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Comrade X

Released Dec 13, 1940 1h 30m Romance Comedy List
Reviews 55% Audience Score 250+ Ratings
Journalist McKinley "Mac" Thompson (Clark Gable) is on assignment in pre-World War II Moscow and secretly files uncensored stories critical of the Stalinist government with an American newspaper. Hotel valet Vanya (Felix Bressart) discovers his true identity and blackmails him into spiriting his beloved daughter, a Communist streetcar driver who calls herself Theodore (Hedy Lamarr), out of Russia. Mac agrees to get her out, but faces obstacles of farcical proportions. Read More Read Less

Critics Reviews

View All (3) Critics Reviews
Elena de la Torre Cine-Mundial A satire of extraordinary grace in which the Soviet regime is ridiculed. [Full review in Spanish] Sep 16, 2019 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Inspired by Garbo's Ninotchka (a much better film on any level) King Vidor's romantic melodrama is a serviceable star vehicle for Clark Gable as an American journalist and the beautiful Hedy Lamarr as a Soviet streetcar conductor. Rated: B- Jul 23, 2010 Full Review Steve Crum Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers Pre-WWII tale has great Gable and Lamarr pairing. Rated: 4/5 Aug 31, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (23) audience reviews
Steve D The script is a poor man's Ninotchka but with this cast who cares? A poor mans Ninotchka is still a great film. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/25/23 Full Review kevin w A lighthearted one-joke romcom with Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr. He's an American reporter exposing the constant barrage of Soviet lies and she's a loyal Soviet citizen spreading the truth of Communism - can they find love together? Made with a cast of familiar character actors there's nothing serious going on here but the chemistry of the leads. A little fun. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Had promise at beginning especially with Gable and Nazi official Sig Ruman fighting over who had rights to the Soviet hotel room. But film deteriorated quickly. "Ninotchka" so much wittier and Ernst Lubitsch-Billy Wilder treatment made Garbo more thoughtful than Hedy Lamarr. One fascinating prescient point about "Comrade X" - it was made in 1940 before Germany invaded Russia in late June 1941. Yet the Ben Hecht-Charles Lederer script has Germany invading Russia and the great Sig Ruman gets into argument with Soviet porter Felix Bressart - they curse at each other and Sig stalks out of room and unfortunately out of the movie. Happily Sig and Felix were reunited in the great original "To Be Or Not To Be" in 1942. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member While very similar to Ninotchka with Greta Garbo, I preferred Comrade X. Both movies are funny, entertaining and well acted considering the genre, but I thought Comrade X was slightly better. I especially loved Hedy's portrayal of Theodore; Clark was also excellent. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Funny and sharp satire of communism. It's like Ninotchka only edgier. The only way it could get low rating at RT is if its critics are themselves leftists and are triggered by the notion of a movie making fun of their ideas - something that hasn't happened in Hollywood ever since the lefties took over Tinseltown a few decades ago, Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review ashley h Comrade X is a decent film. It is about an American reporter smuggling news out of Soviet Moscow who is blackmailed into helping a beautiful Communist leave the country. Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr give good performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. King Vidor did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the humor and romance. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Comrade X

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Journalist McKinley "Mac" Thompson (Clark Gable) is on assignment in pre-World War II Moscow and secretly files uncensored stories critical of the Stalinist government with an American newspaper. Hotel valet Vanya (Felix Bressart) discovers his true identity and blackmails him into spiriting his beloved daughter, a Communist streetcar driver who calls herself Theodore (Hedy Lamarr), out of Russia. Mac agrees to get her out, but faces obstacles of farcical proportions.
Director
King Vidor
Producer
Gottfried Reinhardt, King Vidor
Screenwriter
Walter Reisch, Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre
Romance, Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 13, 1940, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 16, 2016
Runtime
1h 30m