Directed by Jacques Feyder and produced by Alexander Korda, Knight Without Armour is British historical spy melodrama, starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat.
Lajos Bíró’s screenplay was adapted by Frances Marion from the James Hilton 1933 novel, published in the U.S. a year later uder the title of “Without Armour.”
Grade: B-
U.S. film poster
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Donat plays A. J. Fothergill, a man recruited by Colonel Forrester to spy on Russia for the British government due to his language fluency.
Renamed “Peter Ouranoff,” he infiltrates a revolutionary group led by Axelstein. The radicals try to blow up General Gregor Vladinoff, the father of Alexandra. When the attempt fails, the would-be assassin is shot, and later dies. For his inadvertent involvement, Peter is sent to Siberia.
Alexandra a widow in World War I, which brings the Bolsheviks to power, and results in the freeing of Peter and Axelstein.
When the Civil War breaks out, Alexandra is arrested for being an aristocrat, and Peter is assigned by now-Commissar Axelstein to take her to Petrograd to stand trial.
However, Peter instead takes her to the safety of the White Army. Their relief is short-lived; the Red Army defeats the Whites, and Alexandra is again taken captive. The two, now in love, manage to flee into the forest on Alexandra’s estate. (The political drama takes a break (so to speak), and the next chapter turns into an idyllic romance in the countryside).
The last sequence, when the lovers (accidentally) reunite on a train, which speeds them to safety, is particularly melodramatic.
The film tries to blend history, high adventure, and romance, with a tone of chivalry and elegance–not always effectively.
But there’s good rapport between Donat and Dietrich, who elevate the material, turning it into a glossy, intermittently entertaining thriller, with emphasis on the wishful heroic and romantic aspects.
Dietrich’s costumes are not always credible or suitable to the historical setting in which the tale takes place, but they highlight her shapely body. She is almost forced to project her glamorous image, familiar to viewers from her collaborations with Josef von Sternberg, who was instrumental in shaping her iconic screen persona.
Donat’s career would take off, upon playing the lead in the 1939 school melodrama, Goodbye Mr. Chips, which would win him the Best Actor Oscar.
After being labeled “box-office poison,” Dietrich would also remerged triumphantly in 1939 due to her successful comedy-western, Destry Rides Again, opposite Jimmy Stewart.
Miklós Rózsa, who would become one of Hollywood’s most respected musicians, made his scoring debut in this picture, using additional music by Tchaikovsky.
Cast
Marlene Dietrich as Alexandra Adraxine, née Vladinoff
Robert Donat as A.J. Fothergill/”Peter Ouranoff”
Irene Vanbrugh as Duchess
Herbert Lomas as General Gregor Vladinoff
Austin Trevor as Colonel Adraxine, Alexandra’s husband
Basil Gill as Axelstein
David Tree as Maronin
John Clements as Poushkoff
Frederick Culley as Stanfield
Credits:
Produced by Alexander Korda
Directed by Jacques Feyder
Screenplay by Lajos Bíró, Frances Marion, Arthur Wimperis (additional dialogue), based on James Hilton’s novel, which was titled, “Without Armour”
Cinematography Harry Stradling Sr.
Edited by Francis D. Lyon
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Production company: London Film Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date: June 1, 1937
Running time: 107 minutes
Budget $350,000
