Editing Ninotchka

{{short description|1939 film by Ernst Lubitsch}}
{{For|the television film|Ninotchka (1960 film)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Ninotchka
| image          = Ninotchka (1939 poster - Style D).jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| alt            =
| director       = [[Ernst Lubitsch]]
| producer       = Ernst Lubitsch<br/>[[Sidney Franklin (director)|Sidney Franklin]]
| screenplay     = [[Charles Brackett]]<br/>[[Billy Wilder]]<br/>[[Walter Reisch]]
| story          = [[Melchior Lengyel]]
| starring       = [[Greta Garbo]]<br/>[[Melvyn Douglas]]<br/>[[Ina Claire]]
| music          = [[Werner R. Heymann]]
| cinematography = [[William Daniels (cinematographer)|William H. Daniels]]
| editing        = [[Gene Ruggiero]]
| distributor    = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]
| released       = {{Film date|1939|11|09}}
| runtime        = 110 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $1.4 million<!-- $1,365,000 --> ({{estimation}})
| gross          = $2.3 million
}}
'''''Ninotchka''''' is a 1939 American [[romantic comedy]] film made for [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] by producer and director [[Ernst Lubitsch]] and starring [[Greta Garbo]] and [[Melvyn Douglas]].<ref name="Ninotchka">{{cite web|url= https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/347/ninotchka#credits |title=Ninotchka|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|publisher=[[Turner Broadcasting System]] ([[Time Warner]])|location=[[Atlanta]]|access-date=November 29, 2023}}</ref> It was written by [[Billy Wilder]], [[Charles Brackett]], and [[Walter Reisch]],<ref name="Ninotchka"/> based on a story by [[Melchior Lengyel]]. ''Ninotchka'' marked the first comedy role for Garbo, and her penultimate film; she received her third and final [[Academy Award]] nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]].

In 1990, ''Ninotchka'' was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It has been listed as one of the greatest films of all time by ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' in 2008<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229191126/http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/500-greatest-movies/|url=http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/500-greatest-movies/|work=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|title=The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time|date=3 October 2008|accessdate=29 December 2024|archive-date=29 February 2016}}</ref> and ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' in 2011.<ref>Corliss, Richard (2011). [https://web.archive.org/web/20050526005133/http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/0,23220,ninotchka,00.html "All-Time 100 Movies"], ''Time'', October 3, 2011. Retrieved 2018-01-16.</ref> ''Ninotchka'' has a {{RT data|score}} rating on the review-aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], based on {{RT data|count}} reviews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ninotchka|title=Ninotchka|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}}{{RT data|edit}}</ref>

==Plot==
[[File:Ninotchka (1939) trailer 3.jpg|thumb|right|[[Melvyn Douglas]], [[Greta Garbo]] and [[Richard Carle]]]]
[[File:ActGarboNinotchka.jpg|thumb|right|[[Greta Garbo]] and [[Melvyn Douglas]]]]
Iranoff ([[Sig Ruman]]), Buljanoff ([[Felix Bressart]]), and Kopalski ([[Alexander Granach]]), three agents from the Russian Board of Trade, arrive in Paris to sell jewelry confiscated from the aristocracy during the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]].

Count Alexis Rakonin ([[Gregory Gaye]]), a [[White russian emigre|White Russian]] [[nobleman]] reduced to employment as a waiter in the hotel where the trio are staying, overhears details of their mission and informs the former Russian Grand Duchess Swana ([[Ina Claire]]) that her court jewels are to be sold by the three men. Swana's debonair paramour, Count Léon d'Algout ([[Melvyn Douglas]]) offers to help retrieve the jewelry before it is sold.

In their hotel suite, Iranoff, Buljanoff and Kopalski negotiate with Mercier ([[Edwin Maxwell (actor)|Edwin Maxwell]]) a prominent Parisian jeweler, when Léon interrupts the meeting. He explains that the jewels were seized illegally by the Soviet government and a petition has been filed preventing their sale or removal. Mercier withdraws his offer to purchase the jewelry until the lawsuit is settled.

The amiable, charming and cunning Léon treats the three Russians to an extravagant lunch, gets them drunk and easily wins their friendship and confidence. He sends a telegram to Moscow in their name suggesting a compromise.

Moscow, angered by the telegram, then sends Nina Ivanovna "Ninotchka" Yakushova ([[Greta Garbo]]), a special envoy whose goal is to win the lawsuit, complete the jewelry sale and return with the three renegade Russians. Ninotchka is methodical, rigid and stern, chastising Iranoff, Buljanoff and Kopalski for failing to complete their mission.

