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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 15178
Released: September 6, 2005 |
| Our Price: $9.30 |
| Used Price: $6.75 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A stern Russian woman goes to Paris on government business and falls in love with a French count.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 6-SEP-2005
Media Type: DVD
Description of Ninotchka:
Ah, those fun-loving Communists! In Ninotchka three Soviets make their way to Paris to sell off imperial jewels to raise money to buy tractors for the USSR. When Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire), former owner of the jewels, discovers what's happening, she deploys her lover Leon (Melvyn Douglas) to recover her gems. He starts a court proceeding while seducing the three bumbling Soviets with the luxuries of capitalistic life. The delay of the sale is noticed in Moscow, and Comrade Ninotchka (Greta Garbo) is dispatched to Paris to settle the matter. Soon after arrival, she meets Leon, who is charmed by her severe, uptight manner and her stunning beauty ("I love Russians! Comrade, I've been fascinated by your five-year plan for the last 15 years"), and he sets about wooing her, despite her disbelief in love (it's merely a "chemical reaction," she dourly informs him). Romance, jealousy, and capitalistic frivolity ensue.
When this film was released in 1939, it was advertised as "Garbo laughs," as it was her first and only comedy. The film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, is amusing not only for its story line, but also for its dated look at early Communism (Ninotchka keeps a photo of a stern-looking Lenin by her bedside, although she feels uncomfortable doing so in a room that costs 2,000 francs a night, the price of a cow back home). The satirical image of the young Communist fighting against corrupt Western ways seems somewhat idealistic today but nonetheless provided levity during the shaky political times of the film's release. Viewers may be jarred by the casual "Heil Hitler" greeting of a couple at the train station, but overall this film holds up as one of Lubitsch's masterpieces and a lighter glimpse of the mysterious Garbo. --Jenny Brown
Ninotchka Reviews:
(On the West) It's a waste of electricity. 
2009-10-23 - How ironic that after so many years and having lost in name, communism triumphed in a much subtler way, through the unguarded back-door of peace and democracy. All the positions before held ridiculous and laughable, like in this movie, have now become the norm in our culture.
Garbo's communist character:
On Western civilization: "I don't deny its beauty, but it's a waste of electricity."
To the train station porter: "it's social injustice. -That depends on the tip (says the porter)."
Modern eating habits: "Perhaps something to eat? -I've had all the calories necessary for today (she says)."
"And what do you do for mankind? (she asks Melvin Douglas) -Not too much for mankind; for for womankind my record isn't quite so bleak." That question is not at all foreign to our self-righteous and liberal moguls/preachers in the media, who convict us of the great sin of capitalism, the original sin doctrine sieved through Marx instead of Jesus.
"(I'm) a tiny cog in the great wheel of evolution. -You're the most adorable cog I've ever seen. (says Douglas to her)." There's the epitaph for what modern man is expected to be today, don't you agree?
The movie is filled all through with terrific lines like these, and they are so funny and they sound so uptodate it makes this film a must see again and again. A worthy recovery from the shelves of timeless classics. Truly, socialists make such a laughable and pretentious stock!
I dedicate this movie to millionaire Al Gore's gloomy acolytes.
Garbo Is Good; Movie Is Fair 
2009-03-29 - When I saw this about 15 years ago on VHS, it was my first look at the famous Greta Garbo and I was impressed She was a pretty woman who exhibited class and intelligence, reminding me of Ingrid Bergman, although not as pretty.
There are a number of subtly-funny lines in here which kind of characterizes the film: okay bit a little slow-moving and not what it could be if it just had a little more a spark to it. The dialog from Melvyn Douglas and Ina Claire really dates the film. Douglas, as he was in a lot of movies I've seen with him, is not a likable guy. He can be very annoying, but some of that is because he's doing such a fine acting job.
"Ninotchka" develops into a nice romance story in the second half of the movie with a short, satisfying ending and a pointed comment about living in Russia, at that time, as opposed to a free country.
If you've heard about Garbo, and never seen her, this is a good place to start!
NINOTCHKA
2008-10-13 - Although I had seen this movie years ago, I thought it would be a great one to add to my movie library. This was Greta Garbo at her best - a truly great comedy.
Garbo!
2008-03-19 - Great movie. It will make you want to purchase the other with Fred Astaire, "Silk Stockings".
A classic comedy
2007-12-08 - Ninotchka, a Soviet commissar, is sent to Paris to round up a delegation sent to sell imperial jewels in order to raise money for the USSR. Romance ensues shortly afterwards as she is charmed despite herself by Leon, a scoundrel.
This movie is superb. I love it all over again whenever I watch it. The fact that it makes fun of the Soviet state is simply a bonus.
