- Ivan Kouznetsoff, a Russian engineer, recounts during World War II his stay in England prior to the war working on a new propeller for ice-breaking ships. Naive about British people, and convinced by hearsay that they are shallow and hypocritical, Ivan is both bemused and amused by them. He is blunt in his opinions about Britons, and at first this puts off his hosts, including the lovely Ann Tisdall, whose grandfather runs the shipbuilding firm that will make use of Ivan's propeller. The longer Ivan stays, however, the more he comes to understand the humor, warmth, strength, and conviction of the British people, and the more they come to see him as a friend, rather than merely a suspicious Russian. As a romantic bond grows between Ivan and Ann, a cultural bond begins to grow as well, particularly as the war begins, and Russia is attacked by Germany.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
- Patriotic Russian engineer Ivan Kouznetsoff (Laurence Olivier) invents a special propeller for ice-breakers and in 1939 is sent by his government to England, just before the onset of the war, to supervise a private British shipping firm to build his revolutionary ice-breakers on ships they are sending to Russia. This way the Russian ships could pass the northern seas during winter. While in London the humorless and smug Ivan feels uncomfortable with the British customs and thinks they are a cold and selfish people. But when he's invited to stay in the shipbuilder Herbert Tisdall's (George Thorpe) London home on the High Street, he slowly comes around to changing his mind as he courts the shipbuilder's pretty and perky daughter Ann (Penelope Dudley Ward) and learns to respect her knowledgeable and cultivated grandfather, Mr. Runalow (Felix Aylmer), the owner of the shipping firm who guides him in his work and with life lessons. After returning to Russia without success, Ivan returns again in 1941 when war breaks out between England and Germany and this time the English greet him warmly and he soon gets the propeller design right. Ivan then returns to Russia with a deep respect for the English people, even saying he came there with misconceptions and prejudices and left discovering he met a grand people. He has also put his timid romance with Ann on hold until after the war.
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