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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.

In between making That Hamilton Woman and Henry V both of which could be argued were better contributions to the propaganda front of the British war effort, Laurence Olivier made this film about a Soviet engineer who designs a new type ship propeller and the government contracts with a British firm to build and install it on a ship. This is taking place in 1939 before any general war breaks out in Europe.

Two things I found interesting about The Demi-Paradise. Firstly the fact that the proper name of the country, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, or the Soviet Union is never used once in the film. Olivier always refers to his country as Russia, as do the others in the cast. Secondly, you never hear one word about the German-Soviet non- aggression pact. I suppose that might have been better than the clumsy explanations given in the American film Mission to Moscow.

But whether Czarist or Marxist it's a different world that Olivier steps into when he arrives in the United Kingdom. He's pretty suspicious at first, but his interaction with British people in all walks of life gradually wins him over. Not the least of which is pretty Penelope Ward who's conducting a campaign of her own as far as Olivier is concerned.

Hardly the greatest film Olivier ever did. Then again he nor anyone else managed to get themselves blacklisted over it, did they?

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.

Laurence Olivier is a Russian who comes to the U.K. to work on a propeller in "The Demi-Paradise," a 1943 propaganda film directed by Anthony Asquith. Since the Russians became allies in World War II, much was done in film so that they would be seen in a favorable light. At first, Ivan, the Olivier character, regards everyone with suspicion, having heard all sorts of clichés about the English. But with time, they win him over, helped by the daughter (Penelope Ward) of the man in charge of building the ship that will house the propeller.

Olivier's accent is good, but as someone pointed out, the slow way he speaks makes him seem dumb, which, as an engineer, he isn't. On the other hand, it's probably realistic, since it would be a second language.

There are a few funny scenes, and the film is infected with a lot of warmth. It's good, but not great.

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.