The Gay Diplomat (1931)

There were a spate of these Russian Imperial espionage dramas made, and this one is probably the weakest I have seen. The adventure, if that is what it is, centres around the suave and debonaire "Capt. Orloff" (Ivan Lebedeff) who is sent to Bucharest to identify a glamorous spy. Once he gets there, though, he is presented with a plethora of beauties from which to choose - and it becomes distinctly possible that his is the loyalty that will be compromised! Any acting plaudits belong to Genevieve Tobin and Betty Compson, with the odd comedic interlude at the hands (or mouth) of Ilka Chase as "Madama Blinis". Lebedeff is terrible - no other word for it. He has a certain charm that might well have worked for him in silent cinema, but his performance here is wooden, his accent straight out of a school pantomime and only the daftest woman on the planet would ever fall for his rather linear allure - so any sense of intrigue falls pretty flat from early on too. Give it a miss...