Miss V from Moscow

If you are looking for one of the worst American propaganda films of WWII, I would suggest you take a look at "Miss V From Moscow". It features terrible acting, terrible writing, terrible accents and terrible direction...and a film must work hard to be terrible in all four departments!

When the film begins, you learn that a Russian spy, Vera Marova (Lola Lane...the least talented of the Lane sisters) has been called on for a completely ridiculous mission. This lady is apparently the EXACT double for a German spy and they want her to take her place!! The idea of two identical strangers who are spies is ludicrous---the idea that Lane could approximate a Russian or German accent is even more ludicrous! In fact, throughout the film, it's like accent goulash---with weird accents that are just not right or just plain old American accents with no attempt to even approximate the real thing. It comes off as cheap....and is made much worse by dialog that, frankly, sounds like it was written by a couple of 10 year- olds!

So what IS Vera supposed to do and where does the film go? Well, who cares...it's never believable or interesting...though she is assisted by an American on the run who pretends, briefly, to be French...about as French as Chop Suey! Again and again, I keep thinking "how could this get any stupider???"...and yet it does! A terrible film with little to recommend it except as either a lesson to filmmakers about what NOT to do or else a film you can enjoy for laughs.

By the way, in the opening scene, a soldier walks by some Russian office...and the soldier is wearing a WWI German helmet!!! Also, the German plane shot down at the end is Italian.

Lola Lane is sent by the government to Paris help the Resistance. The government is the Soviet Government.

This cheap but adequate PRC production is one of several films made during the Second World War in which the Soviets are the good guys. For those who, like me, spent their childhoods and a couple of decades of adulthood during the Cold War, it seems bizarre, even though once Miss Lane is in Paris, she might as easily have been from Indianola, Iowa. There are the seemingly suave but dangerous German officers, the freedom-loving Frenchmen, and, of course, the handsome American, Howard Banks, who's there on much the same mission, so they help each other out. The story is threadbare, but works, cameraman Marcel Picard does his usual good job, and the only item of note is the variety of pictures of Hitler scattered among the German officialdom in the movie. I suspect there were more pictures of Hitler in the Hollywood studios in this period than in all of Germany.

Nazi officer: "The Russian Army is annihilated!" --- Miss V: "What!? Again!?"

This is a quintessential WWII B-grade movie and, being cheaply made, it is fun! These were the days when Soviet Russia was a much admired ally, and Lola Lane plays Vera Marova "Miss V" (a Soviet spy), who resembles a top Nazi female (Greta Heller) who is permanently indisposed. Moscow smuggles her into Nazi Germany where she infiltrates the Gestapo and the Wehrmacht. They set her up in an elegant apartment which is unfortunately staffed by "Minna", the horse-faced former maid of the real Greta Heller. Knowing that she is an imposter, Minna proceeds to try and undo Miss V.

The movie is full of WWII-era zingers against the Nazi war machine, delivered by Lola Lane with an inimitable sense of timing. One of the famous Lane sisters, Lola has a marvellously rich contralto voice.

Miss V comes to the aid of some downed fliers and tries to aid them in escaping. Simple plot. Exciting at times.

One of the funniest things in the film is the hat Miss V wears for the last 10 minutes of the movie. It is a sort of GIANT beret, which is easily twice the size of the diminutive star's head.

Another remarkable thing is how much Soviet Russia resembles southern California... there are a couple of hayride scenes in which this is apparent.

If you're not in a mood for a serious film - this can be fun. For its genre as a B-grade war film - I give it a 7.

Silly, uneven WW II flick, with good picture quality, but poor sound quality. Lola Lane ( Vera Marova ) gets top billing, but its pretty much an ensemble spy thriller. Everyone says rather silly inane things at such a serious time, and the acting by Lane and John Wosper (Colonel Heinrich) is quite bad and stilted, which may explain why this was Wosper's first and last known role in film. Kathryn Sheldon plays Minna, the maid, who suspects that Marova is an imposter. Sherman Lowe and Arthur St. Claire had written nine movies together between 1940 and 1946, but I suspect that this was not their best work...I'm surprised that this was released on DVD... Noel Madison as Kleiss, had made 70 films by this time, and its a shame he didn't have a larger role. They include some footage of Hitler's speeches, with obvious over-dubbing. One thing to note --some credit list corrections -- as of today, Jan 25, 2008, in the credits at the beginning and end of the film itself, Noel Madison is listed as "Capt. Anton Kleis", yet on IMDb, it shows "Police Chief Fritz Kleiss". In the film, Richard Kipling is listed as "Dr. Suchevsky" but IMDb has spelling "Suchevcky". The film credits show "Gerald Naughton", but IMDb shows "Gerry Naughton". The film credits show the spelling "Heinrick", but IMDb has "Heinrich". The film shows "Paul Weigle", but IMDb has it spelled as Paul Weigel".... attempting to correct the credits....

Add to the justified criticisms in the previous reviews: there is no character development. Every character is a type, sticks to type. Events do not change them.

The U. S. joined the British and French ruling classes when they put destruction of Soviet socialism above stopping Nazi barbarism. At the last moment the three elites realized they must ally with the Soviet Union to defeat Hitler. This change could have been the basis for a change in a character in the movie.