Comrade X (1940)Just before we got into World War II, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression pact. Mac Thompson (Clark Gable) is a foreign correspondent who has been sneaking out uncensored news out of Russia. The secret police are suspicious of him, but it's the hotel's valet, Igor Yahupitz
(Felix Bressart) who knows that it's Mac. He tells Mac that if he can smuggle his daughter, Theodore (Hedy Lamarr) out of the Soviet Union, into America, he won't tell anybody.Of course Theodore is a loyal Communist and, just like in Ninotchka, Mac has got to convince her to leave her beloved country and go with him, all while trying to stay away from the Commissars. Of course all of the upper ranking Soviet officers are worried about being killed off in Stalin's Purge.King Vidor directed this fast-paced comedy with a screenplay written by Ben Hecht. Jane Wilson (smart-mouthed Eve Arden) is one of my favorite characters, also the Nazi correspondent Emil Von Hofer (Sig Ruman) is an easy target of ridicule.
June 15, 2009
