The Lost Prince

[Tania]

Our family saw the first two episodes, but somehow lost the time frame of future episodes.  :-/   It was so nice to view and to see it from and through the eyes of a young child

Tatiana

[markov]

Followers of this thread might like to know that Stephen Poliakoff's screenplay of 'The Lost Prince', accompanied by a long introduction describing how the series was made and explaining why some liberties were taken, is published by Methuen (ISBN 0-413-77307-8) at UK£9.99, US$ 16.95. It has a lot of b&w photos, including several of the actors/actresses who portrayed the Romanovs. In a newspaper article which was published when the film was first shown Mr Poliakoff describes how he was given access to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, where he was able to read Prince John's touching letters, one of which still contained a pressed flower from his garden. Incidentally, since the film was shown, more people have paused at his simple grave just on the right of the path as you approach Sandringham Church, and flowers are frequently left on it.......

[Zanthia]

I saw the show on history channel yesterday, and I had such a cry in the end . I felt so sorry for poor Prince John. Miranda played wonderful, but I think that Queen Mary was portrayed as cold as ice. I know she wasn't very maternal, but still. Perhaps it was a vise decision to let Prince John live quietly in the country, but I really think it was cruel to neglect him in such a way.

As for Nicky and Alix, I didn't care much for the shoe scene either, but the scene in Russia were Nicky floats on his back, and the red carpet is reflected in the river, and looks like blood...Woow.

[CorisCapnSkip]

"The Lost Prince" portrayed one major inaccuracy in the Romanov death scene I'm surprised all you experts missed, which I'll discuss in a separate movie thread.  Here I'll just touch on a few things.

Prince John doesn't seem to have been seriously retarded or mentally ill, due to his ability to be very up on people and write them letters asking questions specifically about those people.  I got this not from the movie but from an article about him.  He is known to have met the Romanovs, and the filmmaker was obviously caught up in the romance of their story perhaps to the point of overemphasizing them a little, but if Prince John was really so up on all his royal relations and they had a boy exactly his age--only about a year older--and people all over the world were fascinated with reading of the Romanovs, it seems almost more surprising that Prince John would NOT spend a lot of time thinking about them.  I thought the overshoe scene was a bit over the top, but the barnyard scene was great--they looked so lost!

Queen Mary came off more as being very busy with the war and royal duties, than as being uncaring toward her child.  The movie very humanely portrayed that moving to a private house in the country, besides saving the royal family the possible disaster of a public epileptic seizure, was the best possible thing in the world for Prince John.  What would endless high-pressure state occasions have done to a poor sick child who could stress out chasing a parrot?  Peace and quiet were the prescription for him.

I'm not an expert on the royals, but understand that both Queen Victoria and Empress Alexandra had German as their mother language, spoke it at home, and in the case of Empress Alexandra's children, they knew German as well or better than Russian as it was what they heard at home all the time.  Don't know about their English but that's interesting about Nicholas's English being so good.

If anyone is near a library with old copies of "Saint Nicholas" magazine, there was one with an article on Nicholas as a kid of 16 or so.

[Zanthia]

I have to disagree with you coris, about the Romanovs speaking German at home. Dagmar (Maria Feodorovna) didn't want to hear the German language in her home, so I doubt that Nicky ever learned it. And in Olga Alexandrovna's biography, she says she was very surprised when she met Anna Anderson for the first time, because Anna asked "Ist das die Tante?", and Olga knew that the imperial children had not learnt to speak German.

[miki_nastya]

I saw the movie last night,but I didn't like it very much.

Its the worse imperial family I ever seen. I mean Alix looks like an irascible empress and I believe she was not like that.

The girls are almost the same height(Didn't Anastasia & Maria been shorter than Olga, and Olga than Tatiana) and Alexei its to small.

[Katherine_The_O.K.]

I loved it! The costumes and camera work were awesome, as well as the acting. I wish they'd made a point of Alix being essentially 'English' in temperament and taste. I also loved how they portrayed Wilhelm- he really came off as a weirdo, which I imagine he was to any child with that mustache!

And I had a real problem with Richardson (not because of her acting, which was great), but because she looks ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING like Queen Mary. I mean...not even a resemblance. That distracted me a tad.

[Prince_Lieven]

And I had a real problem with Richardson (not because of her acting, which was great), but because she looks ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING like Queen Mary. I mean...not even a resemblance. That distracted me a tad.

Perhaps, but isn't that better than casting someone who looked just like Queen Mary but couldn't act? 

