Comrade X

1940 "This Year's Laugh Riot!"
6.5| 1h30m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 13 December 1940 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

An American reporter smuggling news out of Soviet Moscow is blackmailed into helping a beautiful Communist leave the country.

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Reviews

Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall
SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
rickrudge 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 Soviet 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.The fly in the ointment is that Theodore is a loyal Communist and, just like in Ninotchka (1939), 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 anti-communist 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.
blanche-2 Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr star in "Comrade X," a 1940 comedy from MGM also starring Eve Arden, Felix Bressart and Oscar Homolka. Gable and Arden are American journalists in Russia while the Russians search frantically for "Comrade X," a reporter sending out uncensored stories to the United States. One man knows the identity of Comrade X - a bumbling valet in the hotel where many of the reporters stay (Felix Bressart). He fears his outspoken daughter is in danger of being purged by the Russians like so many and blackmails Comrade X into getting her out of the country. Well, we've known from the beginning who Comrade X is - who else - and he reluctantly agrees to his assignment - reluctantly until he gets a look at the daughter (Lamarr), who is driving a streetcar using the name Theodore. Women can't drive streetcars.Everyone is very good in this film, and Lamarr's staggering beauty and Gable's macho man are pluses. The supporting cast is great - Homolka is a government official who says his predecessor "met with an unfortunate accident" - as many of them do throughout the film.I have to agree with one of the posters here - the scene with the tanks is absolutely priceless, particularly when you realize that films didn't have the mechanisms for "special effects" as they do today.Lots of fun at the expense of good old Mother Russia.
cheeseplease A ridiculous and campy spoof. I initially mistook it for face value and thought it was a screwball comedy. And I was disappointed; what a horrible movie! I first thought. But really, when Hedy places Theodor, an intellectual naive communist girl who freely kisses stranger Clark, a boozing reporter who's actually Comrade X, it's gotta be camp! The tank scene is a classic, special effects and all; I think Hedy driving a tank is about as funny as Hedy driving a fire engine in "My Favorite Spy." Clark reliably plays his usual character. This is a movie that gets better with each viewing; good screenplay, direction, acting, and production. Part of me thinks it would be even better if Walter Reisch countered Hedy's uniform with Clark in a dress; what a tank escape that would have been!
bruno-32 I thought the chemistry between Hedy and Clark were great. She really came off as a very good commedienne. I thought the lines were real clever and that ending...wow...all those tanks. I enjoyed this movie more than the Ninotchka.