Edgar Allan Pooh . . . "beginning of the end" for the movie studio known as "M-G-M." At a time when Warner Bros. was heroically churning out Beacon of Democracy features such as CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY, rival film production company MGM was striving to please the "Third Reich's" beloved Fuhrer with such party line fare as COMRADE X, since Germany was such a financially important market for the money boys at the so-called "Billionaire's Studio." In the short term, MGM's anti-Allies screed compelled what was then called "The U.S. War Department" to seize editorial control of EVERY American movie production company, dictating the minutest aspects of war-time film scripts with reams of red tape rules and regulations. In the long term, of course, MGM was relegated into becoming the tiny corner of Warner Bros. that it is Today. COMRADE X, unlike the famed home movie of Der Fuhrer's Videographer Leni Riefenstahl (TRIUMPH OF THE WILL) did NOT win a top Oscar (via the sort of rigged elections for which MGM itself was notorious), but like TRIUMPH it is deviously entertaining because Satan knows that you can trap more souls with honey than vinegar. Despite MGM's ridicule, Russia sacrificed 100 times as much as the U.S. in terms of lives and other resources to destroy MGM's Nazi buddies, with the "Eastern Front" outweighing the effect of ten "D-Day" invasions.

Man99204 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.

nomoons11 This one was a total surprise. Just a real fun time watchin this one. It almost felt like watchin "Airplane" with all the stereotyped Russian/Communist segments in this film.Clark Gable is a gem in this one (as he is in most of his films). Hedy Lamarr is the same as a staunch Commie streetcar driver. I can't tell you how many commie stereotyped bits in this film their are but they're almost all funny. I mean ridiculousness abound. After the first few minutes you know not to take this film seriously.It goes to show that Hollywood and the U.S. were anti-communist way before the HUAC hearings. Just watch this one and laugh. I know I did.

edwagreen Clark Gable and Hedy La Marr starred in this awful mess.This is certainly no Ninotchka, even with its anti-Communist theme. The film is just awful.It would have been funnier had they managed to make more fun of the Nazis in it. I realize that the film came out in 1940 and since we weren't at war with the beasts as yet, the film board probably wanted to cool things down.The ending becomes a ridiculous tank chase and becomes very silly after a while.The Commies come and go and knock each other off as if it's nothing. Even though it was so true, it was done film wise in such a boring way. The idea that the poet philosopher was a true phony who went on to kill his supporters was not adequately explained.A year after "Gone With the Wind" and Clark Gable had a bomb with this film!