Moscow Nights (film)
This film is not to be confused with the very popular Russian Song Moscow Nights.
| Moscow Nights | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Anthony Asquith |
| Produced by | Alexis Granowsky |
| Written by | Erich Seipmann Anthony Asquith |
| Based on | an unpublished novel by Pierre Benoît |
| Starring | Laurence Olivier Penelope Dudley-Ward Harry Baur |
| Music by | Muir Mathieson |
| Cinematography | Philip Tannura |
| Edited by | Francis D. Lyon |
Production company | Denham Films London Film Productions |
| Distributed by | General Film Distributors (UK) |
Release date | 6 November 1935 (London) (UK) |
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
Moscow Nights (released as I Stand Condemned in the United States) is a 1935 British drama film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Laurence Olivier, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Harry Baur. The screenplay concerns a wounded officer who falls in love with his nurse.
Plot summary
During the First World War a wounded Russian officer Captain Ignatoff falls in love with his nurse.[1][2]
Cast
- Harry Baur as Brioukov
- Penelope Dudley-Ward as Natasha
- Laurence Olivier as Captain Ignatoff
- Athene Seyler as Madame Sabline
- Lilian Braithwaite as Countess
- Morton Selten as Kovrin
- Sam Livesey as Fedor
- Robert Cochran as Polonsky
- Hay Petrie as Spy
- Walter Hudd as The Doctor
- Kate Cutler as Madame Kovrin
- C. M. Hallard as President of Court Martial
- Charles Carson as Officer of Defence
- Edmund Willard as Officer of Prosecution
- Morland Graham as Bioukov's Servant
Critical response
Writing for The Spectator in 1935, Graham Greene called the film "completely bogus", and "the worst, as well as the most ballyhooed, film of the year". Asquith and Dudley-Ward were criticized in particular, with Greene describing Asquith's direction as puerile, and Dudley-Ward's acting as "country-house charades". Although Greene praised the acting from the rest of the film's stars, and noted that Asquith's past direction had been characterized by trickery, he commented that "now [Asquith's] bag of tricks seems empty".[3]
References
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027989/
- BFI.org
- Greene, Graham (15 November 1935). "Last Love/Moscow Nights/Oil for the Lamps of China". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. pp. 35–36. ISBN 0192812866.)