Reviews (2)

A Dream Of Romance
The story is familiar enough: Russian noblewoman abducted, and saved after many adventurers. It seems improbable now, but the material is very close not only to historical accounts of such escapes, or even merely to the fictional Anastasia of stage and film. Eighty years ago, nobody wold have doubted a bit of it. Some aristocrats did escape. Some titled and formerly rich and beautiful Russian women found their various ways to Berlin and Paris. Several founded successful businesses based on their knowledge of and familiarity with beautiful things; they dealt in lingeree, clothing, furs, jewels. During the 20s there actually was such a thing as Russian chic, and this film recaptures some of that romance.

Like all well-made black and white films, KNIGHT has the feeling of a dream, and that feeling is sustained throughout with the most amazing display of understated cinematic skill. The scenario: A beautiful woman living in a cocoon of wealth and privilege, is swept away in the middle of the night. Led and shielded by a handsome stranger, she finds her way to political and emotional freedom, by crossing a final border, and by falling in love with her non-aristocratic guardian and savior. She becoemes a 'real' woman. This is fairly pure Joseph Campbell with a bit of Cocteau and Jung thrown in for good measur. If it is not bluntly erotic enough for our time, perhaps, or for a somewhat earlier time -- think of Dr. Zivago -- it brings us back to a frame of mind that died with the First World War, when what attracted men and women to one another, had to do with character; when admiration combined with sex to form Adoration. It was a time of ideals. Dietrich's exceptional beauty in this film, is more than merely the beauty of an actress. Here, it becomes symbolic of all that was beautiful in Aristocratic Russia before the Revolution. She becomes the embodiment of some a rare and exquisite treasure very much like a Feberge jewel; something fragile, unique, astonishing. She looks the way Rachmaninoff sounds.

This is a cinematic experience of exceptional beauty; much like a fine eau de parfum; Chanel's Russian Leather, perhaps.

Nights Without Passion
This is a wonderful film for all the wrong reasons. The plot, though not absolutely impossible considering the time and the circumstances of the Russian Revolution, appear to derive more from Anastasia than from anything else. Nevertheless, Dietrich is a beautiful noblewoman who is rescued by Robert Donat, and their adventures across a Russia swarming with armed and dangerous Soviet thugs is the meat and potatoes of this story. Possibly because most of it appears to have been shot on sound stages, one doesn't feel any sense of real danger, except for the scene where Dietrich, dressed in beautiful peasant drag, is confronted with one of her old womenservants who refuses to recognize her. This in and of itself is preposterous because Dietrich's beauty in this scene is incredible. Her flawless, porcelain face is like no other on earth, and despite months of scrouncing through the wilds of Russia, not even slightly smudged. A peasant girl? Hardly.

Throughout the film, the secondary characters are very good and uniformly well played.

We now know that Dietrich didn't care for Donat either physically, or temperamentally. He was athsmatic, married, and unavailable. Dietrich was not amused by his coldness and distance. Their playing together has very little of anything like passion about it, but demonstrates very well how two skilled actors, guided by a helpful director, good lighting and camerawork, can make perfunctory embraces resemble something close to love-making, or at least the warmest affection.

The strengths of the movie are these: Dietrich is beautiful throughout, and nothing establishes that more strongly than her abduction from her bedroom while wearing a filmy negligee -- on horseback, no less! She is so beautiful, so gem-like and precious in her cinematic femeninity, one is reminded of a juggling act in which the juggler, tormented and teased on every side, struggles to cross the stage without dropping his treasure.

Donat is handsome; he photographs well, moves well, and uses his elegant voice to good effect. As a leading man he performs much as a dancing partner whose job it is to make his partner look her best.

The real triumph of the movie is the high and imaginative finish the director's team is able to achieve. The quality of black and white photography is very high, with scenes of many diferent kinds, handled so skillfully, one is unaware of the craft involved in their presentation. As it happens in many black and white Hitchcock movies, the pace and timing of the scenes parading across the screen, becomes in itself, almost a kinetic character or a presence in the story. One thinks of his 39 STEPS, and the moor scenes.

And so, although there is nothing of hot-blooded passion in this film, what it does offer is something rare in Dietrich's work; it is a romantic adventure story not altogether unlike one of Cocteau's modern fairy tale in its sophistication and delicacy. This is a connaisseur's movie; rare, and choice: gourmet eye candy. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

THEY LIKE ME...THEY REALLY LIKE ME
This 1934 film is an interesting historical drama. Flora Robson is wonderful as the Empress Elizabeth, intelligent and politically astute, though wanton. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. is well cast in the role of the Grand Duke Peter, playing him as a weak, lascivious, rake of a fellow. The role of Catherine is well played by Elisabeth Bergner.

At first, Catherine, a German princess intent only upon marrying the Grand Duke Peter, the man to whom she has been promised since she was ten, seems to be a humble, simple soul. They marry, and Peter proceeds to treat Catherine badly, humiliating her at every turn. When his aunt, the Empress, dies and Peter becomes Emperor, it becomes clear that he is not fit to rule. Catherine, however, tries to ameliorate some of Peter's harsh edicts and rulings.

It soon becomes clear as time passes that it is Catherine who is fit to rule and in the interest of Russia to see to it that she does. How this comes about, and what happens to ensure that Catherine becomes Empress, is quite interesting, making it a film well worth watching. Unfortunately, I do not know whether this film is historically accurate or not. It is entertaining, nonetheless, with good performances by the entire cast.

Elisabeth the Grate
Bergner's voice. Peter's lunacy. More than coincidence?

