Nicholas and Alexandra
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Movie Reviews of Nicholas and Alexandra
Movie Review: Long, meticulious film, eventually rewarding
Summary: 4 Stars
NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA is an epic and lavish production, deliberatly paced (almost to the point of boredom), rarely seen nowadays. The performances, particularly the leads, are excellent. The detail in costuming and settings are remarkable. The story of the last years of Russia's Tsar and family is depressing, somewhat like peering down a sprialing drain to an inevitable tragic end. A great deal of historical material is touched upon in this movie, making it difficult to keep the story on track withen 3 hours running time. The movie leads the viewer to want to read the Robert K Massie book, which is even better (and highly readable). The DVD is the best edition of NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA available to home audiences. The wide screen picture and sound (possibly mono)are excellent.The DVD restores aprox 15 minutes of footage not seen sinnce the movie's early roadshow presentations. Also included for the first time is composer Richard Rodney Bennett's great intermssion music. More chapter stops should have been included. A trailer and a bland "making of" featurette are included. Definitly worth watching, true fans of epic movie productions may consider purchasing this DVD.Movie Review: A spectacular yet flawed film
Summary: 4 Stars
My beef about the film is that they took liberties in telling and condensing the story when it wasn't necessary. In Tobolsk the family lived in the Governor's Mansion - not a log cabin in the woods. Yekaterinburg looked like some Spanish town rather a city in the Urals. None of the movie was filmed in Russia or Finland (for obvious reasons). The execution involved eleven people - in the movie they cut down the number. Other scenes were outright inventions.None of the church or religious scenes came off right. They seem more Catholic or Anglican than Orthodox.
Nicholas was taught English from the age of 8 by a Scottish teacher, Mr. Heath. He had an accent in English, but it wasn't identifiable as "Russian". They all would have sounded 'upper crust' so the accents were fine for me.
Suzmann and Jayston were superb. Suzmann was a little too glamorous and Hollywood looking for the role, but she pulled off the characterisation well.
I don't know if it's well known, but the Romanov family walked out on the premier because of the changes made to the story.
Movie Review: Russian Accents
Summary: 4 Stars
One reviewer noted she was annoyed that all the actor spoke with English accents? Would she prefer that they speak English with Russian accents? That would hardly be accurate. Better if they all spoke Russian and gave us subtitles. All in all this is an excellent film. If would like to see one made from the Russian viewpoint, I suggest that you see Elem Klimov's "Rasputin." Filmed in 1977, the film was not released in Russia until the mid-1980s. It provides another excellent portrayal of the time period, and was filmed at many of the actual locations (unlike the British version), including the Catherine Palace at Tsaritsyno outside St. Petersburg and at the Winter Palace. The film portrays Nicholas as immature and politically naive, and basically gives you the same impression that is given both in the film "Nicholas and Alexandra" and the Robert K. Massie's book - that the qualities we seek in a father and a family man do not necessarily translate to the qualities needed to effectively rule an empire. Oh, and it is in Russian!Movie Review: Elegant, Ambitious and, yes, Bloody
Summary: 4 Stars
N&A, though over thirty years old, still plays with the bravura and sweep that a big historical film epic should and that we expect. It has ripened well with time and has lost none of its power. The fall of the Romanovs and the rise of Soviet Communism would be an extraordinary cinematic undertaking in any age, but few contemporary film makers would attempt so ambitious a project. A shame really; our present epics are more about CGI instead of ... well, anything, and certainly not serious subjects like history. Looking at a film like Nicholas and Alexandra should make us realize how mainstream movies gave audiences credit for intelligence decades ago - and how they need to start doing so again.Movie Review: Nicholas and Alexandra
Summary: 4 Stars
A wonderful movie with excellent depictions of the Tsar and the Imperial family. The only innacurate part is the reference to Grigory Rasputin as "Father Grigory" whereas Rasputin was not a priest or a monk and he was never called "Father Grigory" by the Imperial family. In fact, he was usually referred to as "Our Friend."
But apart from that innacuracy, it was overall a very good movie about the Romanov Family. Especially since they have been canonized as saints in December 2000.