Knight without Armour **** (1937, Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat, Irene Vanbrugh) – Classic Movie Review 6,634

Producer Alexander Korda comes up with the good idea of teaming Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat shortly before World War Two with the lavishly atmospheric 1937 period thriller film Knight without Armour, based on James Hilton’s 1933 novel.

‘The woman of flame – the man of steel – together!’ Ah, yes, producer Alexander Korda’s London Film Productions come up with the good idea of teaming Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat shortly before World War Two. And the great French director Jacques Feyder comes up with a minor classic in England with the lavishly atmospheric 1937 period thriller film Knight without Armour, based on James Hilton’s 1933 novel.

Robert Donat is fine and touching as the chivalrous British spy, Ainsley J Fothergill, recruited to work as an agent in Russia in 1913, so he poses as Russian Commissar Peter Ouronov. Marlene Dietrich exudes allure in another of her Joseph von Sternberg-style enchantresses – here a Russian countess called Alexandra Vladinoff, whom Donat’s Fothergill helps to escape the Russian Revolution.

Though written by the formidable Lajos Biro (screenplay), Arthur Wimperis (dialogue and scenario) and Frances Marion (adaptation), script weaknesses let the film down slightly, but it is still a mighty entertaining vintage British movie.

Also in the cast are Irene Vanbrugh, Herbert Lomas, Austin Trevor, Basil Gill, David Tree, John Clements, Laurence Hanray, Miles Malleson, Hay Petrie, Lyn Harding, Frederick Culley, Dorice Fordred, Franklin Kelsey, Laurence Baskcomb, Allan Jeayes, Raymond Huntley, Peter Bull, Evelyn Ankers, Peter O’Brien, Torin Thatcher, Lisa d’Esterre, James Carew, Mark Daly, Edward Lexy, and Miklós Rózsa.

The score is by Miklós Rózsa, his first for a movie, which also partly uses music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with Frederic Lewis the uncredited music arranger for the Tchaikovsky excerpt. The sets are designed by renowned Franco-Russian designer Lazare Meerson.

Donat had a bout of his chronic asthma during production, but Dietrich persuaded producer Alexander Korda to wait for Donat to recover. Dietrich helped nursed him until he was well enough to return to filming.

Dietrich was to get $250,000 plus 10 per cent of the gross profits but the film did not make a profit thanks to Korda’s extravagant budget of $350,000, much of it for authentic sets and costumes. Dietrich agreed to be paid in part if Korda hired Josef von Sternberg to direct I, Claudius, which he did, but a car accident involving co-star Merle Oberon caused filming to be ended before completion.

LNER withdrew two locomotives and sold them to London Film Productions for the film. They were moved to Denham studios and modified to look more Russian. They were later sold to the War Department and had war service on the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway.

Knight without Armour is directed by Jacques Feyder, runs 107 minutes, is made by London Film Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Lajos Biro (screenplay), Arthur Wimperis (dialogue and scenario) and Frances Marion (adaptation), based on James Hilton’s novel, is shot in black and white by Harry Stradling Sr, Bernard Browne (assistant photographer) and Jack Cardiff (camera operator), is produced by Alexander Korda, is scored by Miklós Rózsa, Muir Mathieson (musical director) and Frederic Lewis (music arranger Tchaikovsky excerpt), and is designed by Lazare Meerson.

Release date: 1 June 1937.

The cast are Marlene Dietrich as Alexandra Adraxine née Vladinoff, Robert Donat as Ainsley J Fothergill/ Peter Ouronov, Irene Vanbrugh as Duchess, Herbert Lomas as General Gregor Vladinoff, Austin Trevor as Alexandra’s husband Colonel Adraxine,  Basil Gill as Axelstein, David Tree as Maronin, John Clements as Poushkoff, Frederick Culley as Stanfield, Laurence Hanray as Colonel Forester, Dorice Fordred as the Maid, Franklin Kelsey as Tomsky, Laurence Baskcomb as Commissar, Hay Petrie as Station Master, Miles Malleson as Drunken Red Commissar, Lyn Harding, Frederick Culley, Franklin Kelsey, Allan Jeayes, Raymond Huntley, Peter Bull, Evelyn Ankers, Peter O’Brien, Torin Thatcher, Lisa d’Esterre, James Carew, Mark Daly, Edward Lexy, and Miklós Rózsa.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6,634

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