Ninotchka is Greta Garbo's first full comedy, and her penultimate film.

The Soviet Union then sends Nina Ivanovna " Ninotchka " Yakushova ( Greta Garbo ), a special envoy whose goal is to go through with the jewelry sale and bring back the three men.

The musical is loosely based on the Melchior Lengyel story Ninotchka and the 1939 film adaptation it inspired.

Ninotchka Rosca ( born in the Philippines in 1946 ) is a Filipina feminist, author, journalist and human rights activist who is active in AF3IRM, the Mariposa Center for Change, Sisterhood is Global and the initiating committee of the MARIPOSA ALLIANCE ( Ma-Al ), a multi-racial, multi-ethnic women's activist center for understanding the intersectionality of class, race and gender oppressions, toward a more comprehensive practice of women's liberation.

* Ninotchka ( 1939 )

* Ninotchka ( 1939 ), d. Ernst Lubitsch

After working exclusively in dramatic films, Garbo turned to comedy with Ninotchka ( 1939 ), which earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination, and Two-Faced Woman ( 1941 ).

She then made a comeback in her first comedy playing opposite Melvyn Douglas in Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka ( 1939 ).

By next spring I shall probably be ... quite alone "; and in Ninotchka ( 1939 ) emissaries from Russia ask her, " Do you want to be alone, comrade "?

" With Melvyn Douglas in Ernst Lubitsch's comedy Ninotchka ( 1939 )

Finally, in 1939, Garbo was nominated for Ninotchka, but again came away empty-handed.

She won the National Board of Review Best Acting Award for Camille, 1936, Ninotchka, 1939, and Two-Faced Woman, 1941.

In 1939, Lubitsch moved to MGM, and directed Greta Garbo in Ninotchka.

Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man ( perhaps best typified by his performance in the 1939 romantic comedy Ninotchka ), Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud ( 1963 ) and Being There ( 1979 ).

< center > With Greta Garbo in Ninotchka ( 1939 )</ center >

He played opposite Joan Crawford in several films, most notably A Woman's Face ( 1941 ), and with Greta Garbo in three films: As You Desire Me ( 1932 ), Ninotchka ( 1939 ) and Garbo's final film Two-Faced Woman ( 1941 ).

When the Soviet Union also proved too inhospitable, he settled in Hollywood, where he made his first American film appearance as Kopalski in Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka ( 1939 ).

* 1939: Ninotchka

Some of his stories became worldwide successes, such as Ninotchka ( 1939 ), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story, and To Be or Not to Be ( 1942 ).

This had been one of Porter's less successful stage musicals and was based on the 1939 Greta Garbo classic Ninotchka.

* Ninotchka ( 1939 ) as Russian Visa Official ( uncredited )

The film was heavily influenced by the popular 1939 comedy Ninotchka.

* Ninotchka ( 1939 )

* Ninotchka ( 1939 ) as Mercier

* 1939 Ninotchka as Jacqueline

The apogee of the studio system may have been the year 1939, which saw the release of such classics as The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Destry Rides Again, Young Mr. Lincoln, Wuthering Heights, Only Angels Have Wings, Ninotchka, Babes in Arms, Gunga Din, and The Roaring Twenties.

* Ninotchka ( 1939 )

Years later, Knef's first husband, an American named Kurt Hirsch, encouraged her to try again for success in the U. S. She changed her name from Knef to Neff and achieved a measure of stardom on Broadway as “ Ninotchka ” in the Cole Porter musical,

Although much of the marketing surrounding Ninotchka played on Garbo's serious image, suggesting she had never laughed on film or performed in a comedy before, an examination of her canon reveals this not to be the case.

More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz discussed the humor of Ninotchka, writing, " The sly political jokes include Garbo saying: " The last mass trials were a great success.

The 1956 film The Iron Petticoat, starring Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn, borrows heavily from Ninotchka.

* Ninotchka film trailer

In 1957, she rejoined Astaire in the film version of Silk Stockings, a musical remake of 1939's Ninotchka, with Charisse taking over Greta Garbo's role.

Actor George Tobias, who played the commissar in Silk Stockings, also had a small role in Ninotchka as the man who gets punched by Leon for refusing him a visa.

In 1990, Ninotchka was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being " culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant ".

Ninotchka received four Academy Award nominations, for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Original Story, and Best Screenplay.

Jan Sherwood eventually replaced Neff as Ninotchka and also portrayed the role for the show's first national tour.

** Silk Stockings – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, and Abe Burrows ( based on the story Ninotchka by Melchior Lengyel )

She also defeated Colonel Ninotchka to win the vacant GLOW Championship, represented by a crown.

Directed by Cy Feuer and choreographed by Eugene Loring, the cast included Hildegarde Neff ( Ninotchka ), Don Ameche ( Steve Canfield ), Gretchen Wyler ( Janice Dayton ), George Tobias, David Opatoshu, Julie Newmar, and Onna White.

* Jose Maria Sison: At Home in the World -- Portrait of a Revolutionary by Jose Maria Sison and Ninotchka Rosca ( 2004 )

#" Lily Pad " Unconventional Thoughts from an Unconventional Filipina, a personal blogsite by Ninotchka Rosca

# Books by Ninotchka Rosca, Amazon. com

#" Ninotchka Rosca: I'm Still Very Filipino " by Alfred A. Yuson, Literature & Culture, Philippine Post Magazine

# An Interview with Ninotchka Rosca in Seattle by Bughaw. com, date retrieved: 27 May 2007

* Full Text: Generations by Ninotchka Rosca