[Taren]

And I had a real problem with Richardson (not because of her acting, which was great), but because she looks ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING like Queen Mary. I mean...not even a resemblance. That distracted me a tad.

I actually disagree. I thought there was a resemblance -though slight. Basically it was just enough for me to know that she was in fact playing Queen Mary and from then on Richardson was able to capture the essence of QM and to me that was what really mattered. I think that if Queen Mary had been a beauty pageant winner instead of a queen and an incredibly ugly actress (which Richardson is not) played her in a film, that wouldn't work because the main focus of her life would have been her looks. I think you can capture the essence of a person on film and not necessarily have to look like them (Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn, Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, etc.).

As a whole I really liked the girls that played OTMA. As a group they definitely captured a feeling of sadness from me, as though these were the real girls who were totally unaware of what was going to happen. But individually I wasn't easily able to tell who was who. Maybe to the filmmakers they didn't think it was necessary since I don't know if the individual names were ever spoken in the film. I could have accepted how they were and just gone with it if someone had addressed them directly and I didn't have to spend the entire time they were on screen trying to pick out which girl was which.

The way they presented Empress Alexandra just bugged me. It wasn't just that they portrayed her as domineering and Nicholas as weak, but she looked absolutely unhinged. When she was asking for the shoes she had this crazy look in her eye like she was going to lay down some major spousal abuse if she didn't get her way. I don't know what kind of research they did to come up with such a portrayal. If they were going to go that far I'm surprised they didn't just show her composing some secret love note to Rasputin.

As for Queen Alexandra, she was pleasant, but they should have gone for someone a bit younger. If not younger (so that people wouldn't think Edward VII was some sort of cradle robber) at least someone the right age, but with a lot of obvious work done. Faye Dunaway in a wig, maybe? Had Alexandra ever just decided to age gracefully, the casting of Bibi Andersson would have been spot on.

I loved Michael Gambon as Edward VII! Michael Gambon's mere existence makes me smile, but I loved the childlike quality he brought to the portrayal. You could tell that at that point Edward VII really felt a lot younger than he was able to act and that the years of partying had caught up with him.

[Prince_Lieven]

I think OTMA's names are mentioned once - a scene where you hear Prince John's voice read a letter he wrote to them, it mentions all their names.

[Taren]

Yes, but they're never addressed directly. As in until I read what others had written, I wasn't sure if the pretty blond Prince John was captivated with was Maria or Olga.

[Grace]

I actually disagree. I thought there was a resemblance -though slight. Basically it was just enough for me to know that she was in fact playing Queen Mary and from then on Richardson was able to capture the essence of QM and to me that was what really mattered. I think that if Queen Mary had been a beauty pageant winner instead of a queen and an incredibly ugly actress (which Richardson is not) played her in a film, that wouldn't work because the main focus of her life would have been her looks. I think you can capture the essence of a person on film and not necessarily have to look like them (Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn, Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, etc.).

As a whole I really liked the girls that played OTMA. As a group they definitely captured a feeling of sadness from me, as though these were the real girls who were totally unaware of what was going to happen. But individually I wasn't easily able to tell who was who. Maybe to the filmmakers they didn't think it was necessary since I don't know if the individual names were ever spoken in the film. I could have accepted how they were and just gone with it if someone had addressed them directly and I didn't have to spend the entire time they were on screen trying to pick out which girl was which.

The way they presented Empress Alexandra just bugged me. It wasn't just that they portrayed her as domineering and Nicholas as weak, but she looked absolutely unhinged. When she was asking for the shoes she had this crazy look in her eye like she was going to lay down some major spousal abuse if she didn't get her way. I don't know what kind of research they did to come up with such a portrayal. If they were going to go that far I'm surprised they didn't just show her composing some secret love note to Rasputin.

As for Queen Alexandra, she was pleasant, but they should have gone for someone a bit younger. If not younger (so that people wouldn't think Edward VII was some sort of cradle robber) at least someone the right age, but with a lot of obvious work done. Faye Dunaway in a wig, maybe? Had Alexandra ever just decided to age gracefully, the casting of Bibi Andersson would have been spot on.

I loved Michael Gambon as Edward VII! Michael Gambon's mere existence makes me smile, but I loved the childlike quality he brought to the portrayal. You could tell that at that point Edward VII really felt a lot younger than he was able to act and that the years of partying had caught up with him.

Taren, Alexandra Feodorovna was domineering and Nicholas II was weak -- at least in the majority of books I've read on them.  To what degree is open to interpretation, of course.

As for Queen Alexandra, it's well documented that she looked years younger than her chronological age and that wasn't all because she decided not to "age gracefully".  It was most likely a combination of various factors.  In later photographs of her and Bertie, he sometimes does look old enough to be her father.  Faye Dunaway playing her -- no way!   

