Classic Film Guide

Tovarich (1937) - full review!

Though it starts a little slowly, this is a very funny comedy directed by Anatole Litvak, adapted from the Robert E. Sherwood (The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)) play. Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer star as Russian royalty who choose to work as maid & butler for a French family in Paris because they refuse to spend their deposed Tzar's fortune. The title of the film means "Comrade"; Max Steiner wrote its score.

The film opens with two foreign persons (Colbert & Boyer) dancing in the streets with the French citizens of Paris on July 14th. Unaware of the significance of the date, they inquire and eventually learn that it is Bastille Day, a celebration of the country's revolution against their aristocracy. When Prince Mikail Alexandrovitch Ouratieff (Boyer) relays this to the Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna Romanov (Colbert), they no longer feel like celebrating with the crowd. It turns out that, even though they had barely escaped the Russian revolution with their lives and its treasury (worth 40 billion francs), they've been living frugally as fugitives in France. In fact, the two have just about run through their own funds, and are down to their last 100 francs, such that the Grand Duchess has begun stealing food from the local grocer (Clifford Soubier, uncredited). When she is caught by a gendarme (Victor Kilian), however, the couple learns that one of the country's bankers (Morris Carnovsky, with Gregory Gaye in tow) was aware of who they were and their activities such that "he" had been reimbursing the grocer in hopes that the Prince would convert the treasury money into French bonds. Outraged at being recipients of this charity, and refusing to touch the Tzar's fortune, the two decide to seek employment. The Prince dictates a letter of reference to the Grand Duchess, who writes her own "resume"becoming Tina Dubrovsky, a person who allegedly worked for "herself".

Tina and Mikail are hired by banker Charles Dupont (Melville Cooper) and his wife Fermonde (Isabel Jeans), who already have a cook (May Boley) but desperately need a maid and butler. Also living in the mansion are the Dupont's son Georges (Maurice Murphy) and daughter Helene (Anita Louise). Unaware that their new hired hands are Russian royalty, the four Duponts order the two around mercilessly until they are overcome by their dignity, demeanor, culture, skills (including fencing!), beauty and other natural charms. The film's funniest moments are contained in these realizations as the servants practically begin to run the household. In fact, the Dupont "children" even begin to assist Tina & Mikail in their household chores as all of them, including the parents, "fall" for their hired help. Georges literally experiences "puppy love" for Tina.

However, inevitably, there is a bump in the road for Tina & Mikail and their "ideal" situation. The Duponts inform them that one of the guests invited to their dinner party that night will be the Russian Commissar Dimitri Gorotchenko (Basil Rathbone). While the Duponts believe this should be good news for their servants, a homecoming of sorts, they are not only still unaware of their hired help's background but also don't know that the Commissar himself had once tortured the two in the first days of the Russian revolution. However, before the Commissar arrives, the Duponts learn from several of their guests, one (Heather Thatcher) literally bows before Tina, that their evening will be interesting, to say the least. More hilarity occurs up until the dinner itself, which is less droll that it could have been. In fact, Rathbone's character plays it straight and the "payoff", and wrap-up, is somewhat unsatisfactory given the strong middle third of this comedy.