Mission to Moscow (1943) on Netflix
Approved19432h 4mDramaHistoryWar
President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints Joseph E. Davies ambassador to Moscow. Davies and his family travel by boat to the Soviet Union, where he meets Stalin and attends the Moscow Trials.
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- Netflix2.7/5
- IMDb5.4/101,192 votes
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Plot summary
Joseph E. Davies receives a request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to take up the post of United States ambassador in Moscow, and the two men meet to discuss the appointment. Davies, his wife Marjorie Davis and their family travel by boat to the Soviet Union, with stops in Europe along the way. In Moscow he meets Soviet leaders including Maxim Litvinov, Viatcheslav Molotov and Stalin, and he attends the Moscow Trials, where the accused stand charged as agents of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Between official meetings, the family forms its own impressions of Russian life, among them Marjorie Davis's visit to a department store.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mission to Moscow (1943)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Before Mission to Moscow was released in Russia, the film was screened for Joseph Stalin at a banquet at the Moscow Kremlin, attended by Joseph Davies and the British legation in Moscow.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the making of Mission to Moscow and met with Joseph E. Davies several times during production, in July, October and November 1942 and March 1943, to discuss the film's progress.
- Mission to Moscow was the first pro-Soviet Hollywood film of its time, and it was followed by others, including Samuel Goldwyn's The North Star (1943), MGM's Song of Russia (1944), Three Russian Girls (1943), Columbia's The Boy from Stalingrad (1943) and Counter-Attack (1945).
- During production, Office of War Information officials reviewed screenplay revisions and prints of Mission to Moscow, using that authority to ensure the film promoted the "United Nations" theme, and an administration official advised the producers to explain the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the Red Army's invasion of Finland.
- As part of his contract with Warner Bros., ambassador Joseph E. Davies had absolute control over the script of Mission to Moscow and could veto any dialogue he did not like.
- Director Michael Curtiz wanted Fredric March to play Joseph E. Davies, while Olivia de Havilland auditioned for the part of Davies' wife, Marjorie Davies.
- The House Committee on Un-American Activities later cited Mission to Moscow as one of three pro-Soviet films made by Hollywood, the other two being The North Star and Song of Russia.
