The Demi-Paradise (1943)
Ivan Kouznetsoff, a Russian engineer, recounts during World War II his stay in England prior to the war working on a new propeller for ice-breaking ships. Naïve about British people and convinced by hearsay that they are shallow and hypocritical, Ivan is both bemused and amused by them. He is blunt in his opinions about Britons and at first this puts off his hosts, including the lovely Ann Tisdall, whose grandfather runs the shipbuilding firm that will make use of Ivan's propeller. The longer Ivan stays, however, the more he comes to understand the humor, warmth, strength, and conviction of the British people, and the more they come to see him as a friend rather than merely a suspicious Russian. As a romantic bond grows between Ivan and Ann, a cultural bond begins to grow as well, particularly as the war begins and Russia is attacked by Germany.
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Absolutely brilliant
This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
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.
This film is relatively unknown which is a mystery to me. It is one of the great wartime fims of the period.A wonderfully written story with great direction and a perfect cast. Lord Olivier is absolutely marvelous in the lead, as one might expect, but the supporting actors are equally marvelous with special mention to Penelope Dudley-Ward who charms from her first entrance. Olivier's Russian accent never waivers for a moment but some of his best scenes are those in which ha has no dialogue at all. His bit of business and subtle facial expressions show his immense talent.See this film if you have the opportunity.
This delightful romantic comedy has a situation similar to "Ninotchka" from several years earlier, but with the genders reversed: Loyal but somewhat naive Soviet apparatchik visits a Western capitalist country on serious business, is squired through the strange ways of his/her host nation by a light-hearted but likable native toward whom he/she develops romantic feelings, and alters his/her views on Soviet/West differences. Garbo and Douglas were incomparable in "Ninotchka," but Olivier, in an offbeat role for him, and Dudley Ward hold their own in this comic exploration of people's preconceived ideas about one another (the Russian assumes all English businessmen are "exploiters," the English boarders at a rooming house won't eat at the table with "one of them (a Russian communist)." Definitely worth seeing.
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.