Old & Obscure Films about Romanovs and Other Royalty

[toscany]

I was in the public library on Tuesday, and found a DVD of "Ivan the Terrible", a film by Sergei Eisenstein.  It was produced in the U.S.S.R. in 1944, after Mr. Eisenstein spent several years research the Tsar's life.

Tsar Ivan had a difficult reign, and appeared to suffer greatly fighting the boyars and the church while trying to unite Russia.  Loosing his wife was his most difficult challenge to overcome.  From the film, he never did...

This DVD is put out by Corinth Films, and is in two parts.  If you want to see it, try using your inter library loan program, for those of you in the USA.  Perhaps in Europe, it may be more available.

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[koloagirl]

Aloha all!

I just TiVo'ed on the HD channel of TCM last night the 1932 film "Rasputin and the Empress" starring (the only time in their careers) the 3 Barrymores - Ethel, John and Jack - playing Empress Alexandra, Father Grigory, and Jack playing a character
named "Prince Paul Chegodieff" - obviously supposed to be Prince Felix Yussupov and even an actor named Ralph Morgan playing Tsar Nicholas II - this man was the brother of Frank Morgan - a great character actor who is probably best known for
playing the wizard in "The Wizard of Oz".

I never have seen it all the way through, so I found it very interesting - they had "Prince Sergei" being assassinated on the tercentenary of the Romanovs,and well, all kinds of other odd things - but of course this film was known as the film that
had the famous lawsuit -- to quote IMDB....."The model for Princess Natasha in the movie was Princess Irina Romanoff Youssoupoff, who filed a lawsuit against MGM in 1933, claiming invasion of privacy and libel in portraying her as a mistress of Grigory Rasputin. She won an award of $127,373 in an English court and an out-of-court settlement with MGM, reportedly of $250,000, in New York. As a result of the success of Princess Youssoupoff's lawsuit against MGM over this movie, Hollywood studios began inserting the disclaimer "This motion picture is a work of fiction..." in the credits of every film."

I thought this trivia was also interesting - and also a quote from IMDB --- "Yusupov recognized Diana Wynyard's character of "Princess Natasha" to be that of his wife, Princess Irina. Yussoupov sued for libel as a result of a scene which suggested that his wife had been raped by Rasputin. MGM lost the suit, and the scene was cut, which rendered Wynyard's character somewhat incomprehensible if the viewer of the film is not aware of this cut - in the first half of the film, Princess Natasha is a supporter of Rasputin, and in the second half she is extremely afraid of him, for no apparent reason. "

I watched it closely and indeed it does appear that "Princess Natasha" is unduly terrified of the "Mad Monk" in the second half - as there appears no apparent reason for it and she was a great "believer" of his in the first half.

Such an interesting film - obviously historically most of it is hogwash - but a good majority of the Russian emigree community were certainly still alive in 1932 and some apparently had input into some of the minutiae of the costumes, etc.

Something that really bugged me though was how they kept calling Alexei "Alix" - altho' sometimes he was being called "Aloshya" as well - and of course he was being hypnotized by the evil Rasputin so he appears like a zombie thru most of the film.

Oh well, but a really interesting, old film and I hope to keep it on my TiVo for a long time to come - definitely worth your time to watch if you are either a Romanov buff or an old film buff - since I am both, it is a double jackpot for me -- all THREE Barrymores - wow!!!!

Janet R.

[blessOTMA]

Such an interesting film - obviously historically most of it is hogwash - but a good majority of the Russian emigree community were certainly still alive in 1932 and some apparently had input into some of the minutiae of the costumes, etc.

That's what struck me as well. The costumes were amazing...plus they had the actor playing Nicholas use that funny  pipe for his cigarette as Nicholas did . A touch that would most likely not be done today. It was fun to see the three Barrymores together too.

[Belochka]

Mahalo Janet for your excellent summation of this old film.

If you want to be further entertained on a similar theme, you might like to find the DVD "Rasputin" that was performed by the Finnish National Opera. The sets are very interesting and the voices of the performers are rich and powerful. Fortunately, it is not difficult to follow, but the depicted historic events were interpretations which left me largely disappointed.

To facilitate your enjoyment it comes with English subtitles.

Margarita

[koloagirl]

Aloha all!

Mahalo for the kind words, but I just re-read my post and I made a HUGE goof.....for crying out loud, it was Lionel Barrymore who was playing Rasputin - John Barrymore the faux Prince Yussupov and their sister Ethel Empress Alexandra.

How could I - a self-proclaimed film nut - mis-state Lionel Barrymore's name.....he was one of the great character actors of his generation!!!

The intro that the host gave to the film said that the Barrymore's had been looking for a vehicle for all 3 of them, but sister Ethel was always the hold-out, she was a proud stage actress and didn't want to lend her name to anything
less "worthy" for her - while she had done films before, this was her only "talkie" and as I said, the only one with all 3 siblings in it together.

