Trivia / Ninotchka

• Actor-Inspired Element: Although Greta Garbo's famous hat in the film was made by her regular costumier Adrian, it was actually based on a sketch by Garbo herself.
• Banned in China: Banned in the Soviet Union, for obvious reasons. Also, a U.S. re-release in the early 1940s was cancelled on the grounds that the U.S.S.R. was now considered a World War II ally.
• Billing Displacement: Bela Lugosi received fourth billing even though he appears only near the end of the movie and only in one scene with Greta Garbo.
• Fake Russian: The only Russian character played by a Russian actor is Count Alexis (Gregory Gaye). Ninotchka is played by the Swedish Greta Garbo. The actors playing the three diplomats were German. Bela Lugosi (who played the commissar) was Hungarian.
• Follow the Leader: The film's plot of a humorless female lead learning to have fun was inspired by Joy of Living. Greta Garbo even resembled Irene Dunne - who was the lead in the latter.
• One for the Money; One for the Art: As part of Ernst Lubitsch's deal for directing, MGM agreed to make The Shop Around the Corner for him afterwards.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Greta Garbo was of course known for tragic lovers or the Femme Fatale. Here she first plays The Comically Serious and turns into a Defrosting Ice Queen.
  • It's also one of the very few non-horror films Lugosi appeared in (though he's still pretty scary).
• Reality Subtext: Both Greta Garbo and Ina Clare had been involved with the same man, leading to another layer in their scenes as competitive women.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Cary Grant, Robert Montgomery, William Powell and Spencer Tracy were considered for Leon.
  • George Cukor was originally set to direct, but he dropped out in order to make Gone with the Wind...which he was later fired from.
  • Greta Garbo was initially unsure about appearing in a comedy, and was especially nervous about the scene where Ninotchka gets drunk.

---