Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)

[mr_harrison75]

I like it too! But it could've been so much better!!!

[Joyann1]

i posted my favorite scenes on YouTube here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9y5-EQpA2I

[Philomena]

The most heartbreaking scene for me is when the Romanovs are being moved from the train to that wagon - you know that had the guards not been there, the crowd would have ripped them to shreds.  Then getting seperated from Gilliard and then the next scene when they are in front of the Ipatiev House and they are all just soaking wet.

[Philomena]

I have always loved the movie. 

Janet Suzman was nominated for Best Actress - she lost to Jane Fonda for Klute.

I remember reading that Audrey Hepburn was offered the role.  While I thought Suzman's performance was wonderful, I can't help wondering what Hepburn's Alix would have been like.  Audrey always came off as very warm in her movies.  While Alix was fiercely in love with her husband and children, I thought Suzman shifted to the cold exterior very well.  Audrey may not have been able to do that.

[azrael7171918]

The scene depicted with Alexei trying to commit suicide was also used in Anastasia the Anna Anderson story and Anastasia the daughter of the last Tsar.

Have you seen Daughter of the last Tsar? Lili Palmer?

Does anyone know if this is available in any form?

Azrael

[Holly]

Honestly, the only thing I like about this movie is the music. This movie isn't very good. Especially if you've seen Romanovy: Ventsenosnaya Sem'ya. It just really pales in comparison. OTMA hardly even play a role in the entire film. I think they just put in that painting scene with Gilliard to show that they talked sometimes.  Nicholas would never tell Alix it was her fault that Alexei had hemophilia; that's just cruel. And the execution scene is really awful. Where were the servants? Why was Nicholas sitting in the chair? The blood hitting the camera was just tacky and the actors were awful.

[anna]

Honestly, the only thing I like about this movie is the music. This movie isn't very good. Especially if you've seen Romanovy: Ventsenosnaya Sem'ya. It just really pales in comparison. OTMA hardly even play a role in the entire film. I think they just put in that painting scene with Gilliard to show that they talked sometimes.  Nicholas would never tell Alix it was her fault that Alexei had hemophilia; that's just cruel. And the execution scene is really awful. Where were the servants? Why was Nicholas sitting in the chair? The blood hitting the camera was just tacky and the actors were awful.

It is impossible to compare "Romanovy Ventsenosnaya Semya" (not that perfect either) with Nicholas and Alexandra which was made in 1970s.
You must look behind the movie and try to understand: why, how and when these movies were made. N&A was made after Robert K.Massies book and obviously meant for a much broader and different public in Europe and the USA, whereas "Romanovy" is I think more a cultmovie (hardly or not shown in cinnemas an not know by the big public).
Both directors had a totally different view of filmmaking and purpose of the subject, "Nicolas and Alexandra' covers the years 1904 till July 1918 and "Romanovy" from abdication till July 1918. "N&A" couldn't be filmed on the original locations in Russia, had a lot of mass scenes, pomp and glitter, it showed us the private familly life of the Romanovs aswell the story of the revolutionary events, it was all in one. "Romanovy" tells us about the family, so there is great difference.

The actors in Nicholas and Alexandra awful?  I think you hardly know or are not interested in the backgrounds of these now aged or even passed away actors, why judge so hard?
Well, I can't imagine sir Laurence Olivier being called an awful actor ( the man would turn in his grave) also Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman (just recently played a proclaimed “Volumnia” in Shakepeares “Coriolanus”), Ian Holm are highly respected Shakesperian stage actors. Read what J.Suzman thought about her playing the part of Alexandra …..I don’t know which thread anymore.., they had to deal with a director and stick to a script, imo they acting wasn't bad at all. They are not the Keira Knightleys (talking about awful) or Brad Pitts of today.

Besides that, it could have something to do with age, when I was a teenager "Nicholas and Alexandra" was for me and I think many others the start of an interest in the Romanovs and Russian history, which is maybe today for some "Romanovy Ventsenosnaya Semya".

