Ninotchka

Lubitsch must be the undisputable king of sleek comedy. And there are not enough compliments for Garbo's performance.

Ultimately propaganda, but Garbo is pretty cool.

Garbo is luminous, Douglas and Ina Clair are the hight of sophistication, and the three Russian comrades are endearing and very, very funny. A classic.

What a wonderful picture. It is romantic, funny, and extremely edgy. The idea of conflicting romance because of opposing ideologies is seemingly blown out of proportion, but at the same time, it feels acceptable. Garbo is extremely charming, and seeing her crack a smile for the first time in the film made me smile.

Normally, I hate Lubitsch. I have to eat my words. Hot fucking damn. I am completely won over. Not *everything* works, but I laughed very often and very hard at this movie. I even applauded when she finally genuinely laughed. This is exactly the metric ton of charm and humor and joy for which Hollywood shoots every time it makes yet another romantic comedy with Sandra Bullock or Kate Hudson or whoever; usually, they fail so badly at it

Not as funny or romantic as advertised. It felt as if a Marx Brothers film had been slowed waaaaaaaaaay down.

Quite clever and fun for the most part. I enjoyed the political humor, which mostly poked fun at the Soviets, but capitalism was not spared either. I would have scored it higher if the romance was more believable, Douglas' character weren't so obnoxious, and Ninotchka's transformation weren't so sudden.

The political humor is goofy fun, but the romance aspect is somewhat lackluster.

The thing about NINOTCHKA is that it describes itself. Quoth Garbo, it is "silly -- but wonderful." There's not much more to say. I take away one point only because there's one too many "I want to be alone" jokes. See it on as big a screen as you possibly can, the characters deserve to appear much larger than life.

I wasn't entertained by the comic parts, the romantic parts quite bored me and the whole political atmosphere just felt out of place. Yet another movie meeting Hollywood's average for me.

Lubitsch and Wilder are both hit & miss with me, and this one is definitely a miss. McCarthy would have loved this movie, it never misses a chance to get in a broad jab at Soviet Russia. Ninotchka's transformation is ridiculously abrupt, and quite unbelievable, considering how much Garbo overplays the cold, no-nonsense Bolshevik role. And Melvyn Douglas is an unlikeable, smarmy little twit. Some of the one-liners are amusing, but it's more like they're amusing on paper. Not much fun.

Oof, flat work that fails to live up to the collaboration of talents. There's some real zingers in here ("I've been fascinated with your five-year plan for fifteen years") but a lot of the jokes haven't aged well and visually it's one of Lubitsch's least interesting works I've seen yet. Big disappointment for me.

Gets off to a pretty good start (i really liked Garbo playing an autistic robot/proto-Hal Hartley character), but once Ninotchka suddenly undergoes her improbable and somewhat unfortunate transformation, the love story kind of starts to drag on for longer than it should. Still has some fun moments though, and all things considered the film's treatment of the Soviet Union is about as sympathetic as could reasonably be expected.

First half of it I was thinking this was as great as anything I've seen from Lubitsch. The third act, though necessary for Ninotchka's development, loses the efficiency and sparkle of what precedes.

Other reviewers have said this movie is "silly" but I actually thought the themes were pretty deep. It's an amusing movie, but there is a real conflict of politics and personal values being acted out. It was a little weird to see fascism and Nazis being joked about. While the dialog sparkled, I didn't find the leads appealing. Greta Garbo goes from being too stiff and wooden to laughing much too hard, her performance should have been modulated in my opinion.

It's funny.

Yes, wherever bicycles are broken, or menaced by International Communism, Bicycle Repair Man is ready! Ready to smash the communists, wipe them up, and shove them off the face of the earth. Mash the dirty red scum! Kick 'em in the teeth where it hurts! Kill! Kill! Kill! Filthy bastards! Commies! I hate 'em, I hate 'em! Aaaah! Aaaah!

A very charming romantic comedy with all the wit you'd expect from Lubitsch.

A very enjoyable movie. The script is both funny and does a nice job jabbing Soviet Russia. Garbo is great.

# 249

The beginning was not that interesting and it took time to get to Ninotchka. But Greta Garbo nailed the role perfectly. The story ended up funny, interesting, and the knowledge of the Russian lifestyle was sharp and accurate. The twist from Russian to Western thinking happened a bit too fast, but actually it served the story well. Lots of witty details if you're familiar with Soviet lifestyle.

Simply captivating.

A genuinely funny and charming satire that bites both ways, poking fun at both the injustices of capitalism and the political oppressions of stalinism. There's a lot of witty lines and jokes in this, but the pacing gets dragged down a little by the romantic bits. Fun film, would watch again.