Ninotchka and Léon first meet on the street near the hotel, their identities unknown to one another. He flirts, but she is uninterested. Intrigued, Léon follows her to the Eiffel Tower and shows her his home through a telescope. Ninotchka tells him he might be an interesting subject of study and suggests they go to his apartment. Léon, fascinated by Ninotchka, continues to flirt and he soon falls in love with her. They kiss, but are interrupted by a phone call from Buljanoff. Both then realize they are each other's adversaries over the jewelry and Ninotchka promptly leaves Léon's apartment, despite his protestations.

The next day, Léon follows Ninotchka to a bistro where she again rebuffs him; but after valiant attempts at making her laugh, Léon finally breaks down her resistance and she falls in love with him. 
While attending to the various legal matters over the lawsuit, Ninotchka gradually becomes seduced by the west. At a dinner date with Léon where she unexpectedly meets Swana face-to-face (her rival for the jewelry and for Léon's affections), Ninotchka consumes champagne for the first time and quickly becomes intoxicated. The following afternoon, a hungover Ninotchka is awakened by Swana and discovers Rakonin has stolen the jewelry during the night. Swana has come to offer Ninotchka a proposition: the jewels will be returned and the litigation dropped if Ninotchka returns to Moscow immediately so that Swana can have Léon to herself. Ninotchka reluctantly agrees to Swana's proposal and after completing the sale of the jewelry to Mercier, she, Iranoff, Buljanoff and Kopalski fly back to Russia.
Later that evening, Léon visits Swana and confesses his love for Ninotchka. Swana then informs Léon that Ninotchka has already left for Moscow. He attempts to follow her but is denied a Russian visa, because of his nobility.

Sometime later in Moscow, Ninotchka invites her three comrades to dinner at her [[communal apartment]] and they nostalgically recall their time in Paris. After dinner, Ninotchka finally receives a letter from Léon, but it has been completely censored by the authorities, and she is devastated.

More time passes; while in [[Constantinople]] to sell furs, Iranoff, Buljanoff and Kopalski once again run afoul of their superiors. Against her wishes, Ninotchka is again sent by Commissar Razinin ([[Bela Lugosi]]) to investigate the situation and retrieve the trio.

After Ninotchka arrives in Constantinople, the three Russians inform her that they have opened a restaurant and will not be returning to the Soviet Union. When Ninotchka asks them who is responsible for this idea, Buljanoff points to the balcony where Léon is standing. Léon explains that he was barred from entering Russia to win Ninotchka back, so he and Iranoff, Buljanoff and Kopalski conspired to get her to leave the country. He asks her to stay with him and she happily agrees.

The final shot in the film is of Kopalski carrying a protest sign complaining that Iranoff and Buljanoff are unfair, because his name does not illuminate on the electric sign in front of their new restaurant.

==Cast==
[[File:Ninotchka trailer (1939).webm|thumbtime=30|upright=1.0|thumb|right|''Ninotchka'' trailer]]
{{Cast listing|
* [[Greta Garbo]] as Nina Ivanovna "Ninotchka" Yakushova
* [[Melvyn Douglas]] as Count Léon d'Algout
* [[Ina Claire]] as Grand Duchess Swana
* [[Bela Lugosi]] as Commissar Razinin
* [[Sig Ruman]] (as Sig Rumann) as Iranoff
* [[Felix Bressart]] as Buljanoff
* [[Alexander Granach]] as Kopalski
* [[Gregory Gaye]] as Count Alexis Rakonin
* [[Rolfe Sedan]] as hotel manager
* [[Edwin Maxwell (actor)|Edwin Maxwell]] as Mercier
* [[Richard Carle]] as Gaston
* [[Tamara Shayne]] as Anna (uncredited)
* [[George Tobias]] as Russian visa official (uncredited)
* [[Charles Judels]] as Père Mathieu, the café owner (uncredited)
* [[George Davis (actor)|George Davis]] as railray station porter (uncredited) 
* [[Edwin Stanley]] as Soviet lawyer (uncredited)
* [[Dorothy Adams]] as Jacqueline, Swana's maid (uncredited)
* [[Harry Semels]] as Gurganov, the silent neighbor (uncredited)
* [[Paul Weigel]] as Vladimir (uncredited)
}}

==Release==
The film was released in late 1939, shortly after the outbreak of [[World War II]] in Europe, where it became a great success. It was, however, banned in the Soviet Union and its satellites. Despite that, it went on to make $2,279,000 worldwide. USA: $1,187,000. International: $1,092,000. Profit: $138,000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.garboforever.com/Film-33.htm|title=NINOTCHKA|website=www.garboforever.com}}</ref>

In a play on the famous "Garbo Talks!" ad campaign used for her "[[talkie]]" debut in ''[[Anna Christie (1930 film)|Anna Christie]]'' (1930), ''Ninotchka'' was marketed with the catchphrase "Garbo Laughs!", commenting on Garbo's largely somber and melancholy image (though Garbo laughs several times in many of her previous pictures).

