Launched by mgm with the ad campaign "Garbo Laughs!," Ninotchka was not, strictly speaking, the first time actress Greta Garbo had laughed on screen; but it was the first time this queen of the quality melodrama starred in a predominantly comic film. A rigid and dour Russian agent, Comrade Ninotchka comes to France on government business and finds herself risking honor and career when she falls for Paris and for a suave capitalist playboy (Douglas). The film demonstrates the artistry of director Lubitsch’s palette: the smoothest blending of romance, farce, and satire into a fairy-tale screwball comedy. With scintillating dialogue co-written by Billy Wilder, Ninotchka was the basis for the Broadway musical and film Silk Stockings.