I agree with Prince Lieven -- it is far better to have an actor who can play a part so well that you really believe they are the character, rather than someone chosen for physical resemblance only.  It doesn't seem to work, in my opinion. 

[Taren]

I actually disagree. I thought there was a resemblance -though slight. Basically it was just enough for me to know that she was in fact playing Queen Mary and from then on Richardson was able to capture the essence of QM and to me that was what really mattered. I think that if Queen Mary had been a beauty pageant winner instead of a queen and an incredibly ugly actress (which Richardson is not) played her in a film, that wouldn't work because the main focus of her life would have been her looks. I think you can capture the essence of a person on film and not necessarily have to look like them (Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn, Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, etc.).

As a whole I really liked the girls that played OTMA. As a group they definitely captured a feeling of sadness from me, as though these were the real girls who were totally unaware of what was going to happen. But individually I wasn't easily able to tell who was who. Maybe to the filmmakers they didn't think it was necessary since I don't know if the individual names were ever spoken in the film. I could have accepted how they were and just gone with it if someone had addressed them directly and I didn't have to spend the entire time they were on screen trying to pick out which girl was which.

The way they presented Empress Alexandra just bugged me. It wasn't just that they portrayed her as domineering and Nicholas as weak, but she looked absolutely unhinged. When she was asking for the shoes she had this crazy look in her eye like she was going to lay down some major spousal abuse if she didn't get her way. I don't know what kind of research they did to come up with such a portrayal. If they were going to go that far I'm surprised they didn't just show her composing some secret love note to Rasputin.

As for Queen Alexandra, she was pleasant, but they should have gone for someone a bit younger. If not younger (so that people wouldn't think Edward VII was some sort of cradle robber) at least someone the right age, but with a lot of obvious work done. Faye Dunaway in a wig, maybe? Had Alexandra ever just decided to age gracefully, the casting of Bibi Andersson would have been spot on.

I loved Michael Gambon as Edward VII! Michael Gambon's mere existence makes me smile, but I loved the childlike quality he brought to the portrayal. You could tell that at that point Edward VII really felt a lot younger than he was able to act and that the years of partying had caught up with him.

Taren, Alexandra Feodorovna was domineering and Nicholas II was weak -- at least in the majority of books I've read on them.  To what degree is open to interpretation, of course.

As for Queen Alexandra, it's well documented that she looked years younger than her chronological age and that wasn't all because she decided not to "age gracefully".  It was most likely a combination of various factors.  In later photographs of her and Bertie, he sometimes does look old enough to be her father.  Faye Dunaway playing her -- no way!   

I agree with Prince Lieven -- it is far better to have an actor who can play a part so well that you really believe they are the character, rather than someone chosen for physical resemblance only.  It doesn't seem to work, in my opinion. 

Yes, I am aware that Alexandra and Nicholas were domineering and weak, respectively. Obviously this portrayal was more true to life than if the opposite was shown, but really, was Alexandra really so unhinged? You can be the more dominant spouse without giving the impression that you're nuts. All she said was that she needed different shoes and wouldn't say why. I still don't get it. Really, the ground was quite compact. And then going on and on about how small the house was and how George and Mary lived in such a teeny tiny place. I've never read anything about Alexandra that suggested she was so rude. Maybe if she had been portrayed as quieter and more shy (even though this was her family and she knew them well) that would have made more sense. I think she was only shown this way so that the message that Nicholas was a weak ruler would get across to the viewer.

One thing I had forgotten about that I really enjoyed: the boy that played young David. He was only in a couple of scenes but he just radiated arrogance. His one line came after the aforementioned shoe incident: "so that's the way you behave when you're an absolute monarch, is it?". I couldn't help but think about the report a butler (I think) gave of an incident where he walked in on the then Edward VIII painting then-Mrs. Simpson's toenails. It shocked him so much that he felt he had to quit.

[Katherine_The_O.K.]

Prince Lieven: I know what you mean, and I am happy they picked someone who could act well, and Richardson did do a good job. I just always found Queen Mary to be a very striking person- she had a very distinct look. I just kind of pestered me is all, like how Janet Suzman had some weird bangs going on in N&A. I guess I'm just a stickler for physical accuracy  .

[Kaie Karadjordjevic]

i think physical appearances matter up to a point but then you should be carried away by the actors performance. like helen Mirren i think shes done an amazing job playing both Queen Elizabeths in one year, and you can't precisley call them simalar characters!
kaie