Mission to Moscow (1943)
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14% want to see it
(192 ratings)
More so than most wartime films, Mission to Moscow must be viewed within the context of its times. Requested by President Roosevelt to make a film supportive of America's Russian allies, Warner Bros. turned to the memoirs of Ambassador Joseph H. Davies, who spent several years prior to WWII in… More More so than most wartime films, Mission to Moscow must be viewed within the context of its times. Requested by President Roosevelt to make a film supportive of America's Russian allies, Warner Bros. turned to the memoirs of Ambassador Joseph H. Davies, who spent several years prior to WWII in the Soviet Union. As played by Walter Huston, Davies is a pillar of incorruptable integrity, reporting the facts "as I saw them" (only in later years was Davies revealed to be something less than a paragon of virtue who was willing to alter opinions for political, personal and financial expedience). Sent to Moscow by FDR as a means of finding out if Russia is a potentially trustworthy ally in case of war, Davies and his family are given the royal treatment by the Commissars, who display the social, technological, agricultural and artistic advances made under the Stalin regime. Invariably, the Russian citizens are shown to be singing, smiling, freedom-loving rugged individuals-in contrast to the Nazis, who are depicted as humorless automatons. In its efforts to present the USSR in the best possible light, the film glosses over the notorious Purge Trials of 1937, presenting the trials as scrupulously fair and the defendants as unabashed traitors to the Soviet cause. At one point, Russia's annexation of Finland in 1939 is "justified" by Davies' explanation that the Soviets merely wanted to protect their tiny neighbor from Nazi domination! It is unfair to label Mission to Moscow as Communistic or even left-wing, since it was merely parroting the official party line vis-a-vis US/Soviet relations in 1943. Even so, screenwriter Howard Koch found it very difficult to get film work after the war because of his contributions to this "Pinko" project (conversely, Jack Warner pulled a Pontius Pilate, washing his hands of the matter by insisting that he was strongarmed into making the film). Seen objectively, Mission to Moscow is top-rank entertainment, superbly and excitingly assembled in the manner typical of Warners and director Michael Curtiz. The huge cast includes Gene Lockhart as Molotov, attorney Dudley Field Malone as Winston Churchill, Maynart Kippen as a benign, pipe-smoking Stalin, Charles Trowbridge as Secretary Cordell Hull, Leigh Whipper as Hailie Selassie, Georges Renavent as Anthony Eden and Alex Chirva as Pierre Laval, along with the more familiar faces of Ann Harding (as Mrs. Davies), George Tobias, Eleanor Parker, Moroni Olsen, Minor Watson, Jerome Cowan, Duncan Renaldo, Mike Mazurki, Frank Faylen, Edward van Sloan, Louis-Jean Heydt, Monte Blue, Robert Shayne and even Sid (sic) Charisse. Original prints of Mission to Moscow include a 6-minute prologue delivered by the real Joseph Davies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Michael Curtiz
- Genres
- Drama
Unrated,
Critic Reviews
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A fascinating propaganda film released during World War II.
