The Iron Petticoat Reviews

A grim, humorless attempt at recreating NINOTCHKA that gets a resounding nyet on every level. Based on a story by Harry Saltzman (producer of the James Bond films as well as countless others), Ben Hecht's script falls far short of his usual quality. Even the addition of numerous one-liners by the Hope staff writers, who were always brought in to pepper his scripts with bons mots, is no help. Hepburn and Hope were imported to England to make this picture, and how two such veterans could have been hoodwinked into appearing in such a turkey is a marvel of money. Hepburn is a Russian pilot who gets angry at her bosses and flies to the American section of Berlin. There she is introduced to Hope, a major in the Army whose job it is to convert her to western ways. At the same time she tries to convert him to the joys of communism. She is not against her country's government policy, just the people who run it. They travel to London, where Hope shows her what capitalism can do. It's not long before Hepburn doffs her bulky uniform, dons some frou-frou clothes, quaffs a bit of the bubbly, and falls hard for Hope. The Russians don't like it a bit, so Hepburn is kidnaped and taken back to Moscow, where they plan to do her in. When Hope tries to rescue her off the plane, both are taken to Russia for execution. Then there's a change of mind; they get married; East and West are united. Good work from the British contingent of Justice, James, Lemkow, Kossoff, and Helpmann helps, but it's basically a bore. Hepburn's attempt at a Russian accent is too ludicrous to describe. Hecht asked for his name to be removed from the credits. It was granted.