writers_reign It's difficult today to view this film as anything more than a curio and we have to assume that Talking Pictures - who actually screened it on television - had been negotiating/planning for several months or they wouldn't have screened something promoting harmony between Russia and the UK at the very moment that relations between the two countries are strained to say the least. Puffin Asquith never made a really bsd film throughout his long and distinguished career but he had his work cut out with this one. Saddled with the highly overrated Olivier Puffin was lucky inasmuch as the producers wheeled out some top-drawer support and a luminous leading lady in the shape of Penelope Dudley Ward, soon to become Mrs. Carol Reed and, alas, retire from the screen. Far too good for Olivier she shows how it should be done.

robertguttman One has to keep in mind that this British comedy, about the experiences of a Soviet engineer in Britain, was produced at a critical point in the relations between those two nations. Due to the fact that Joseph Stalin had signed a non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union remained neutral after Britain and France went to war against Germany in 1939. The Soviets didn't come into the war as an ally of Britain until the middle of 1941, after Germany invaded Russia. It was not an easiest alliances. Unlike the case of Britain and the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union had almost nothing in common, either politically or linguistically. In fact, British relations with the Soviet Union had been strained ever since the 1917 Revolution.The Demi-Paradise was produced as an aid to bridging the cultural gap between those two allies, at least from the British point of view. I have no idea whether it was ever shown in Russia, let alone how it would have been perceived by audiences there. The story concerns a Russian engineer, played by Olivier, who encounters a pair of British seamen ashore in Murmansk during World War II. Typically, the British are complaining about the difficulties they are having among the "foreigners". To their astonishment, Olivier jokingly informs them in English that it is they who are the "foreigners" in Russia, and then proceeds to recount his own experiences as a "foreigner" when he was assigned to do a job in Britain both before, and during, the war. In addition to being a wartime propaganda film, The Demi-Paradise is full of the sort of self-deprecating humor the British seem to love. While produced in Britain, the script actually was written by a Russian ex-patriot, Anatole de Grunwald. Consequently, one cannot help but feel that the writer brought a lot of his own personal experiences and impressions into the story. The result is very droll, and one cannot help but feel that the protagonist's experiences are probably universal to any stranger in a strange land.

blanche-2 Laurence Olivier is a Russian who comes to the U.K. to work on a propeller in "The Demi-Paradise," a 1943 propaganda film directed by Anthony Asquith. Since the Russians became allies in World War II, much was done in film so that they would be seen in a favorable light. At first, Ivan, the Olivier character, regards everyone with suspicion, having heard all sorts of clichés about the English. But with time, they win him over, helped by the daughter (Penelope Ward) of the man in charge of building the ship that will house the propeller.Olivier's accent is good, but as someone pointed out, the slow way he speaks makes him seem dumb, which, as an engineer, he isn't. On the other hand, it's probably realistic, since it would be a second language.There are a few funny scenes, and the film is infected with a lot of warmth. It's good, but not great.

vasa Good example of the type of movies made in England during the war, to keep spirits up. The Brits never seem to engage in gung-ho war stuff: which makes for more pleasant viewing.While nowhere near the league of, say, "A Canterbury Tale", The Demi-Paradise has enough realism (of the British character) to while away a pleasant hour and a half.