==Reception==
[[File:Douglas-Ninotchka.jpg|right|thumb|175px|Greta Garbo as Nina Ivanovna "Ninotchka" Yakushova and Melvyn Douglas as Count Léon d'Algout]]

===Critical response===
When the film was shown at the [[Radio City Music Hall]], ''[[The New York Times]]'' film critic [[Frank S. Nugent]] praised it:{{blockquote|The comedy, through Mr. Douglas's debonair performance and those of Ina Claire as the duchess and Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart and Alexander Granach as the unholy three emissaries; through Mr. Lubitsch's facile direction; and through the cleverly written script of Walter Reisch, Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, has come off brilliantly. Stalin, we repeat, won't like it; but, unless your tastes hew too closely to the party line, we think you will, immensely.<ref>[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9801EFD8153EE23ABC4852DFB7678382629EDE Nugent, Frank S]. ''The New York Times'', film review, November 10, 1939. Last accessed: December 24, 2013.</ref>}}

===Awards and nominations===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
! Ref.
|-
|rowspan="4"| [[12th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Outstanding Production]]
| [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]
| {{nom}}
|align="center" rowspan="4"| <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1940 |title=The 12th Academy Awards (1940) Nominees and Winners |access-date=July 11, 2011 |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706093728/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/13th-winners.html |archive-date=July 6, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| [[Greta Garbo]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Story|Best Story]]
| [[Melchior Lengyel]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| [[Charles Brackett]], [[Walter Reisch]], and [[Billy Wilder]]
| {{nom}}
|-
|rowspan="2"| [[National Board of Review Awards 1939|National Board of Review Awards]]
|colspan="2"| [[National Board of Review: Top Ten Films|Top Ten Films]]
| {{draw|4th Place}}
| align="center" rowspan="2"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://nationalboardofreview.org/award-years/1939/ |title=1939 Award Winners |publisher=[[National Board of Review]] |access-date=March 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| Best Acting
| Greta Garbo
| {{won}}
|-
| [[National Film Preservation Board]]
|colspan="2"| [[National Film Registry]]
| {{won|Inducted}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/ |title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=March 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
|rowspan="2"| [[1939 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|New York Film Critics Circle Awards]]
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Ernst Lubitsch]]
| {{nom}}
| align="center" rowspan="2"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nyfcc.com/awards/?awardyear=1939 |title=1939 New York Film Critics Circle Awards |publisher=[[New York Film Critics Circle]] |access-date=March 1, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| Greta Garbo
| {{nom}}
|}

''Ninotchka'' is recognized as well by the [[American Film Institute]] in the [[AFI 100 Years... series]] in the following lists:

* 2000: [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs]] – #52<ref>{{cite web|title=America's Funniest Movies |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/laughs100.pdf |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=2017-01-28}}</ref>
* 2002: [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions]] – #40<ref>{{cite web|title=AFI's 100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time |url=http://www.afi.com/100years/passions.aspx |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=2017-01-28}}</ref>

===Origins===
''Ninotchka'' is based on a three-sentence story idea by [[Melchior Lengyel]] that made its debut at a poolside conference in 1937, when a suitable comedy vehicle for Garbo was being sought by MGM: “Russian girl saturated with Bolshevist ideals goes to fearful, capitalistic, monopolistic Paris. She meets romance and has an uproarious good time. Capitalism not so bad, after all.”<ref name="Shaw">Shaw, Tony (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=QzIkDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 ''Hollywood's Cold War'', p. 16]. Edinburgh University Press. {{ISBN|0748630732}}.</ref><ref name="Zolotow">Zolotow, Maurice (1977). [https://books.google.com/books?id=RMQHiGJlQ68C&pg=PA79 ''Billy Wilder in Hollywood'', p. 97]. Hal Leonard Corporation. {{ISBN|0879100702}}.</ref><ref name="Thomson">Thomson, David (2012). [https://books.google.com/books?id=MeAkGAnNfJYC&pg=PA104 ''The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies'', p. 104]. Macmillan. {{ISBN|0374191891}}.</ref>

===Revival===
An attempt by MGM to release ''Ninotchka'' later during [[World War II]] was suppressed on the grounds that the [[Soviet]]s were then allies of the West. The film was released after the war ended.<ref name="kennet163">Lee Kennett, ''For the Duration. . . : The United States Goes To War'' p 164 {{ISBN|0-684-18239-4}}</ref>