Apparently also something else I read....the woman who wrote the screenplay knew Felix personally and refused to write the scene in which "Natasha" was raped by Rasputin - so she was fired and the other writer capitulated to the scene.

I noticed the pipe/cigarette holder also - a little thing that someone who obviously knew the Court and was familiar with the Tsar almost certainly put in - such little things hardly get in films even today about the Romanovs!

Janet R.

[blessOTMA]

another thing about the costumes, I swear those nurses uniforms were the real thing! They looked like people  just took them out of thier storage  trucks to use in the movie !

[Douglas]

 "Rasputin and the Empress" starring (the only time in their careers) the 3 Barrymores .....1932 film

I saw this film also. Although it is not perfect it's worth seeing for the rich visuals of the period that few Romanov films attain. Court etiquette is well followed throughout the film.  Barrymore as Rasputin comes across as a fuddy dutty old codger and way too irreligious for an accurate portrayal.  Plus he almost lives at the palace with the Imperial family which is historically very inaccurate.  The scenes about Rasputin being a behind-the-scene intriguer are very well done by Barrymore.  The dialogue is well written for these parts.

The Empress is mostly well done.  Alexei is sort of a male version of Shirley Temple of that era. There is a lot of hocus pocus about Alexei being under a spell put on him by Rasputin.

 The Tsar is too old looking but his mannerisms and personal habits are very well portrayed by Morgan.  One of the better Nicholas' I've seen.  Even the Tsar's personality comes across well in the film.  You get the feeling of how simple and unassumming the Tsar was and how casually he ruled Russia.....yet how strong he could be if necessary [which wasn't often enough].

The feeling and mood of court intrigue is very well played by the surrounding dukes and officials.  The Dr.s that attend the heir are very well played. 

Yes, the 'costumes' are totally spectacular in every sense.  Imagine what this could have been if it were in color.  Overall....well worth seeing for it's sense of history that was known in 1932 when this film was made.  

Douglas

 

Such an interesting film - obviously historically most of it is hogwash - but a good majority of the Russian emigree community were certainly still alive in 1932 and some apparently had input into some of the minutiae of the costumes, etc.

Something that really bugged me though was how they kept calling Alexei "Alix" - altho' sometimes he was being called "Aloshya" as well - and of course he was being hypnotized by the evil Rasputin so he appears like a zombie thru most of the film.

Oh well, but a really interesting, old film and I hope to keep it on my TiVo for a long time to come - definitely worth your time to watch if you are either a Romanov buff or an old film buff - since I am both, it is a double jackpot for me -- all THREE Barrymores - wow!!!!

Janet R.

[blessOTMA]

....Alexei is sort of a male version of Shirley Temple of that era. 

lol! Very well put. 

[toscany]

"Rasputin and the Empress" starring (the only time in their careers) the 3 Barrymores .....1932 film

I saw this film also. Although it is not perfect it's worth seeing for the rich visuals of the period that few Romanov films attain. Court etiquette is well followed throughout the film.  Barrymore as Rasputin comes across as a fuddy dutty old codger and way too irreligious for an accurate portrayal.  Plus he almost lives at the palace with the Imperial family which is historically very inaccurate.  The scenes about Rasputin being a behind-the-scene intriguer are very well done by Barrymore.  The dialogue is well written for these parts.

The Empress is mostly well done.  Alexei is sort of a male version of Shirley Temple of that era. There is a lot of hocus pocus about Alexei being under a spell put on him by Rasputin.

 The Tsar is too old looking but his mannerisms and personal habits are very well portrayed by Morgan.  One of the better Nicholas' I've seen.  Even the Tsar's personality comes across well in the film.  You get the feeling of how simple and unassumming the Tsar was and how casually he ruled Russia.....yet how strong he could be if necessary [which wasn't often enough].

The feeling and mood of court intrigue is very well played by the surrounding dukes and officials.  The Dr.s that attend the heir are very well played. 

Yes, the 'costumes' are totally spectacular in every sense.  Imagine what this could have been if it were in color.  Overall....well worth seeing for it's sense of history that was known in 1932 when this film was made.  

Douglas

 

Such an interesting film - obviously historically most of it is hogwash - but a good majority of the Russian emigree community were certainly still alive in 1932 and some apparently had input into some of the minutiae of the costumes, etc.

Something that really bugged me though was how they kept calling Alexei "Alix" - altho' sometimes he was being called "Aloshya" as well - and of course he was being hypnotized by the evil Rasputin so he appears like a zombie thru most of the film.

Oh well, but a really interesting, old film and I hope to keep it on my TiVo for a long time to come - definitely worth your time to watch if you are either a Romanov buff or an old film buff - since I am both, it is a double jackpot for me -- all THREE Barrymores - wow!!!!

Janet R.

Yes. This just aired on cable television within the past few weeks.   A very entertaining film.

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