The Soldier and the Lady (1937)
Directed by George Nichols Jr.

Film Review

The Adventures of Michael Strogoff (also released under the title The Soldier and the Lady) started out as a French production released in 1936.  The following year, RKO bought the rights to make an English language version of the film, with new scenes shot in Hollywood intercut with scenes lifted from the original French version.  Jules Verne's novel loses some of its coherence along the way but an excellent Anton Walbrook in the title role just about holds the thing together.  Whilst the new sequences shot in Hollywood lack the atmosphere of the original footage the splicing together of what is essentially two films isn't quite as jarring as you might expect.  The editing is pacey but erratic in places and the characters are generally too thinly sketched to be convincing.  The one saving grace is the introduction of Eric Blore and Edward Brophy as a pair of bungling newspapermen - they provide some very welcome comic relief.

Film Synopsis

The Russian Empire is threatened with being torn in two when, in 1879, the Tartar prince Feofar Khan leads an uprising, allying himself with the Mongol hordes.  Michael Strogoff is sent by Tsar Alexander II to the distant town of Irkutsk to warn its governor, the Grand Duke Vladimir, of the threat posed by the Tartar rebellion.  During the long train journey, Strogoff encounters an attractive woman, Zangarra, who, unbeknown to him, is a spy in the employ of the traitor Ivan Ogareff.  He also meets Nadia Fedor, who is on her way to join up with her father, a disgraced political prisoner, in Irkutsk.  In a Tartar attack, Nadia is captured and Strogoff narrowly escapes with some minor wounds.  When Ogareff orders an old woman to be flogged, Strogoff gives away his identity by identifying the woman as his mother.  He is sentenced to be blinded, but Zangarra comes to his aid, paying him back from saving her life earlier.  Reunited with Nadia, Strogoff resumes his mission, but Ogareff is one step ahead of him...