The Demi-Paradise

During WWII, the American and British film industry made quite a few films that attempted to rehabilitate the perceptions about the Russian people. That's because before the war, they were the enemy, but now that the three countries were allies, the government pushed film makers to portray the Russians in very glowing terms. In the States, films like THE NORTH STAR gave a sickeningly sweet view of the Russians that were just too good to be true. THE DEMI-PARADISE is a British film that also seeks to made the Russians seem more human--more like our friends.

It's interesting to see the famous actor Laurence Olivier playing Ivan Kouznetsoff--a Russian who talks to some British seamen during the war about his visit to London before the war. His accent seemed okay to me, but who am I to judge?! Anyways, the film is all told in flashback form. For the most part, Olivier's character is a bit standoffish and seems to think everything Russian is better--though this improves a bit through the course of the film. As for the Brits, they range from a few suspicious idiots to those who keep pointing out how "they are just like us". A father even wonders out loud about what a great husband Kouznetsoff would make. Talk about over-idealizing the Russians. As a result, the people in the film seem more like caricatures than real people. And as for Olivier, he seemed a bit silly--very stereotypical and broad in his portrayal.

Now despite me not loving this film and disliking how unreal everyone seemed, it was a good bit better than the WWII Hollywood films that were pro-Russia. They went even further to idealize Russia--to such a point that the films are downright dumb, as no group of people is THAT wonderful and happy and full of spunk! Overall, it's an interesting curio but certainly not a film you should run out to rent.

Almost two hours long, D.P.starts out in Russia, with some British travelers meeting with a Russian; we quickly flash back to when one of the Russians had traveled to London on business. Laurence Olivier is Ivan Kouznetskoff, who recounts his experience in Britain many years ago, both pleasant and unpleasant. British "Ann" ( Penelope Dudley ) is his new love interest, and that is an on again/off again relationship. Viewers will recognize Margaret Rutherford (plays Rowena Ventnor) - Rutherford played Agatha Christie's Jane Marple during the 1960s. Olivier's accent is iffy, but they DO capture the proud complaining that is prevalent in some Russians (as well as some Americans, some Britains...) Of course, the story takes place deep in the middle of world war II now, and also about the time of the Haye's movie production period back in the U.S., so I'm guessing some parts of the original story were left out of the film. Writer Anatole de Grunwald had actually fled Russia as a young boy with his family during the Russian Revolution, so its interesting that his main character would extol the virtues of the common worker society. Entertaining two hours, but Ivan is so cold throughout, that we don't get too drawn into the story. The second half is more about their relationship, and less about comparing Great Britain to Russia, and what a snob Ivan is.

THE DEMI-PARADISE (original title, UK 1943) is an opportunistic piece of propaganda, with the great Laurence Olivier playing a Russian engineer trying to build a propeller for an ice breaker to operate in the Baltic, with the assistance of obviously superior British engineers.

In the midst of the propaganda against the backdrop of a war that until 1942 had not gone in Great Britain's favor, you even get to see historic pageants, and an apology for the UK colonizing half of the planet.

This film is an interesting document of the mindset of the day, when Great Britain was still the empire on which the sun never set, but it does not really work from a cinematographic standpoint. Photography is average, acting so-so, and the screenplay carries some extremely cheesy holes.

Strikingly elegant Penelope Dudley-Ward conveniently represents Britain's openness to a loving relationship with the USSR, but there's really no chemistry spark between her and Olivier. It's as totally unconvincing a love affair as this is as piece of film-making.

Perhaps the most interesting comment to be made about THE DEMI-PARADISE is that by 1945 Winston Churchill was referring to the Soviet Union as the "iron curtain," and warning about the dangers of the USSR's occupation of Eastern Europe, and by 1948 the Cold War had started in earnest.

Really strange bedfellows, therefore. Thankfully, Dudley-Ward is very easy on the eye, especially when she smiles, but even her beautiful face cannot save this overlong piece of propaganda.

I suffered watching it because of Covid-prompted confinement but rest assured that I'll not watch it again.

One has to keep in mind that this British comedy, about the experiences of a Soviet engineer in Britain, was produced at a critical point in the relations between those two nations. Due to the fact that Joseph Stalin had signed a non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union remained neutral after Britain and France went to war against Germany in 1939. The Soviets didn't come into the war as an ally of Britain until the middle of 1941, after Germany invaded Russia. It was not an easiest alliances. Unlike the case of Britain and the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union had almost nothing in common, either politically or linguistically. In fact, British relations with the Soviet Union had been strained ever since the 1917 Revolution.

The Demi-Paradise was produced as an aid to bridging the cultural gap between those two allies, at least from the British point of view. I have no idea whether it was ever shown in Russia, let alone how it would have been perceived by audiences there.

The story concerns a Russian engineer, played by Olivier, who encounters a pair of British seamen ashore in Murmansk during World War II. Typically, the British are complaining about the difficulties they are having among the "foreigners". To their astonishment, Olivier jokingly informs them in English that it is they who are the "foreigners" in Russia, and then proceeds to recount his own experiences as a "foreigner" when he was assigned to do a job in Britain both before, and during, the war.

In addition to being a wartime propaganda film, The Demi-Paradise is full of the sort of self-deprecating humor the British seem to love. While produced in Britain, the script actually was written by a Russian ex-patriot, Anatole de Grunwald. Consequently, one cannot help but feel that the writer brought a lot of his own personal experiences and impressions into the story. The result is very droll, and one cannot help but feel that the protagonist's experiences are probably universal to any stranger in a strange land.

Good example of the type of movies made in England during the war, to keep spirits up. The Brits never seem to engage in gung-ho war stuff: which makes for more pleasant viewing.

While nowhere near the league of, say, "A Canterbury Tale", The Demi-Paradise has enough realism (of the British character) to while away a pleasant hour and a half.