Moscow Nights (1935 film)

Moscow Nights (released as I Stand Condemned in the United States) is a 1935 British drama film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Laurence Olivier, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Harry Baur. The screenplay concerns a wounded officer who falls in love with his nurse.

Based on a novel by Pierre Benoit, it is a remake of the 1934 French film of the same title. Harry Baur was the only actor to reprise his role from the original. It was shot at Denham and Isleworth Studios, both controlled by Alexander Korda's London Films. The film's sets were designed by the art director Vincent Korda. It was released in the United States by United Artists.

Plot summary
During the First World War a wounded Russian officer Captain Ignatoff falls in love with his nurse. Matters are complicated by the fact that she is already engaged to a wealthy merchant.

Cast

 * Harry Baur as Brioukov
 * Penelope Dudley-Ward as Natasha
 * Laurence Olivier as Captain Ignatoff
 * Athene Seyler as Madame Sabline
 * Lilian Braithwaite as Countess
 * Morton Selten as Kovrin
 * Sam Livesey as Fedor
 * Robert Cochran as Polonsky
 * Hay Petrie as Spy
 * Walter Hudd as The Doctor
 * Kate Cutler as Madame Kovrin
 * C. M. Hallard as President of Court Martial
 * Charles Carson as Officer of Defence
 * Edmund Willard as Officer of Prosecution
 * Morland Graham as Bioukov's Servant

Critical response
Writing for The Spectator in 1935, Graham Greene called the film "completely bogus", and "the worst, as well as the most ballyhooed, film of the year". Asquith and Dudley-Ward were criticised in particular, with Greene describing Asquith's direction as puerile, and Dudley-Ward's acting as "country-house charades". Although Greene praised the acting from the rest of the film's stars, and noted that Asquith's past direction had been characterized by trickery, he commented that "now [Asquith's] bag of tricks seems empty".