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actual 9.5mm film frame


T.9054 (6 reel 9.5mm sound release by Pathéscope April 1939) 
"MOSCOW NIGHTS"                   GB Feb1936   Director: Anthony Asquith
---------------                   A London Films Production
76mins B/W Cert "A"               Produced by: Alexander Korda
(Approx 50mins on 9.5mm)                       Alexis Granowski, Max Schach
Produced at Denham Studios (UK)   Distributed by: General Film Distributors Ltd
Screenplay by: Eric Seipman, Anthony Asquith
Based on the novel "Les Nuits De Moscow" by Pierre Benoit
Released in the USA as "I Stand Condemned"
Sets by: Vincent Korda
Photography: Philip Tannura
Original Music: Walter Jurmann, Bronislau Kaper
Music Director: Muir Mathieson
(Although made during 1935, the UK release wasn't until 22Feb1936)
Laurence Olivier Penelope Dudley Ward 
                         (these B/W images are all from 9.5mm film frames)
  Cast:   Harry Baur .............. Peter Brioukow
          Laurence Olivier ........ Captain Ivan Ignatoff
          Penelope Dudley Ward .... Natasha
          Robert Cochran .......... Polonsky
          Morton Selten ........... General Kovrin
          Athene Seyler ........... Madame Anna Sabine
          Lilian Braithwaite ...... Countess
          Morton Selten ........... Kovrin
          Sam Livesey ............. Fedor
          Walter Hudd ............. Doctor
          Kate Cutler ............. Madame Kovrin
          Charles Hallard ......... President of Court Martial
          Charles Carson .......... Officer of Defence
          Edmund Willard .......... Officer of Prosecution
          Hay Petrie .............. Spy
          Morland Graham .......... Brioukow's servant
          Anthony Quale ........... (uncredited) soldier dictating letter
          John Harvey, Clarence Rigg, William Webster
  Russia 1916 - a nurse (Penelope Dudley Ward) agrees to marry a profiteer (Harry Baur) to save
  her mother's house and save the captain (Laurence Olivier) she loves from being shot as a spy.

 UK cinema release 
  US cinema release
   Release on 9.5mm sound         

  
  April/May 1939 Pathéscope Monthly magazine entry 

 
 Watch  the American release of "Moscow Nights" on YouTube as "I Stand Condemned": https://youtu.be/VGFD_pvSda4 

Notes: 
 1. The first film to be made at Denham Studios. The interiors started shooting at Worton Hall
    (Isleworth) in June 1935. before transferring to Denham for exteriors. Production cost was
    £52.326. ["Southern Roses" was the first production to be shot entirely at the new studios]. 
 2. This picture was part of a deal Alexander Korda did with Alexis Granowski. One version was
    shot during 1934 in France - the other later in England mainly with different actors.  The
    French edition starred Harry Baur, Pierre Richard-Willim & Annabella and was issued on 9.5mm
    sound in France as "Les Nuits Moscovites" (9 reels GS.70139). Baur who took the lead in the
    English version as well, was considered one of the greatest actors in French films during
    the Thirties. Publicity claimed he spoke little English, but on arrival in London was 
    tutored by Leslie Banks, the erudite star of Korda's "Sanders Of the River". At the end of
    four weeks allegedly Baur was fluent in the language.  However "Variety" trade magazine
    speculated that he had been dubbed, but "if this is so, then it is perfect dubbing".  
 3. After the film had been completed, Korda sold it as part of a "package deal" to C.M.Woolf's
    General Film Distributors (GFD). It was the first film to be released by this company who
    later became part of the J.Arthur Rank empire. At the time Max Schach's Capitol Films was
    closely tied to GFD and this is probably why his name often appears as a "producer" of
    this film. Schach, who has been described as "the most universally disliked producer ever
    to work in British Films", clearly did a deal with Pathéscope who released more of his 
    pictures, including "Land Without Music"; "Southern Roses" and "When Knights Were Bold".
 4. Amongst the scenes missing from the 9.5mm print are:- Peter Brioukow and Natasha sharing
    an idyllic afternoon in the countryside : Natasha walking in the hospital gardens, meeting
    Ignatoff (who declares his love) and Brioukow then joining them : A lengthy section set in
    the night before before Peter is to give evidence at the trial. He talks to Natasha,
    realises that she is in love with the captain and then throws her out : Part of the court
    scene where Brioukow, in the witness box, ponders whether to clear Ignatoff. On 35mm he
    imagines the captain lined up before a firing squad, blindfolded and executed. Also gone
    are the final few minutes as a drunken Baur sits amongst a crowd of gypsy dancers and 
    morosely contemplated his future. 
 5. There is an excellent article about this film in Group 9.5 magazine number 49, dated Spring 
    2012 - The "Film Collecting On 9.5" article by film historian extraordinaire Maurice Trace. 
 
(Extra Info gratefully added from Maurice Trace)         ZT-9054/gln/08.11.2014

  The 9.5mm sound feature film "Moscow Nights" GB 1936 Directed by Anthony Asquith with
  Harry Baur, Laurence Olivier & Penelope Dudley Ward, plus three extra 9.5mm sound shorts -
  "IThe Spinach Overture" (Popeye cartoon), "Hungarian Rhapsody" (1930 musical short) and
  "Mewsical Airs" (A 1937 Ace Cinemagazine) are now available (Nov2014) on one DVD at
  £5.95 plus 95p UK postage (UK cheques payable G.L. Newnham) from
  Grahame L. Newnham, 22 Warren Place, Calmore, Southampton, SO40 2SD

Return to: 9.5MM PATHESCOPE SOUND FILM CATALOGUE ........... ALPHA .......... NUMERIC


Created 08Nov2014 ...... Last updated: 29 September 2017 ...... 95flmcatt9054.htm ......©MMX1V Grahame L. Newnham