Rating: 
Summary: A spectacular yet flawed film
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Great film!
Review: My history teacher showed my class and I this film in class one day. It actually took us a week to finish it, but it was definitely worth the wait! I am now trying to get my parents to buy the film so that they, also, can enjoy it!
Rating:
Summary: Elegant, Ambitious and, yes, Bloody
Review: 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 the 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.
Rating:
Summary: Elegant, Ambitious and, yes, Bloody
Review: 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 the 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.
Rating:
Summary: Long, meticulious film, eventually rewarding
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent ACCENTS
Review: Obviously the reviewer from Colorado below didn't read the book nor knows anything about the Russian Royal Family. Alexandra although German, was brought up in ENGLAND and therefore spoke with a British accent and Nicholaus spoke fluent unacccented English as well, so the English accents portrayed in the movie are very much correct. In fact Nicky and Alexandra always spoke and wrote letters to eachother in English. This is a very good film and excellent history and lavishly filmed.
Rating:
Summary: Making History Live
Review: One of the most beautifully crafted and moody epics to come out of Hollywood (or, to be accurate, Britain), "Nicholas and Alexandra" has never acquired the reputation it deserves. Released at a time when big budget spectaculars were considered passé, hostile contemporary reviews have shaped the film's reputation. While hardly perfect, the film nonetheless provides a reasonably accurate, if politically conservative overview of pre-revolutionary Russia and does an excellent job of individualizing the two monarchs. The two central, completely convincing performances are by relative unknowns Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman. Several first-rate actors (Laurence Olivier, Eric Porter, Ian Holm, Alan Webb, Harry Andrews, Irene Worth, Jack Hawkins, Michael Redgrave, John McEnery, Curt Jurgens and others) support them in small parts and manage to make us forget their familiar presences to concentrate on their characters. The actors are cushioned by Yvonne Blake and Antonio Castillo's lush costumes and Richard Rodney Bennett's symphonic score in an elegant jewelry box crafted by designer John Box, cinematographer Freddie Young and director Franklin Schaffner. The film has two major failings. First, it is just a touch *too* sympathetic to the monarchs. Quite apart from the lack of any evaluation of their short-comings as leaders, there are too many scenes calculated, presumably (and questionably), to demonstrate Nicholas "learning" from his mistakes. Second, in the effort to dramatize a complex historical moment, there is simply too much of it. We jump from the Russo-Japanese War to the 1905 Russian Revolution to Stolypin's reforms, to Rasputin's influence, to the First World War, the Februrary Revolution, the October Revolution, and on and on. In this rush to include everything, little other than the monarchs' lives is dealt with in any depth and the efforts to depict the revolutionaries are particularly awkward. One of the most notorious scenes in the film, commented upon by more than one contemporary review, is a brief early moment when Lenin says to a journalist, "Pay attention, you're about to see the birth of the Bolshevik party." That's about the level of the political evaluation, and one can understand why the scene, along with about ten minutes elsewhere, was cut in subsequent theatrical and video release. (On the other hand, the characterization of Lenin as an intolerant prig, however uncomprehending of his political ideas, does ring remarkably true.) The DVD restores these excisions. The transfer is considerably warmer than Columbia's previous video releases, and is 16:9 enhanced. I recommend the disc to anyone interested in the subject or the capacity of films to make history live for audiences. Apparently like several other reviewers here, I first saw "Nicholas and Alexandra" in its initial theatrical release and loved it. I immediately read Massie's book after seeing it, which was the first step in what has proven a life-long interest in the period. Despite its failings, it is a testament to the film's power that it can exercise this level of fascination over viewers' imaginations.
Rating:
Summary: Russian Accents
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: A good supplement to study of 20th century Russia
Review: Our family watched this 1971 Academy Award winning drama about the final years of Russia's last Czar and Czarina, to supplement the information our son received about 20th century Russia in school. Since his curriculm was preoccupied with the rise and fall of Communism, this film helped provide some of the background prior to the Bolshevik Revolution.The Romanovs are portrayed as being more preoccupied with the health of their hemophiliac son, Alexi, than with the health of the impoverished Russian masses. As Rasputin comes on the scene and "heals" the boy, the Empress persuades the Czar to give increasing influence to this man of questionable character. This eventually leads to their undoing, and the story ultimately ends in tragedy for the Romanov family, not to mention the politically vulnerable Russian people. This film helped fill in some historical gaps for our student son. Perhaps one day we will get to the book, as recommended by other reviewers. A good companion film is "Stalin."
Rating:
Summary: An astounding, overwhelming drama.
Review: The story of Tsar Nicholas II and his family is chronicled in this dramatic film. The two-time Oscar winning production from Franklin J. Schaffner reveals a doomed look over the Romanov famliy and their tragic story. The movie captures a well-suited cast, a remarkable screenplay, and stunning costumes.
|
