Leslie Howard's first diplomatic posting is to St. Petersburg, where it is feared the Kerensky government will make a separate peace with Germany, freeing thousands of German troops for the Western Front. No sooner does he arrive than he meets and falls in love with Bolshevik agent Kay Francis and witnesses the October Revolution. With no official position, he tries to convince the new government to not make peace, but Miss Francis, who loves him, keeps betraying him because of her loyalty to the State, as he clubs with other foreign diplomats to destroy the Soviet Union. Can their love survive?
Howard seems to be a futile sort of individual, the headliner who gets to witness others trying to do great things while he makes impassioned speeches to Miss Francis. It's those other actors who keep the futile plot alive and offer interesting performances, like Cesar Romero, William Gargan, and Ivan F. Simpson. It's constantly interesting, but there's far too much talk. In its efforts to make no one a villain, it makes no one particularly heroic, which is probably why it has vanished from consciousness: just another competently rendered potboiler that kept everyone working.
Howard seems to be a futile sort of individual, the headliner who gets to witness others trying to do great things while he makes impassioned speeches to Miss Francis. It's those other actors who keep the futile plot alive and offer interesting performances, like Cesar Romero, William Gargan, and Ivan F. Simpson. It's constantly interesting, but there's far too much talk. In its efforts to make no one a villain, it makes no one particularly heroic, which is probably why it has vanished from consciousness: just another competently rendered potboiler that kept everyone working.