Comrade X (1940)

the audience applauded

Don't Believe the Hype

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Upon viewing this one, I think MGM originally had this film slotted as an A Feature, but then needed a B Feature with a lot of names to support another A Feature and decided to rush this one to the theaters.With a luscious Hedy LaMar and Clark Gable, the cast here features a lot of good supporting actors as well. The writing for the script features some solid writers but I think the script was written on an assembly line for pay as this crew wrote many better films. King Vidor is always a solid Director and he proves so here.Considering this is 1940, the actor who looks like Joe Stalin is quite a startling figure. Hedy's wardrobe appears to have come from some of MGM's better clothes. While MGM put money into this, the propaganda and comedy mix is at times uneven.Still, for the cast it is a worthwhile effort, and the tank sequence is much more advanced than many of the war films that are yet to be made.

This movie should have been brilliant - it features Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr. Directed by the usually amazing King Vidor from a screenplay by Ben Hecht. It had everything going for it....I was stunned by how disappointing BAD this movie turned out to be.The central problem is the script, which is sub par - especially for an MGM production with their A List Actors. The script is preposterous from beginning to end. It makes little to no sense. And by the time the end comes, you are grateful it was such a short film.The high point of the movie is a "Military Ballet' in the last few minutes of the film.Clark Gable is normally one of my all time favorite actors. He is very disappointing in this movie. There is a reason Gable did not do comedies. While he can toss off a witty line with the best of them, he lacks the timing to successfully pull off the comedic demands of this role.Hedy Lamarr is horribly miscast as Russian Trolley Car driver. She does little more in this movie than "glow" in her close ups, and spout lines about how superficial beauty is. She totally lacks the sparkle which is present in her other films. La Marr appears to be heavily medicated in most of her scenes.Is this a bad movie" Yes indeed. It is probably one of the worst movies Gable ever made. But, you should still watch it.

Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr star in "Comrade X," a 1940 comedy from MGM also starring Eve Arden, Felix Bressart and Oscar Homolka. Gable and Arden are American journalists in Russia while the Russians search frantically for "Comrade X," a reporter sending out uncensored stories to the United States. One man knows the identity of Comrade X - a bumbling valet in the hotel where many of the reporters stay (Felix Bressart). He fears his outspoken daughter is in danger of being purged by the Russians like so many and blackmails Comrade X into getting her out of the country. Well, we've known from the beginning who Comrade X is - who else - and he reluctantly agrees to his assignment - reluctantly until he gets a look at the daughter (Lamarr), who is driving a streetcar using the name Theodore. Women can't drive streetcars.Everyone is very good in this film, and Lamarr's staggering beauty and Gable's macho man are pluses. The supporting cast is great - Homolka is a government official who says his predecessor "met with an unfortunate accident" - as many of them do throughout the film.I have to agree with one of the posters here - the scene with the tanks is absolutely priceless, particularly when you realize that films didn't have the mechanisms for "special effects" as they do today.Lots of fun at the expense of good old Mother Russia.

A ridiculous and campy spoof. I initially mistook it for face value and thought it was a screwball comedy. And I was disappointed; what a horrible movie! I first thought. But really, when Hedy places Theodor, an intellectual naive communist girl who freely kisses stranger Clark, a boozing reporter who's actually Comrade X, it's gotta be camp! The tank scene is a classic, special effects and all; I think Hedy driving a tank is about as funny as Hedy driving a fire engine in "My Favorite Spy." Clark reliably plays his usual character. This is a movie that gets better with each viewing; good screenplay, direction, acting, and production. Part of me thinks it would be even better if Walter Reisch countered Hedy's uniform with Clark in a dress; what a tank escape that would have been!