, that a form of extreme capitalism mixed with racist ideals called Nazism could be just as deadly. Moreover, Leon (Melvin Douglas) does read up a bit on Marx and his theories, and has an interesting conversation with his elderly valet (Richard Carle). Douglas feels that Carle has been oppressed over the years as a servant. Carle, though, reminds him that while he does not mind that Douglas has not paid him in quite a while, the thought that in a Communist world he (Carle) would have to share his money with Douglas, frightens the hell out of him.
Douglas is the lover of Grand Duchess Swanna (Ina Claire) whose property was appropriated by the Soviet Government in the Revolution. Her jewelry is now in Paris, in the hands of a trade mission led by Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart, and Alexander Granach. They plan to use it to get needed farm equipment for the Soviet Union. Douglas goes to work to corrupt the three men, which is not too difficult, so he can try to get his hands on the jewels for Swanna. But the Russians send an additional member to head the mission: Garbo as Ninotchka. She is quite hard nosed and business like. Ruman and company try to get her to understand what is going on is a good thing, but she keeps reminding what they are there for. She is not impressed that she is in the "City of Lights". Instead, on her first afternoon in Paris, she is determined to see the city's power plant! Douglas sees her and is instantly charmed, but she keeps resisting his efforts. Her background is quite different from what he is used to - we learn, for instance, that she actually distinguished herself in the Russo - Polish war of 1920 - 21, getting wounded, but killing the Polish soldier who wounded her (and comforting him as he died). She is not without a heart, but she is determined to do her duty. What finally breaks her down is not Douglas' attempts at romance, but his making a fool of himself trying to tell her a joke.
She does break down, but she never loses sight of the reason for her mission. And she and Swanna finally reveal their willingness to sacrifice in a showdown scene, where the Grand Duchess gives up the jewels for Leon, while Ninotchka gives up Leon for the needs of her country.
Leon too grows, determined to try to bring her back. The scene between Douglas and George Tobias is one of the funniest in the movie, as Douglas desperately offers to return to Soviet Russia, and Tobias (knowing what people like Douglas think of the Soviet regime) refuses to give him a visa (he might try to blow up a dam!).
How he succeeds in the end I will leave to the viewer to find out. My only other comment is that this film is also recalled as the only time Greta Garbo shared a scene with Bela Lugosi, as her supervisor Commissar Razinin. It is only a three minute scene, and has only one funny line for Bela (describing the antics of Ninotchka's old mission buddies). He seemed stern and properly in control of his job, but he was far more funny in INTERNATIONAL HOUSE.
Please also note Sig Ruman's comment to Garbo, asking her if she wanted to be alone. It is an interesting little reference to her most famous line of dialog from GRAND HOTEL, six years before.
Actually it does not do so that well. It shows that given an opportunity to relax and speak one's mind, and not worry about informers and gulags, people will be happier. That is true, but one could also say (as Lubitsch would show in TO BE OR NOT TO BE, that a form of extreme capitalism mixed with racist ideals called Nazism could be just as deadly. Moreover, Leon (Melvin Douglas) does read up a bit on Marx and his theories, and has an interesting conversation with his elderly valet (Richard Carle). Douglas feels that Carle has been oppressed over the years as a servant. Carle, though, reminds him that while he does not mind that Douglas has not paid him in quite a while, the thought that in a Communist world he (Carle) would have to share his money with Douglas, frightens the hell out of him.
Douglas is the lover of Grand Duchess Swanna (Ina Claire) whose property was appropriated by the Soviet Government in the Revolution. Her jewelry is now in Paris, in the hands of a trade mission led by Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart, and Alexander Granach. They plan to use it to get needed farm equipment for the Soviet Union. Douglas goes to work to corrupt the three men, which is not too difficult, so he can try to get his hands on the jewels for Swanna. But the Russians send an additional member to head the mission: Garbo as Ninotchka. She is quite hard nosed and business like. Ruman and company try to get her to understand what is going on is a good thing, but she keeps reminding what they are there for. She is not impressed that she is in the "City of Lights". Instead, on her first afternoon in Paris, she is determined to see the city's power plant! Douglas sees her and is instantly charmed, but she keeps resisting his efforts. Her background is quite different from what he is used to - we learn, for instance, that she actually distinguished herself in the Russo - Polish war of 1920 - 21, getting wounded, but killing the Polish soldier who wounded her (and comforting him as he died). She is not without a heart, but she is determined to do her duty. What finally breaks her down is not Douglas' attempts at romance, but his making a fool of himself trying to tell her a joke.
She does break down, but she never loses sight of the reason for her mission. And she and Swanna finally reveal their willingness to sacrifice in a showdown scene, where the Grand Duchess gives up the jewels for Leon, while Ninotchka gives up Leon for the needs of her country.
Leon too grows, determined to try to bring her back. The scene between Douglas and George Tobias is one of the funniest in the movie, as Douglas desperately offers to return to Soviet Russia, and Tobias (knowing what people like Douglas think of the Soviet regime) refuses to give him a visa (he might try to blow up a dam!).
How he succeeds in the end I will leave to the viewer to find out. My only other comment is that this film is also recalled as the only time Greta Garbo shared a scene with Bela Lugosi, as her supervisor Commissar Razinin. It is only a three minute scene, and has only one funny line for Bela (describing the antics of Ninotchka's old mission buddies). He seemed stern and properly in control of his job, but he was far more funny in INTERNATIONAL HOUSE.
Please also note Sig Ruman's comment to Garbo, asking her if she wanted to be alone. It is an interesting little reference to her most famous line of dialog from GRAND HOTEL, six years before.