Author Topic: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra  (Read 5248 times)

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Nayomini

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 I constantly watch re-runs of  Nicholas & Alexandra not so much for the story but to check out the clothing, the Palace how it looked etc. Concerning the Imperial bedroom, even though most of us have seen only the heavily draped area where the Imperial beds were, the movie shows an elegant (but cluttered)  sitting area as well. Can anyone please enlighten me on the authenticity of the Imperial bedroom in the movie, the walk down from the personal quarters of the IF to the palace entrance etc?  It looks so authentic and I was wondering if the producers adhered to the original look and the surroundings - it certainly looks like they did even though the story line felt like it went a whole lot Hollywood. Thanks         

Offline Sarushka

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexander Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2009, 08:04:07 AM »
It's been a while since I've seen the film, but I remember snorting and huffing at virtually all the Alexander Palace sets. They struck me as completely made-up. It's not entirely fair of me to criticize, though -- in the early 1970's information about the palace's interior was probably not readily accessible to westerners the way it is now.

I don't recall the bedroom specifically, but as for the walk from the personal quarters to the palace entrance? I don't think such a walk existed. The entrance to the property is to the left of the palace -- you can see a car on the public street at the left, and just make out the private lane leading to the palace through the trees:



That private lane leads directly across the front of the building, which means Nicholas and Alexandra could have been dropped literally at their own doorstep at the end of the left-hand wing. Once inside, they were already *in* the private wing. There is a central corridor, but my impression is that it was used primarily by servants; the imperial family's private rooms interconnected, and neither the imperial bedroom nor the mauve boudoir communicated with the corridor at all. Here's a photo of the actual AP corridor as it appears now:



The upstairs was laid out similarly. Here are the floorplans:



According to these plans, the curved open stairways portrayed in the film did not exist, either.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2009, 08:07:13 AM by Sarushka »
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Alixz

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2009, 08:46:26 AM »
The curved open staircase was probably based in the Jordan staircase from the Winter Palace.

As you said, they interiors were not readily accessible to Westerners as they are now and much had to be made up from floor plans and for the impact made in the film on the audience.

Nayomini

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2009, 01:35:26 AM »
Sarushka, Alixz thank you. That cleared up a lot for me. I remember the movie used a lot of lilac shades on the walls and coverings, maybe in keeping with Alexandra's favourite colour. I wonder if the furniture was authentic in the movie but like you said, many in the west didn't have access to the kind of info we have access to now, thanks to technology and the internet primarily. However, the heavily curtained Imperial Bedroom didn't exactly look 'royal enough' I guess, at least from the photos we have seen. I also remember reading somewhere, in Massie's book or on the internet, that the palace interior designers found Alexandra's sense of style, colours chosen etc too dull and even 'funeral like' in some cases. I also remember reading that she didn't exactly share the same sense of style / choosing decor with the palace interior designers.  I wonder if this was true.

Alixz

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2009, 09:31:30 AM »
I think that the "funeral" aspect to her sense of design came just because she liked mauve which was a color of mourning.

Black was worn for one year.  Then greys and mauves. (mauve is French and pronounced "m oh ve"  not "m aw ve" )

It also depended on how close one was to the deceased.  If it was a grandparent, for example, one would were black for six months and then grey and mauves for the next six months.  I did some research on this for a book a long time ago.

Mourning rituals were very complicated just as a society rituals were.


Offline Alejandro Spain

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2009, 11:33:55 AM »
The palace seemed a nightclub rather an Imperial Palace! The colors were horrible and the furniture seemed the furniture of and old house rather the furniture of the Tsar's palace!

Regards!

Imperial.Opal

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2009, 05:18:44 PM »
 I am sure they used on location in Spain, one of the royal palaces for the Alexander Palace, Nicholas and Alexandra made in 1971 is still the best movie on the Romanovs, it is not perfect.

Offline Sarushka

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexander Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #7 on: August 05, 2009, 06:52:05 PM »
Personally, I much prefer Romanovy: Ventsenosnaya Semya. Both the characterization and the sets appeal to me much more than N&A.
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Offline Ally Kumari

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2009, 04:20:40 AM »
Personally, I much prefer Romanovy: Ventsenosnaya Semya. Both the characterization and the sets appeal to me much more than N&A.
Actually, if I didn´t now those were "only" sets, I would have immediatelly belived they restored the original rooms!

Offline Sarushka

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2009, 07:27:41 AM »
Personally, I much prefer Romanovy: Ventsenosnaya Semya. Both the characterization and the sets appeal to me much more than N&A.
Actually, if I didn´t now those were "only" sets, I would have immediatelly belived they restored the original rooms!

The scenes in the tsar's New Study were filmed in the Alexander Palace itself. I'm not sure about the other rooms.
THE LOST CROWN: A Novel of Romanov Russia -- now in paperback!
"A dramatic, powerful narrative and a masterful grasp of life in this vanished world." ~Greg King

Alixz

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #10 on: August 06, 2009, 09:13:05 AM »
The room with the round circular flowered wall paper with matching draperies does exist, but I don't know if they used it in the film or if they made a stage set for it.

That is the scene where Nicholas has a migraine and can hardly get out of bed.

That wall paper and those draperies would have given me a migraine if I had to live with them for very long!

sallas21

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #11 on: August 06, 2009, 11:08:30 PM »
I have never heard of Romanovy: Ventsenosnaya Semya.  Is it in English, or does it have English subtitles? 

Offline Ally Kumari

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Re: the authenticity of the Alexandra Palace set on Nicholas & Alexandra
« Reply #12 on: August 07, 2009, 02:08:57 AM »
Try looking thourgh this topics then

http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=368.0