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Mission to Moscow

Mission to Moscow
Mission-to-moscow-1943.jpg
theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Produced by Robert Buckner
Written by Howard Koch
Based on Mission to Moscow (1941 book)
by Joseph E. Davies
Starring Walter Huston
Ann Harding
Oskar Homolka
Music by Max Steiner
Cinematography Bert Glennon
Edited by Owen Marks
Production
company
Warner Bros.
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • May 22, 1943 (1943-05-22)
Running time
124 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1,516,000
Box office $1.2 million (US rentals)

Mission to Moscow is a 1943 film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the 1941 book by the former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, Joseph E. Davies.

The movie chronicles the experiences of the second American ambassador to the Soviet Union and was made in response to a request by Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was made during World War II, when the Americans and Soviets were allies, and takes a more benign view of the Soviet government than most Hollywood films. For that reason, it was scrutinized by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

The book is Joseph E. Davies' memoir about his stint as U.S. ambassador to Moscow from November 1936 to June 1938. It was published by Simon and Schuster in 1941 and was a critical and commercial success — 700,000 copies were sold and it was translated into thirteen languages.

The film chronicles ambassador Davies' impressions of the Soviet Union, his meetings with Stalin, and his overall opinion of the Soviet Union and its ties with the United States. It is made in faux-documentary style, beginning with Davies meeting with president Franklin D. Roosevelt to discuss his new appointment as United States ambassador to the Soviet Union. It continues to show the Davies' family's trip by boat to Moscow, with stops in Europe.

While in Moscow, the movie alternates between Davies' interpretations of Russian politics and communism and his family's impressions of Russian life. It includes a memorable scene with Mrs. Davies at a Russian department store. The movie gives Davies' perspective on various points in Soviet history. It begins with the real ambassador Davies stating, while seated in an armchair, “No leaders of a nation have been so misrepresented and misunderstood as those in the Soviet government during those critical years between the two world wars.” The film then cuts to the film Davies and begins its narrative.

Davies is shown witnessing the famous show trials conducted by Stalin in the 1930s (known as the Moscow Trials), which are portrayed as trials of fifth columnists working for Germany and Japan.


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