Released November 9, 1939
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Cast includes Greta Garbo, Melvyn
Douglas, Ina Claire, Sig Rumann, Felix Bressart, Alexander Granach, Bela
Lugosi
Garbo laughs! the ads proclaimed and sure enough, the tragic muse was seen for the first time in a comedic role. The ploy, an attempt to regain Garbo's success at the box office by putting her in a different type of film, worked fabulously. Actually, Garbo herself had mulled over the possibility for a number of years. Ninotchka, in which she plays a Russian agent in Paris who falls in love with Melvyn Douglas, is an excellent film and is filled with director Ernst Lubitsch famous nuances known as the "Lubitsch touch". Garbo received an Academy Award nomination for her role but would lose to Vivien Leigh.
