{"id":73130,"date":"2021-06-20T09:17:49","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T16:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=73130"},"modified":"2021-06-20T09:23:20","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T16:23:20","slug":"mission-to-moscow-1943","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=73130","title":{"rendered":"Mission to Moscow (1943)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;At least one European nation without aggressive intentions is ready for anything that comes &#8212; and I say, thank God for it.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Poster-197x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-73131\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Poster-197x300.png 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Poster-672x1024.png 672w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Poster-84x128.png 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Poster-177x270.png 177w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Poster.png 683w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nRoosevelt&#8217;s second ambassador to the Soviet Union &#8212; Joseph E. Davies (Walter Huston) &#8212; shares his positive impressions of life in Stalinist Russia, urging the U.S. to join forces with Stalin (Manart Kippen) against Nazi Germany.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eleanor Parker Films<\/li>\n<li>Michael Curtiz Films<\/li>\n<li>Walter Huston Films<\/li>\n<li>World War II<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis rather astonishing piece of pro-Russia wartime propaganda, produced by Warner Brothers Studios and given full approval by the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/United_States_Office_of_War_Information\">Office of War Information<\/a>, presents a cinematic version of <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/missiontomoscow035156mbp\">Ambassador Davies&#8217; popular 1941 memoir<\/a>, wherein he asserted that the Soviet Union had been sorely misunderstood and unfairly maligned. As he (played by Huston) says directly to Stalin (Kippen) in the film: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been greatly impressed by what I&#8217;ve seen &#8212; your industrial plants, the development of natural resources, and the work being done to improve living conditions everywhere in Russia. I believe, sir, that history will record you as a great builder for the benefit of mankind.&#8221; <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3080mosc.html\">DVD Savant<\/a> accurately refers to the film as &#8220;an amazingly didactic speech-fest with almost zero dramatic value,&#8221; adding that &#8220;insidious is the only word for the film&#8217;s whitewash of Stalin&#8217;s actions and the motives behind them.&#8221; Indeed, critics on both sides of the political aisle &#8212; in America and Russia &#8212; took issue with the many inaccuracies on display here, perhaps most notably the one-sided view of the murderous <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Moscow_Trials\">Moscow Trials<\/a>. <em>Mission to Moscow<\/em> remains merely a cinematic curiosity, and certainly not must-see viewing for film fanatics. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bert Glennon&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"448\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-73136\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography3.png 608w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography3-300x221.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography3-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography3-366x270.png 366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"448\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-73134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography2.png 608w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography2-300x221.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography2-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mission-to-Moscow-Cinematography2-366x270.png 366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. Listed as a film with Historical Importance in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0036166\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/1366\/mission-to-moscow#articles-reviews?articleId=115780\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3080mosc.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1943\/04\/30\/archives\/mission-to-moscow-based-on-exambassador-daviess-book-stars-walter.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/mission-to-moscow\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;At least one European nation without aggressive intentions is ready for anything that comes &#8212; and I say, thank God for it.&#8221; Synopsis: Roosevelt&#8217;s second ambassador to the Soviet Union &#8212; Joseph E. Davies (Walter Huston) &#8212; shares his positive impressions of life in Stalinist Russia, urging the U.S. to join forces with Stalin (Manart Kippen) against Nazi Germany. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Eleanor Parker Films Michael Curtiz Films Walter Huston Films World War II Review: This rather astonishing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=73130\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73130"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73149,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73130\/revisions\/73149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}