A few months ago I saw a documentary called BEHIND CLOSED DOORS which focused upon the machinations and political intrigue in the Kremlin during the second world war . A clip from MISSION TO MOSCOW was shown and is a habit of mine I decided to look it up on this site only to notice that despite being directed by the great Michael Curtiz it was lowly regarded but decided to track it down anyway
There's an old saying that " My enemy's enemy is my friend " and nothing proves this more than the second world war where the capitalist democracies of Britain and America supported the Soviet Union during the second world war . The film revolves around painting the Soviet Union as a country Britain and America can do business with and a key ally against the aggression of the Nazis and imperial Japanese . There's nothing wrong with this of course and 1943 had seen massive defeats for Nazi Germany at Stalingrad and Kursk which put the writing on the wall that Nazi Germany was going to lose the war
The problem with the film is that it doesn't celebrate the bloody victories won by Soviet blood but starts before the war where ambassador Joe Davies visits the USSR and finds it completely like the United States . Soviet workers only give a proportion of their pay to the state similar to taxation and there's even American advisers working in the socialist state who have become bored living on a diet of caviar The only real difference between Soviet Russia and America is that the Soviet state is being held back by a conspiracy involving Trotskyite agents and Nazis who are embarking on a campaign of sabotage against Stalinism . We know this must be true because it's pointed out by an American adviser and later Davies states that the trial of the saboteurs is no different from a trial held in the USA . There is no doubt that the defendants such as Tukhachevsky and Radek are guilty as charged . Davies says it's a fair trail so if an American says that it must be true
There is a bitter irony in portraying the Soviet Union is such a light and that was that the film was targeted as being communist propaganda in 1950 by the House Of Un-American Activities that led to Jack Warner himself being questioned by congress . It seems strange that nations suffer from a collective amnesia where politics is concerned . The film is nothing more than a propaganda piece for an anti- Nazi ally though not a very good one and remains a curiosity more than anything else
There's an old saying that " My enemy's enemy is my friend " and nothing proves this more than the second world war where the capitalist democracies of Britain and America supported the Soviet Union during the second world war . The film revolves around painting the Soviet Union as a country Britain and America can do business with and a key ally against the aggression of the Nazis and imperial Japanese . There's nothing wrong with this of course and 1943 had seen massive defeats for Nazi Germany at Stalingrad and Kursk which put the writing on the wall that Nazi Germany was going to lose the war
The problem with the film is that it doesn't celebrate the bloody victories won by Soviet blood but starts before the war where ambassador Joe Davies visits the USSR and finds it completely like the United States . Soviet workers only give a proportion of their pay to the state similar to taxation and there's even American advisers working in the socialist state who have become bored living on a diet of caviar The only real difference between Soviet Russia and America is that the Soviet state is being held back by a conspiracy involving Trotskyite agents and Nazis who are embarking on a campaign of sabotage against Stalinism . We know this must be true because it's pointed out by an American adviser and later Davies states that the trial of the saboteurs is no different from a trial held in the USA . There is no doubt that the defendants such as Tukhachevsky and Radek are guilty as charged . Davies says it's a fair trail so if an American says that it must be true
There is a bitter irony in portraying the Soviet Union is such a light and that was that the film was targeted as being communist propaganda in 1950 by the House Of Un-American Activities that led to Jack Warner himself being questioned by congress . It seems strange that nations suffer from a collective amnesia where politics is concerned . The film is nothing more than a propaganda piece for an anti- Nazi ally though not a very good one and remains a curiosity more than anything else