After the Russian revolution, a married Russian couple of nobility must take up jobs in Paris in order to survive.After the Russian revolution, a married Russian couple of nobility must take up jobs in Paris in order to survive.After the Russian revolution, a married Russian couple of nobility must take up jobs in Paris in order to survive.
Renie Riano
- Madame Courtois
- (as Reine Riano)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was the first Warner Brothers film to begin with Max Steiner's famous fanfare, which had a bombastic beginning and, by design, no end, as it was meant to transition into the main title of whichever picture it introduced.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)
- SoundtracksChto Mne Gore
(uncredited)
Russian folk song
Lyrics by Samuel Pokrass
Sung by Claudette Colbert
Played as part of the score
Featured review
Charles Boyer and Claudette Colbert are always good if not excellent, and this film is worth watching for their sake. Basil Rathbone also makes one of his good appearances. The story is more arguable. Boyer and Colbert are refugees from the Russian revolution, and as Russian aristocrats of the highest order they end up in Paris, where they have to turn to extreme measures in order to survive, including even stealing. Finally they get work as servants in a rich Frenchman's house, where at a party one of their deadliest enemies from Russia, the bolshevik commissar Basil Rathbone turns up as a guest, and there are some arguments. That is all. The main theme of the story is the obligation of the aristocrats (Boyer and Colbert) to stick to their code of honour, and in that process they commit the most incredible acts contrary to common sense. If this comedy is supposed to be flippant and witty, it doesn't raise many laughs. The funniest person is the fat dinner lady of a guest who speaks a language that is impossible for anyone to understand, performing a feat of unintelligibility. The start of the film is rather amusing, but then all of the rest seems mainly rather awkward. Still Anatole Litvak is the director and Max Steiner made the music. They have both done better.
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,400,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 38 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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