Director: Anatole Litvak

Writer: Casey Robinson

From a play by: Jacques Deval; Robert E. Sherwood

Keywords: Comedy, Russia

Name	Occupation	Birth	Death	Known for
Curt Bois	Actor	5-Apr-1901	25-Dec-1991	Pickpocket in Casablanca
Charles Boyer	Actor	28-Aug-1899	26-Aug-1978	Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Morris Carnovsky	Actor	5-Sep-1897	1-Sep-1992	Dead Reckoning
Claudette Colbert	Actor	13-Sep-1903	30-Jul-1996	It Happened One Night
Melville Cooper	Actor	15-Oct-1896	31-Mar-1973	The Adventures of Robin Hood
Fritz Feld	Actor	15-Oct-1900	18-Nov-1993	Bringing Up Baby
Isabel Jeans	Actor	16-Sep-1891	4-Sep-1985	Easy Virtue
Victor Kilian	Actor	6-Mar-1891	11-Mar-1979	Raymond Larkin on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Doris Lloyd	Actor	3-Jul-1896	21-May-1968	British-American character actress
Anita Louise	Actor	9-Jan-1915	25-Apr-1970	The Little Princess
Montagu Love	Actor	15-Mar-1877	17-May-1943	British character actor
Basil Rathbone	Actor	13-Jun-1892	21-Jul-1967	Played original Sherlock Holmes

REVIEWS

Review by Deb (posted on 16-Mar-2005)

This movie is among my all-time favorites. Unfortunately it is unavailable for purchase, so I have to wait for the rare showings on Turner Classic Movies. Boyer and Colbert are marvelous together. They bring the exiled Russian couple to life with a gaiety and poignancy that's truly wonderful to watch. Although Boyer is a little stiff with slapstick elements, he remains debonair even when standing in a ragged shirt and fishing cigarette butts out of the cold stove to smoke. Colbert's performance shines all the way through.

The dinner scene where they're serving the guests, one of whom is their mortal Soviet enemy(played by Basil Rathbone), is outstanding for its subtext. Rathbone was once their jailer and torturer, possibly worse, and during the dinner he is toying with them like a cat with a mouse. The other dinner guests are either horrified or oblivious of the situation. It's where you start thinking about what they must have gone through in surviving torture in Lubyanka prison, and how brave they are to endure everything with their spirits unbroken. Yet the movie carries all this with a light, deft touch that's superb.

Take the Romanov tragedy and overlay it with courage and comedy, and you have a frothy, fun movie, a true classic that should not be forgotten.

Review by anonymous (posted on 27-Sep-2006)

I continue to love this movie! But, then again, I love most classic, older movies, because most were made without a political agenda. This is a funny, enjoiable, warmhearted, delightful film. I adore Claudette in this movie. She was an amazing personage during her time and she didn't even want to be a star. It just, sort of, happened to her. She was in demand by film makers, most likely because she was someone whom you'd want as a mother or sister or a close friend. This movie makes one feel as though this really could happen too. Most Royals did survive the revolution and had to go somewhere. Right? Maybe they're living next to you!

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