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Cast
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Walter Huston
as Ambassador Joseph E. Davies
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Ann Harding
as Mrs. Davies
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Oscar Homolka
as Maxim Litvinov
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Gene Lockhart
as Vyacheslav Molotov
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George Tobias
as Freddie
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Eleanor Parker
as Emlen Davies
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Frieda Inescort
as Mme. Molotov
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Helmut Dantine
as Maj. Kamenev
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Richard Travis
as Paul Grosjean
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Victor Francen
as Vyshinsky
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Henry Daniell
as Minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop
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Barbara Everest
as Madame Litvinov
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Dudley Field Malone
as Prime Minister Winston Churchill
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Roman Bohnen
as Krestinsky
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Maria Palmer
as Tanya Litvinov
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Moroni Olsen
as Col. Faymonville
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Minor Watson
as Loy Henderson
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Vladimir Sokoloff
as Mikhail Kalinin
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Maurice Schwartz
as Dr. Botkin
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Jerome Cowan
as Spendler
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Manart Kippen
as Joseph Stalin
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Kathleen Lockhart
as Lady Chilston
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Kurt Katch
as Semer Timoshenko
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Felix Basch
as Dr. Hjalmar Schacht
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Frank Puglia
as Judge Ulrich
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John Abbott
as Grinko
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Charles Trowbridge
as Secretary of State Cordell Hull
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Leigh Whipper
as Haile Selassie
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Clive Morgan
as Anthony Eden
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Doris Lloyd
as Mrs. Churchill
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Olaf Hytten
as Parliament Member
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Arthur Gilmore
as Commentator
- George Sorel
- Duncan Renaldo
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Nino Bellini
as Italian Reporter
- Ferdinand Schumann-Heink
- Rolf Lindau
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Peter Michael
as German Reporter
- George Davis
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Jean Del Val
as French Reporter
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Emory Parnell
as Speaker of House
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Pat O'Malley
as Irish-American
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Mark Strong
as Englishman
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Albert D'Arno
as Frenchman
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Rudolf Steinbeck
as German
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Gino Corrado
as Italian
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Glenn Strange
as Southerner
- Oliver Cross
- Ray Walker
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Frank Faylen
as Reporter
-
Joseph Crehan
as Reporter
- Ross Ford
- Warren Douglas
- Barbara Brown
- Wallis Clark
- Hans Schumm
- Ernest Golm
- Lisa Golm
- Henry Victor
- Louis V. Arco
- Erwin Kalser
-
Pierre Watkin
as Naval Attache
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Edward Van Sloan
as German Diplomat
- Michael Visaroff
- Alex Akimoff
- Sam Savitsky
- Henry Guttman
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Elizabeth Archer
as Elderly Woman
- Sandor Szabo Sr.
- Virginia Christine
- Daniel Ocko
- David Hoffman
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Lumsden Hare
as Lord Chilston
- Ernie S. Adams
- Herbert Ashley
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Hooper Atchley
as Father
- Egon Brecher
- Oliver Blake
- Monte Blue
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Eugene Borden
as French Minister
- George Carleton
- Maurice Cass
- Feodor Chaliapin Jr.
- Luke Chan
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Cyd Charisse
as Specialty Dancer
- Edmund Cobb
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Harry Cording
as Blacksmith
- Noel Cravat
- Jacqueline Dalya
- William B. Davidson
- Jean De Briac
- John Dilson
- Ben Erway
- Fred Essler
- Frank Ferguson
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Robert C. Fischer
as Von Schulenberg
- James Flavin
- Lee Tung Foo
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William Forrest
as American Newsman
- Jack Gardner
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Gene Gary
as Russian Foreman
- Sam Goldenberg
- Gregory Golubeff
- Christine Gordon
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William Gould
as Isolationist
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Alexander Granach
as Russian Air Force Officer
- John Hamilton
- Herbert Heyes
- Louis Jean Heydt
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Mauritz Hugo
as Hecklers
- Ted Jacques
- Frank Jaquet
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Allen Jung
as Japanese Diplomat
- Eddie Kane
- Edward Keane
- Bill Kennedy
- Jack Kenney
- Charles La Torre
- Ivan Lebedeff
- George Lessey
- Marion Lessing
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Arthur Loft
as Man with Microphone
- Michael Mark
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Mike Mazurki
as Workman
- Alex Melesh
- Howard Mitchell
- Forbes Murray
- Martin Noble
- Frank Penny
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Francis Pierlot
as Doctor
- Emil Rameau
- Frank Reicher
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Georges Renavent
as President Paul Van Zeeland
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Lionel Royce
as Dr. Schmitt
- Dick Ryan
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Konstantin Shayne
as Nikolai Bukharin
- Robert Shayne
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Tamara Shayne
as Russian Nurse
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Leonid Snegoff
as Kommodov
- Ivan Triesault
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Tom Tully
as Engineer
- Peggy Watts
- John Wengraf
- Marek Windheim
- Joan Winfield
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Isabel Withers
as Woman
- Victor Wong
- Jack Young
- John Maxwell
- Alfred Zeisler
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Betty Roadman
as Mother
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Michel Panaieff
as Specialty Dancer
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Frank Hemphill
as Grandfather
- Ernst Hausman
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Edgar Licho
as Bookseller
- Tina Menard
- Loulette Sablon
- Frank Wayne
- Jean Wong
- Joseph Kamaryt
- Zoya Karabanova
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Al Kunde
as Father
- Billy Louie
- Marie Melesch
- Irina Semochenko
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Evelynne Smith
as Daughter