Not my favorite Lubitsch movie but still a very good one with lots of charming moments. Garbo's transformation is great because what she believes in at her core doesn't really change, just her approach to life. Amazing to see a Hollywood film that admits there are some good things about socialism.

This film did nothing for me. The initial "stern" Ninotchka was a ridiculous and badly-written character, barely amusing for more than 2 minutes. Then the twist, where she turns into a European romantic literally overnight, was appallingly stupid. I expect better writing than this even in a light comedy. I couldn't find anything else to like about the film, it seemed long and I lost interest in the story before it was halfway through.

I dropped the ball on this one and should have watched it years ago. It only helps to prove my opinion that 1939 was the best year in film. So many incredible movies that year. Well, this movie is funny, charming and a joy to watch.

It's Greta Garbo's film, and she fantastically plays her character at the beginning but when she stops being cold and mean she stops being so graceful. That's the screenwriter's fault too, she's less lovable that way (she could be but she isn't) and her "change" isn't believable and pretty much out-of-nowhere, also because she falls in love with Melvyn Douglas who is quite obnoxious. Sometimes it felt a little bit like Capitalistic propaganda, too. Still, the whole thing is quite enjoyable.

So fucking pithy you'll want to drill a hole in the side of your head. Not that funny either. Is this sci fi? Am I watching androids? No, those aren't androids, they're Communists.

Communism is being forced to live with roommates and not having access to negligees. Love reading people's anger about the representation of the Soviet Union in a comedy from 1939. Keep fighting the good fight, comrades.

282

Kinda hokey and campy (for Garbo anyway).

"Radio is a little box that you buy on the installment plan and before you tune it in they tell you there's a new model out."

88.50

Fransa, paris, rusya, istanbul (finalde), mücevher, avukat, komünizm, kapitalizm, kötü fikra

a few funny dialogues among typical anti-communist rubbish

Greta Garbo is one of those immensely charismatic actors who can make even the otherwise utterly forgettable movies worth watching (see Mata Hari), and here she gets to work with Ernst Lubitsch...

Classic Golden Age romance with a political bent. I loved Garbo's robotic deadpan delivery in the first half; it's almost too bad she had to change later. I had some complaints with the legal ethics of the setup (and the original romance), but most movies require a little bit of suspension of disbelief. I enjoyed a few of the great sets, plus a few shots where Garbo is lit like she's coming down from heaven.

watched: 2015, 2020

Anti-soviet romantic comedy. The propaganda part of it was way over the top (soviet woman = robot), and Garbo's transformation into bourgeois over-night is as believable as people falling madly in love the same day they have met. But that how things went in golden age Hollywood films. There are some good jokes and charming scenes, and perhaps I would have rated it even higher if I liked the leads more - neither Garbo, nor Douglas, especially Douglas, didn't impress me.

Enjoyable and it has its moments, but also unfortunately forgettable.

Ninotchka : "Look at the birds. I always felt a little hurt when our swallows deserted us for capitalistic countries. Now I know why: we have the high ideals, but they have the climate." One of the most powerful line I've read, cult, fascinating movie.

A refined, sophisticated dramedy that has aged very well; I guess Ernst Lubitsch's name became synonymous with that description, but this is perhaps particularly funny and moving. Garbo and Douglas are very good in their roles.

With Greta Garbo proving her comedy chops in the twilight of her career, Ninotchka is a can't-miss classic.

256

Often quite funny, but the satire is a bit too on-the-nose. It's interesting to see that the Cold War image of the USSR was pretty much fully-formed by 1939. Garbo is captivating, but Melvyn Douglas is a bit of a cold fish. "Soon we'll have fewer, but better, Russians."

I liked her better before

Although it might look silly at times, the script and the actors' performance make you perceive it with great pleasure. Moreover, it is good that it is possible to laugh at things that could be the subject of the death penalty in the past.

Nice work here from Lubitsch. Love the fluidity of his camera, the wit of the writing, and the willingness to do socially-conscious comedy. Garbo's performance carries the film, bringing a magnetic allure to the proceedings, even while playing one of the funniest "humorless" characters in cinematic history. Great fun.

The idea of "Garbo Laughs" is so wrong! Which is why this is among the greatest things I've ever seen!

Decent. Storyline fits an archetypal format of opposites caught up in a forbidden love. They each change as a result of the other, almost switching roles. Does the affair have what it takes to survive? The romance here is fantastically idealistic, which was expected.

Interesting to watch this in connection with To Be Or Not To Be. Very similar stories, but where Lubitsch has nothing but contempt for the Nazis he has a surprising amount (for 30s Hollywood) of empathy for the Soviets; Garbo et al may be shown as naive, but they're allowed their perspective. Which makes Garbo perfect in the lead; you can buy that she's killed for her country, AND that she just wants to relax and be in love. And the ending is as charmingly innocent as the characters deserve.

#265

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