Comrade X

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Comrade X
ComradeX.jpg
1940 US Theatrical Poster
Directed by King Vidor
Written by Walter Reisch (story)
Ben Hecht
Charles Lederer
Herman J. Mankiewicz (uncredited)
Produced by Gottfried Reinhardt
King Vidor
Starring Clark Gable
Hedy Lamarr
Oskar Homolka
Felix Bressart
Eve Arden
Cinematography Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by Harold F. Kress
Music by Bronislau Kaper
Production
company
Distributed by Loew's Inc.
Release date
  • December 13, 1940 (1940-12-13)(U.S.)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$920,000 [1]
Box office$2 million [1]
Lobby card with Gable and Lamarr Comrade X lobby card.JPG
Lobby card with Gable and Lamarr
Lobby card with Lamarr and Gable Comrade X lobby card 2.JPG
Lobby card with Lamarr and Gable

Comrade X is a 1940 American comedy spy film directed by King Vidor and starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr. The supporting cast features Oskar Homolka, Felix Bressart, Sig Rumann and Eve Arden. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career. [2]

Contents

Plot

In the Soviet Union, American reporter McKinley "Mac" Thompson (Clark Gable) secretly writes unflattering stories about the Soviet Union, attributed to "Comrade X", for his newspaper. His identity is discovered by his valet, Vanya (Felix Bressart), who blackmails Mac into promising to get his daughter, a streetcar conductor named Theodore (Hedy Lamarr), out of the country. Theodore agrees to a sham marriage so she can spread the message of the benefits of Communism to the rest of the world. However, Commissar Vasiliev (Oscar Homolka) is determined to unmask and arrest Comrade X. Eventually Theodore sees the "wicked hypocrisy of Communism" and falls in love with Thompson. [3] [4]

Cast

Production

Gable prophetically jokes that "Germany just invaded Russia" and "Panzer tanks are rolling into Ukraine" to get the Russian hotel manager to kick the German reporter out of his room. Less than a year after release, Germany did indeed invade Russia and the Ukrainian SSR. [5]

Pre-war American films such as Comrade X and Ninotchka also depict the Soviet Union as backwards, dreary, depressing and totalitarian. After the United States entered the war on Russia's side, however, Hollywood's depictions of Russians immediately changed to brave, honorable, freedom-loving liberators. The UK specifically pulled Comrade X from the cinemas. [6]

At one point in the movie, after McKinley feeds vodka to his secretary Olga and embraces her, Golubka enters his room and the women engage in a "hair pulling battle" for his affections that Variety described as “a honey." [7] [8]

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $1,520,000 in the US and Canada and $559,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $484,000. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. "Retrospective 2020: A Very Wide-ranging Director". Berlinale. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  3. Robert Fyne (1997). The Hollywood Propaganda of World War II. p. 103. ISBN   9780810833104.
  4. Michael J. Strada; Harold Martin Troper; Harold R. Troper (1997). Friend Or Foe?:Russians in American Film and Foreign Policy 1933-1991. p. 31. ISBN   9780810832459.
  5. "Germany launches Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of Russia". HISTORY. History.com. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  6. Michael Fullilove (2013-04-24). Rendezvous with Destiny. ISBN   9780857970442.
  7. Shearer, Stephen M. (2013). Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr. St. Martin's Press. ISBN   9781250041838 . Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  8. "Comrade X". Variety . 31 December 1939. Retrieved 2 November 2019.