===Legacy===
In 1955, the [[musical theater|musical]] ''[[Silk Stockings]]'', based on ''Ninotchka'', opened on [[Broadway (theatre)|Broadway]]. Written by [[Cole Porter]], the stage production was based on ''Ninotchka's'' story and script and starred [[Hildegard Neff]] and [[Don Ameche]]. MGM then produced a [[Silk Stockings (1957 film)|1957 film version]] of the musical directed by [[Rouben Mamoulian]] and starring [[Fred Astaire]] and [[Cyd Charisse]]. Actor [[George Tobias]], who appeared uncredited in ''Ninotchka'' as the Soviet visa official, is featured in ''Silk Stockings'' as Commissar Markovitch. [[Rolfe Sedan]], who portrayed the hotel manager in ''Ninotchka'', appears uncredited as a stage manager in ''Silk Stockings''. The MGM films ''[[Comrade X]]'' (1940), starring [[Clark Gable]] and [[Hedy Lamarr]], and ''[[The Iron Petticoat]]'' (1956), starring [[Bob Hope]] and [[Katharine Hepburn]], both borrow heavily from ''Ninotchka''.

MGM had scheduled ''[[Madame Curie (film)|Madame Curie]]'' as Garbo's next film, but pleased with the success of ''Ninotchka'', the studio quickly decided to team Garbo and Douglas in another romantic comedy. ''[[Two-Faced Woman]]'' (1941) was the result and Garbo received the worst reviews of her entire career. It turned out to be her final film and [[Greer Garson]] eventually starred in ''Madame Curie''.

The Japanese filmmaker [[Akira Kurosawa]] cited ''Ninotchka'' as one of his favorite films.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Lee Thomas-Mason |title=From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/akira-kurosawa-100-favourite-films-list/ |website=Far Out |date=January 12, 2021 |publisher=Far Out Magazine |access-date= September 20, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Akira Kurosawa's Top 100 Movies! | url = http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/01/17/akira-kurosawas-top-100-movies/ | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100327124349/http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/01/17/akira-kurosawas-top-100-movies/ | archive-date = March 27, 2010 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

Filipino writer and activist [[Ninotchka Rosca]] revealed during a 1966 Philippine congressional hearing that her pen name was inspired by the film.<ref>{{cite news|last=Monteclaro|first=Eddie|title=Woman, recorder mar riot hearing|work=[[The Manila Times]]|publisher=The Manila Times Publishing Company, Inc.|date=November 25, 1966|pages=1, 20|quote=Congress probers yesterday irksomely barred a [[Kabataang Makabayan]] women's bureau leader — Mrs. Antonia Rosca-Peña, 21 — from tape-recording their proceedings and questioned her for almost two hours on the witness stand.[...] Asked by [[Salipada Pendatun|[Salipada K.] Pendatun]] if Ninotchka was a Russian name, she said it was taken from a '[[Greta Garbo]] movie.' The audience laughed.}}</ref>

[[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Reich Minister of Propaganda]] [[Joseph Goebbels]] remarked in his meeting notes on June 9, 1940 that "The German press should go and see the excellent American anti-Soviet film ''Ninotchka''." He would later tell multiple German actors that he thought it was one of the best films he had ever seen.<ref>As quoted in Boelcke, Willi A. The Secret Conferences of Dr. Goebbels: October 1939-March 1943, edited by Willi A. Boelcke; trans. Ewald Osers. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970.</ref> During the [[1948 Italian general election]] the US State Department encouraged film distributors to show the film as a means of countering the increasingly popular [[Italian Communist Party]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Peter |last2=Shaw |first2=Tony |title=Hollywood's Cold War |date=2007 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |page=26}}</ref>

===Cultural influences===
"Colonel Ninotchka" was a character in the 1980s women's professional wrestling promotion, [[Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline}}
* {{wikiquote-inline}}
* {{IMDb title|0031725}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/ninotchka-am7231 ''Ninotchka'' at AllMovie]
* {{TCMDb title|347}}
* {{AFI film|4333}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|ninotchka}}

{{Ninotchka}}
{{Ernst Lubitsch}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1939 films]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:1939 romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:American romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:American political satire films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Defection in fiction]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:Films about communism]]
[[Category:Films about the Soviet Union in the Stalin era]]
[[Category:Films critical of communism]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ernst Lubitsch]]
[[Category:Films scored by Werner R. Heymann]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1930s]]
[[Category:Films set in Istanbul]]
[[Category:Films set in Moscow]]
[[Category:Films set in Paris]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Billy Wilder]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Charles Brackett]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]