Nevermind that this is obviously untrue, or at very least a cruel statement to make about any ideology. The film is capitalist propaganda of the most effective kind, and makes no apologies for that fact. Hitler was doing the exact same thing in Germany, only without the beauty of Greta Garbo to make the argument for him.
Before a single line of dialogue was written, came the tagline "Garbo laughs." The writing team, headlined by Billy Wilder, was given the job of coming up with a screenplay that would support that tagline, and they did a fantastic job. The script is just brimming with political jabs in both directions and stands easily with some of Wilder's best work. Garbo had never before done comedy, but here she does a masterful job.
She maintains a perfect poker face until the point she laughs, but from that point on cannot for more than a few seconds without at least a hint of mirth. When she falls in love with the Count, she does so completely. Her performance earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination, and probably would have won had she not been against Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara (Gone with the Wind).
starring: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, and Alexander Granach
written by: Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder & Walter Reisch, based on the story by Melchior Lengyel
directed by: Ernst Lubitsch
NR, 110 min, 1939, USA
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