Noites de Moscou

This early Asquith film is set in Imperial Russia during World War I. Olivier plays a Russian officer (Ignatoff) who is recuperating in a military hospital, where he is looked after by a nurse, Natasha (Dudley-Ward). She is already engaged to Brioukow, a rich merchant of peasant stock, played by Harry Baur. This is a sentimental wartime drama with an interwoven minor spy plot. Its main interest lies in Olivier's performance .He was to repeat a Russian role but now with heavy Russian accent in "The Demi-Paradise" (1943), also made by Asquith. Harry Baur was a great French actor who starred in many films by some of the most famous directors before World War II. He was tortured to death by the Gestapo in 1943. He was most excellent in "Poil de carotte" (1932), Julien Duvivier's masterpiece. In this film, however, he is prone to a certain overacting and he is not helped by having been dressed up to look like Rasputin, although he is not really villainous in this role. Film buffs will be interested to note that there is an uncredited short appearance by Anthony Quayle in his debut on the silver screen.