How do you tell a story whose characters are involved in momentous historical events (the Russian Revolution's effect on World War I) in only eighty minutes - with a love story and international complications added for good measure? You follow the unfortunate example of this picture, and condense everything: history, conflict, character motivation, plot resolution. The result is a simplistic, unbalanced and inane account of choosing between love and duty (Kay Francis has the answer: she chooses both) while the bullets fly, bombs explode, and a wounded Lenin struggles to regain consciousness so that the lovers may flee to a happy ending.
A solid cast - with an especially good performance by J. Carrol Naish - is wasted in this misguided effort.
A solid cast - with an especially good performance by J. Carrol Naish - is wasted in this misguided effort.