Janet I finally found the reference that you must have read about Nicholas' negative attitude toward the Cinema. I believe the notion that Nicholas did not like the cinema came from a negative notation he made on the corner of a letter that the police had intercepted from Russian Business men who were attending a conference in Chicago on the film industry and wrote to a Duma member, encouraging him to help promote the cinema in Russia.
Before I review this notation, it is helpful to have some historic context for the enthusiasm of the Russian Business men. By 1911 the annual turnover for the cinema in Russia was already 120 million rubles a year and Russian audiences were being enchanted by the beauty of Swedish film star, Asta Nielsen; were laughing at the antics of, French comedian Andre Deed who the Russians named Dopey, the German comedian, Max Linder; and were captivated by the
American film star John Bundy, who the Russians named Poxon. They also were awed by the great Italian historic cinema pageants such as, The Fall of Troy, and Quo Vadis and were impressed with the elegance of the great French classics such as Madame Sans-Gene starring the magnificent first lady of the French Theater, Rejane.
By 1911 Nicholas had promoted the Russian Film-making by authorizing one of the first great Russian film producers, Khanzhonkov, to make a historic film about the Crimean War. This allowed Khanzhonkov and his partner Goncharov to solicit government officials and men in high business for support.
As a result an official announcement was appeared in 1911:
“With the sanction of the Sovereign, his Imperial Majesty, the Tsar Emperor—the manufacture of Russian cinematography films, officer of the reserves, Captain of the Cossacks Khanzhonkov, enters into the production of a grandiose battle film, The Siege of Sevastopol…”
Not only was Nicholas involved but his brother-in-law, the Grand Duke Alexander, who had built the Sevastopol Museum, acted as historic advisor to the film.
The film was first shown at the Emperor’s newly built palace in Livadia on November 15, 1911, and Khanzhonkov was thrilled as Nicholas plied him with “many gracious questions.” The public premiere of The Siege of Sevastopol, was held at the end of November at the Moscow Conservatory of Music and was a “grand and solemn” occasion as the film was accompanied by two orchestras, a chorus, and battle sounds. All the critics, including the foreign press, agreed that The Siege of Sevastopol was the equaled in quality any film made to date, including the magnificent Italian or French historic sagas.
After this film there was an explosion of interest in the cinema among poets, writers, and dramatists, drawing the great Russian writer Andreyev into films and eventually one of the grand men of the Russian theater, Meyerhold. In Europe Gabriel d’ Annunzio, Guillaume Apollinaire and Edouard de Max had all become interested in the new medium, film.
And what about Russian Movie Magazines? By 1913 there were 9 magazines or newspaper devoted to the movies. One of the most prestigious was Kine-Journal, edited by the Russian film producer, Persky who invited artists and writers to share their opinions about film. One of the youngest contributors was the 19 year-old Futurist poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky who immediately started writing for the cinema.
The other thing that we need to take into consideration is how different the Russian film audiences were from film audiences in the rest of the world. Russian film historian Jay Leyda states that by 1913:
“The film audiences in the Russian theaters had a different appearance from that of metropolitan audiences of any of the other world film-centers. The amusement that the Tzar and the royal household found in the cinema was emulated by the Russian upper classes…If the Tzar could be so personally pleased by the cinema as to have a private cinema-theater installed in the palace at Tsarskoye Selo, there must be some noble pleasure to be derived from it. If the Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovitch, an amateur photographer, Diagilev’s sponsor at court and Drankov’s support on odd occasions (Drankov was the other great Russian film producer of the period. Griff’s note), could, for a hobby, run a cinema theater in Tashkent…” (Has Leyda has confused the liberal minded Grand Duke Mikhail with the tragic Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich who was exiled to Tashkent in April 1881 for his part in a scandal that involved the theft of many costly items including the jewels from one of his mother’s most precious icons? Griff’s note) Leyda continues: “So film-going became a la mode and each new theater built made exaggeratedly separated accommodations for the elegant element, and sometimes the aristocracy.”
I hope this information helps to creates an historic context for Nicholas' negative response to the cinema in July 1913. I also believe and there is another element that must be explored which is the Russian revolutionist's great interest in the cinema in 1913 as a way of reaching the poorer classes. By then there was hardly a village in Russia, all the way to Turkestan, that did not see traveling cinemas. So the political significance of the movies as a form of revolutionary propaganda was a very real threat to Nicholas and is, I believe, what generated his negative jottings on the corner of that police report.
