Knight Without Armor (1937)

Knight Without Armor
Directed by Jacques Feyder
Written by Lajós Biro and Arthur Wimperis; Adapted by Frances Marion from a novel by James Hilton
1937/UK
London Film Productions
First viewing

[box] I have outlasted all desire,/ My dreams and I have grown apart;/ My grief alone is left entire,/ The gleanings of an empty heart. – from “I Have Outlasted All Desire” by Alexander Pushkin, translated by Babette Deutsch (recited by Countess Alexandra in film)[/box]

I loved this thrilling romance/adventure of revolutionary Russia.

It is Petrograd, 1913.  Englishman Ainsley J. Fothergill (Robert Donat) has lived for six years in Russia and speaks the language like a native.  The authorities take offense to an article he wrote about the czarist government and tell him he has two days to leave the country.  He complains to a fellow expatriate and the man gives him an option — take a job as a British agent with a Russian identity and infiltrate a revolutionary group.  The pay is good but if he is caught the British will deny his nationality and existence.  Fothergill somewhat reluctantly accepts this offer in order to stay in his beloved adopted country and becomes Peter Ouronov.

Peter successfully infiltrates the group.  When one of its members takes shelter in Ouronov’s flat after the attempted assassination of a government minister, Peter is arrested and sent to Siberia.  Meanwhile, we have learned that the minister’s daughter is Countess Alexandra Vladinoff (Marlene Dietrich) and, at the time of the attempt, both were on the way to her marriage with an officer.  They later marry and the officer is killed in WWI.

Revolution comes to Russia and political prisoners are released from Siberia.  Peter becomes an assistant commissar in the district in which Alexandra lives.  The population rises up and ransacks her mansion and lines up dozens of servants and others to be shot. At the last minute, the commissar orders Peter to take Alexandra to Petrograd for trial.  So begins an adventure in which the two are caught between enemy lines in the Russian Civil War and in constant peril.

I had no idea what to expect and I was absolutely wowed by this despite a couple of minor flaws.  I don’t know if Marlene Dietrich has ever turned in a more restrained performance. If the film makers had only made her less glamorous, she would have been perfect as the frightened aristocrat.  As it was, it stretched credulity that this woman was roughing for days on end in the forest in full make-up.

What to say about Robert Donat?  It goes without saying that his performance was sensitive and engaging.  I read that he was very ill at the time this was made but he is also incredibly swoon-worthy here.  He may be achieving Gabin-like heights in my book.

Feyder didn’t make enough movies, I think.  The shots are very beautiful.  This was one of those films that I knew I would like about two minutes in before either of the stars had appeared just from the way it was framed.  Assisting in the absolutely first-class production were the score by Miklos Rosca and cinematography by Harry Stradling with camera operator Jack Cardiff.  The only problem with the construction was the ending.  The story just kind of petered out.  It was one thrilling adventure after another. Then the climax was rushed and unresolved.  Recommended.

I watched this film on the Criterion channel of Hulu Plus.  It is also currently available on YouTube.

Fan trailer