Romanovy also lacked important personages, and had some events/scenes made in the mind of the director/scriptwriter himself. The ultimate movie will never be, it is just a matter of opinion and liking.

Anna

[dmitri]

I agree with you Anna. For its time Nicholas and Alexandra was a very good movie with an excellent cast. Of course it had its faults. Which film doesn't? It certainly did attract many to the Romanovs. It did make an era come to life for many. The film of course was about Nicholas and Alexandra and not their children. How much do we really know about OTMA and Alexis? We also have no way of knowing what Nicholas said to Alexandra in private. No doubt they had arguments like any other couple and they would both have had trouble accepting the reality of Alexis's illness and may well have said horrible things to one another. We will all never know. In some ways I wish the disease had taken Alexis as it would have been a far happier fate than the bullets in Ekaterinburg.

[Holly]

I know why and how and when the film was made. And obviously "when" had a big impact on the films quality.
Actually, I do know quite a bit about actors from the past. I collect old films and old autographs that my father got when he was younger. And I know what films all the actors were in. Yes, the cast is very good on other films they were in, but I don't think they did a very good job in this film. Maybe they just casted it wrong but I don't like them. They don't act much like the real NAOTMAA did. I am entitled to judge their performances however I wish. I happen to love Fiona Fullerton. Especially in Alice In Wonderland but not as Anastasia. Keira is a great actress otherwise she wouldn't be so accomplished and many would agree with me. You can have that opinion about her just as I can have them about others. Neither is right or wrong.
For me, N+A didn't capture the real family very well. It's very obvious it was based entirely on the book by Massie. I like Romanovy better because I don't care so much for all the tiniest details about the revolutionaries. I'm more interested in the family and the individuals maybe that's why I think Romanovy is better.
I don't think Romanovy lacked any important 'personages', whatever that is. As far as events and scenes made in the mind of the director? Well so did N+A! If people are more interested in the actual family and their home life Romanovy is better but if someone is just interested in the whole revolution, ect.. then N+A would be more interesting to them. Making a film and just focusing on Nicholas and Alexandra and haemophilia isn't the best way to make a realistic film about them because as Alexandra said, they were like 7 souls in one and were so close-knit together, which was rare for those times.
Romanovy captures the last years of their life much better than N+A did. It definitely was more close to the facts; that's for sure.

[dmitri]

I think my favourite scenes in "Nicholas and Alexandra" were the ones with Irene Worth as the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. She was simply superb in the part. She and Michael Jayston (Nicholas II) were very well cast and acted so well together.

[historylover]

Another German actress, Romy Schneider, was also very beautiful and my mother really liked her films. Has anyone seen the Princess Sissi trilogy?
Is that worth buying?

Lisa

[dmitri]

Romy Schneider is very sickly sweet in the Sissi films. She is much better as Kaiserin Elisabeth in Ludwig with Helmut Berger.

[Robert_Hall]

I would LOVE to get my hands on the Sissi trilogy and I have not even seen it. The only Ludwig I have is the Italian with Spanish subtitles. The English version seems impossible to find. And somehow I have ended up with 2 copies of Elisabeth [the musical] in German!

[anna11]

This film is very hard to get hold of in Australia, I can't remember where I saw it.

I thought it was pretty good, it's never going to be a totally accurate. They have to change things for story telling etc. But the one thing that really annoyed me is that Alexei went into like, manic depression after the revolution.

[Alix of Wales had Panache]

I think my favourite scenes in "Nicholas and Alexandra" were the ones with Irene Worth as the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. She was simply superb in the part. She and Michael Jayston (Nicholas II) were very well cast and acted so well together.

Speaking of Worth as Maria, my favorite scene was her berating Nicholas about his bad choices during the war.  A very close second every scene involving Alexei's attack at Spala.  For me it captured N&A's struggles to keep his illness quiet the book conveyed.