Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)

[Alixz]

This thread is only for the discussion of the original film version of Nicholas & Alexandra based on Robert Massie's book and shown in theaters in 1971. It was also sold as a VHS tape and DVD in later years.

Anyone who wishes to contribute to the proposed making of a new 12 hour mini series on Nicholas & Alexandra, please go the the new thread.

"New Nicholas & Alexandra Video - Mini Series?"

[maudelilacs]

Made available under the auspices of Twilight Time, a specialty DVD/Blu-ray label, and distributed exclusively through Screen Archives Entertainment.com (SAE).  Official release date is Tuesday, February 12 (three days after Dame Janet Suzman's birthday!!), although it is available for pre-order through SAE, and in fact they are shipping a few days early--I already have my copy.  This edition of "Nicholas and Alexandra" is strictly limited to 3,000 units, and all interested viewers will be happy to know that it is REGION-FREE, and it is a vast improvement over the 1999 DVD release.  The sound quality is much, much better and more even, and the visual quality is gorgeous, and benefits greatly from the remastering efforts by the engineers at Sony.  The Blu-ray features the full 189-minute film, three featurettes focusing on the young actresses who portrayed the four grand duchesses; the costumes worn by Janet Suzman and Irene Worth in the film, for which Antonio Castillo won an Oscar; and make-up....This Blu-ray also boasts an isolated soundtrack, the original theatrical trailer, and subtitles in English.

[1130 WNEW]

GD Olga N. in this movie is "hawk-faced" and doesnt look like the real one.
Anastasia seems to be a bit tall, too.

[edubs31]

GD Olga N. in this movie is "hawk-faced" and doesnt look like the real one.
Anastasia seems to be a bit tall, too.

Yes Anastasia is a little bit taller than Marie which obviously isn't realistic. I thought N&A was pretty hit or miss in terms of its casting. The boy who played Alexei bore a fair resemblance to the actual Tsarevich, although many of his lines in the film didn't seem to resemble Alexei's true personality. The young actress who played Marie, aside from her height, also looked similar to the real life Mashka in my opinion. Beyond that I agree with you. Lynne Frederick doesn't really look like Tatiana and I don't know what the casting crew was thinking when they made their selection for Olga.

[Rodney_G.]

Made available under the auspices of Twilight Time, a specialty DVD/Blu-ray label, and distributed exclusively through Screen Archives Entertainment.com (SAE).  Official release date is Tuesday, February 12 (three days after Dame Janet Suzman's birthday!!), although it is available for pre-order through SAE, and in fact they are shipping a few days early--I already have my copy.  This edition of "Nicholas and Alexandra" is strictly limited to 3,000 units, and all interested viewers will be happy to know that it is REGION-FREE, and it is a vast improvement over the 1999 DVD release.  The sound quality is much, much better and more even, and the visual quality is gorgeous, and benefits greatly from the remastering efforts by the engineers at Sony.  The Blu-ray features the full 189-minute film, three featurettes focusing on the young actresses who portrayed the four grand duchesses; the costumes worn by Janet Suzman and Irene Worth in the film, for which Antonio Castillo won an Oscar; and make-up....This Blu-ray also boasts an isolated soundtrack, the original theatrical trailer, and subtitles in English.

Although this post is more than a year old, the question that leaps out at me is, why would this edition of the film be limited to 3,000 copies?

What am I missing about this  commercial anomaly? And also, unless I have the wrong original movie in mind, why would English subtitles be needed ,since the dialogue itself was in English?

[Ally Kumari]

I would imagine English subtitles being helpful in English speaking films to people who have hearing disability. ;-)

[Romanov_Fan19]

ok   1 thing   Yurovsky        OLD

[edubs31]

ok   1 thing   Yurovsky        OLD

Agreed. There was a lot of questionable casting. But what in the world were they thinking by using that actor to play Yurovsky? Surely they had a picture or two on hand of the actual person.

[Rodney_G.]

ok   1 thing   Yurovsky        OLD

Agreed. There was a lot of questionable casting. But what in the world were they thinking by using that actor to play Yurovsky? Surely they had a picture or two on hand of the actual person.

Yes I must say the actor playing Yurovsky looked nothing like the real Yurovsky at that time, so much so that at first I questioned whether I was confusing the characters. On the other hand, both the actor and Yurovsky as he played him were truly creepy,  devious, sinister , and , mostly, cold.

[TimM]

Of course, it was a blooper having Yurovsky there to greet them when the IF arrive.  He wasn't assigned to the Ipatiev House at that point.

[Romanov_Fan19]

yep   

[edubs31]

Of course, it was a blooper having Yurovsky there to greet them when the IF arrive.  He wasn't assigned to the Ipatiev House at that point.

True. Personally I'm not as concerned about those types of flubs. In a movie you need to truncate certain things and compact broader themes into certain scenes. They probably figured it wasn't worth showing and making a big deal out of Yurovsky's arrival to the The House of Special Purpose. I'll let that slide. It's the brutal casting that gets me.

[TimM]

Yeah, they should have cast a younger actor to play Yurovsky.

[Jen_94]

GD Olga N. in this movie is "hawk-faced" and doesnt look like the real one.
Anastasia seems to be a bit tall, too.

Yes Anastasia is a little bit taller than Marie which obviously isn't realistic. I thought N&A was pretty hit or miss in terms of its casting. The boy who played Alexei bore a fair resemblance to the actual Tsarevich, although many of his lines in the film didn't seem to resemble Alexei's true personality. The young actress who played Marie, aside from her height, also looked similar to the real life Mashka in my opinion. Beyond that I agree with you. Lynne Frederick doesn't really look like Tatiana and I don't know what the casting crew was thinking when they made their selection for Olga.

That is one of the first things I noticed regarding the heights of the girls. The Marie actress was smaller than all of the  actress playing OTA when infact Marie was actually taller than Olga and Anastasia and slightly smaller than Tatiana.

Agreed about the casting of Alexei and I thought Janet Suzman and Michael Jayston played their parts well, with the latter showing a resemblance to the part he played, Nicholas.

[edubs31]

GD Olga N. in this movie is "hawk-faced" and doesnt look like the real one.
Anastasia seems to be a bit tall, too.

Yes Anastasia is a little bit taller than Marie which obviously isn't realistic. I thought N&A was pretty hit or miss in terms of its casting. The boy who played Alexei bore a fair resemblance to the actual Tsarevich, although many of his lines in the film didn't seem to resemble Alexei's true personality. The young actress who played Marie, aside from her height, also looked similar to the real life Mashka in my opinion. Beyond that I agree with you. Lynne Frederick doesn't really look like Tatiana and I don't know what the casting crew was thinking when they made their selection for Olga.

That is one of the first things I noticed regarding the heights of the girls. The Marie actress was smaller than all of the  actress playing OTA when infact Marie was actually taller than Olga and Anastasia and slightly smaller than Tatiana.

Agreed about the casting of Alexei and I thought Janet Suzman and Michael Jayston played their parts well, with the latter showing a resemblance to the part he played, Nicholas.

Agreed Jen94, and nice to see you back and active on here!

Given the era that this film was made, coming out only a few years after the somewhat grandiose Dr. Zhivago, it's easy to understand what the filmmakers were going for and understand some of their flaws. Nicholas & Alexandra delivers more or less what one should expect from an elaborate big-budget minor epic conceived and released in the late-60s/early-70s.

I for one get far more use out of the "Fall of Eagles" mini-series. Terrific casting and acting, focused and direct, and without any unnecessary pretensions. It includes several actors who had parts in N&A coincidentally.