IMDb RATING
6.7/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
After two years as a Czarist British agent posing as a Russian Commissar, he rescues a Russian countess from her Bolshevik captors.After two years as a Czarist British agent posing as a Russian Commissar, he rescues a Russian countess from her Bolshevik captors.After two years as a Czarist British agent posing as a Russian Commissar, he rescues a Russian countess from her Bolshevik captors.
Franklyn Kelsey
- Tomsky
- (as Franklin Kelsey)
Laurence Baskcomb
- Commissar
- (as Lawrence Baskcomb)
Miles Malleson
- Drunken Red Commissar
- (as Miles Malieson)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDuring the shooting, Robert Donat had a severe attack of asthma and the film was delayed for almost a month. The producers wanted to replace him, but Marlene Dietrich refused. According to Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies, Dietrich waived her salary during Donat's illness and nursed him until he was well enough to return to filming.
- GoofsWhen Peter Ouronov buries Alexandra in the fallen leaves, Alexandra is facing up. When he returns, she comes out from the leaves facing down.
- Quotes
Ainsley J. Fothergill aka Peter Ouronov: [the darkness of the gulag is making him lose his mind. Shouting] Night... night... night! Night all the time! Ceaseless night! Nothing but night all over the earth! The sun must be dead! Everything must be dead! We're the last things alive!
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: ASCOT 1913
- Alternate versionsThere is an Italian edition of this film on DVD, distributed by DNA srl, "LA CONTESSA ALESSANDRA (L'ultimo treno da Mosca, 1937) + ENIGMA (1929)" (2 Films on a single DVD), re-edited with the contribution of film historian Riccardo Cusin. This version is also available for streaming on some platforms.
- ConnectionsEdited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: La monnaie de l'absolu (1999)
Featured review
The Shared Experience Of Escape
Knight Without Armour finds Robert Donat as a British agent, fluent in Russian, sent to spy on the revolutionary movement even before World War I started. Such things were done I'm sure as farsighted folks in the Foreign Office probably saw Europe headed for general war and Russia would have been the United Kingdom's ally in that case.
Donat plays his part all too well, he's captured as a revolutionary and sent to Siberia and spends most of World War I there. Whatever else it does it certainly helps his cover. The original revolution that brought Kerensky to power frees the political prisoners and Donat now has to try and make his way home.
In a parallel story aristocrat Marlene Dietrich gets the shock of her life when one day she wakes up and her servants have fled because the Russian Revolution has come to town. From hero{ine} to zero overnight, she's got to get out of a country that's now shooting her kind on general principles.
They become allies of convenience and of course the shared experience of escape forges a romance as well. Both turn out to be pretty clever at taking advantages of breaks as they are captured a couple of times during the film.
Robert Donat was one of the few of her leading men to not fall under Dietrich's amorous sway. But they became good friends and according to a recent biography of Marlene, Dietrich helped Donat with a special breathing technique she learned about to help control his asthma. Donat suffered from asthma all his life and it eventually killed him.
The film is based on a lesser known work of British novelist James Hilton who also wrote Random Harvest and Lost Horrizon and of course Goodbye Mr. Chips for which Donat won his Academy Award for. It seems as though Hilton wrote his books with either Robert Donat or Ronald Colman in mind for the screen, they played his heroes so well.
On screen Knight Without Armour suits the images and talents of Robert Donat and Marlene Dietrich well and fans of both will appreciate it.
Donat plays his part all too well, he's captured as a revolutionary and sent to Siberia and spends most of World War I there. Whatever else it does it certainly helps his cover. The original revolution that brought Kerensky to power frees the political prisoners and Donat now has to try and make his way home.
In a parallel story aristocrat Marlene Dietrich gets the shock of her life when one day she wakes up and her servants have fled because the Russian Revolution has come to town. From hero{ine} to zero overnight, she's got to get out of a country that's now shooting her kind on general principles.
They become allies of convenience and of course the shared experience of escape forges a romance as well. Both turn out to be pretty clever at taking advantages of breaks as they are captured a couple of times during the film.
Robert Donat was one of the few of her leading men to not fall under Dietrich's amorous sway. But they became good friends and according to a recent biography of Marlene, Dietrich helped Donat with a special breathing technique she learned about to help control his asthma. Donat suffered from asthma all his life and it eventually killed him.
The film is based on a lesser known work of British novelist James Hilton who also wrote Random Harvest and Lost Horrizon and of course Goodbye Mr. Chips for which Donat won his Academy Award for. It seems as though Hilton wrote his books with either Robert Donat or Ronald Colman in mind for the screen, they played his heroes so well.
On screen Knight Without Armour suits the images and talents of Robert Donat and Marlene Dietrich well and fans of both will appreciate it.
helpful•382
- bkoganbing
- Aug 12, 2008
- How long is Knight Without Armor?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Jacques Feyder's Knight Without Armor
- Filming locations
- London Film Studios, Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK(studio: made at The London Film Studios Denham, England.)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $300,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 47 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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