An intriging film of the great Russian Empress
I became interested with Catherine the Great, since 1994. I saw the cover and I wanted to buy it. Flora Robson plays a malicious, brutal character of Empress Elizabeth, with a firm belief that women can see into men's hearts by the look in their faces, but can be able to hide their true feelings inside and out. Douglous Farbanks Jr. is a fine Peter with a hint of devilish ambition in his behavior. Mostly, Elisabeth Bergner takes most of the credit with her sweet toned, intellegent, and humble Grand Duchess. This is quite a brief film, but the soft moments where the Empress dies and Catherine learns the truth of Peter's death make the film worth remembering. The moment where Gregory tells Catherine that he loves her could have had more romantic emphasis. But other than that, this film is a must have in every library. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

THEY LIKE ME...THEY REALLY LIKE ME
This 1934 film is an interesting historical drama. Flora Robson is wonderful as the Empress Elizabeth, intelligent and politically astute, though wanton. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. is well cast in the role of the Grand Duke Peter, playing him as a weak, lascivious, rake of a fellow. The role of Catherine is well played by Elisabeth Bergner.

At first, Catherine, a German princess intent only upon marrying the Grand Duke Peter, the man to whom she has been promised since she was ten, seems to be a humble, simple soul. They marry, and Peter proceeds to treat Catherine badly, humiliating her at every turn. When his aunt, the Empress, dies and Peter becomes Emperor, it becomes clear that he is not fit to rule. Catherine, however, tries to ameliorate some of Peter's harsh edicts and rulings.

It soon becomes clear as time passes that it is Catherine who is fit to rule and in the interest of Russia to see to it that she does. How this comes about, and what happens to ensure that Catherine becomes Empress, is quite interesting, making it a film well worth watching. Unfortunately, I do not know whether this film is historically accurate or not. It is entertaining, nonetheless, with good performances by the entire cast.

Elisabeth the Grate
Bergner's voice. Peter's lunacy. More than coincidence?

An intriging film of the great Russian Empress
I became interested with Catherine the Great, since 1994. I saw the cover and I wanted to buy it. Flora Robson plays a malicious, brutal character of Empress Elizabeth, with a firm belief that women can see into men's hearts by the look in their faces, but can be able to hide their true feelings inside and out. Douglous Farbanks Jr. is a fine Peter with a hint of devilish ambition in his behavior. Mostly, Elisabeth Bergner takes most of the credit with her sweet toned, intellegent, and humble Grand Duchess. This is quite a brief film, but the soft moments where the Empress dies and Catherine learns the truth of Peter's death make the film worth remembering. The moment where Gregory tells Catherine that he loves her could have had more romantic emphasis. But other than that, this film is a must have in every library. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

THEY LIKE ME...THEY REALLY LIKE ME
This 1934 film is an interesting historical drama. Flora Robson is wonderful as the Empress Elizabeth, intelligent and politically astute, though wanton. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. is well cast in the role of the Grand Duke Peter, playing him as a weak, lascivious, rake of a fellow. The role of Catherine is well played by Elisabeth Bergner.

At first, Catherine, a German princess intent only upon marrying the Grand Duke Peter, the man to whom she has been promised since she was ten, seems to be a humble, simple soul. They marry, and Peter proceeds to treat Catherine badly, humiliating her at every turn. When his aunt, the Empress, dies and Peter becomes Emperor, it becomes clear that he is not fit to rule. Catherine, however, tries to ameliorate some of Peter's harsh edicts and rulings.

It soon becomes clear as time passes that it is Catherine who is fit to rule and in the interest of Russia to see to it that she does. How this comes about, and what happens to ensure that Catherine becomes Empress, is quite interesting, making it a film well worth watching. Unfortunately, I do not know whether this film is historically accurate or not. It is entertaining, nonetheless, with good performances by the entire cast.

Elisabeth the Grate
Bergner's voice. Peter's lunacy. More than coincidence?

An intriging film of the great Russian Empress
I became interested with Catherine the Great, since 1994. I saw the cover and I wanted to buy it. Flora Robson plays a malicious, brutal character of Empress Elizabeth, with a firm belief that women can see into men's hearts by the look in their faces, but can be able to hide their true feelings inside and out. Douglous Farbanks Jr. is a fine Peter with a hint of devilish ambition in his behavior. Mostly, Elisabeth Bergner takes most of the credit with her sweet toned, intellegent, and humble Grand Duchess. This is quite a brief film, but the soft moments where the Empress dies and Catherine learns the truth of Peter's death make the film worth remembering. The moment where Gregory tells Catherine that he loves her could have had more romantic emphasis. But other than that, this film is a must have in every library. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

LUSH 1937 TECHNICOLOR.
Famous only for the fact that it was the first full-length British film to be photographed in Technicolor, it is also a pleasing if contrived little story which should appeal to fans of Henry Fonda, vintage British films or those who appreciate love stories. Leslie Banks plays Lord Clontarf - a member of the Irish gentry circa 1889 - who is in love with Marie (Annabella) - an exquisite Spanish gypsy. They are married, but Banks dies tragically when he falls to his death from his horse. Marie goes back to Spain where she's accepted back into her gypsy fold...Three generations pass, and in a dual role, Annabella plays a lively girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to ride her Grandmother's horse in the Epsom Downs Derby. Handsome young Henry Fonda sees Annabella at a party where she's dressed in a lovely evening gown and he's smitten... It's just as well the above synopsis doesn't make any real sense, as it's best to view this curio for yourselves. The lush, pastoral colour seen in this film uses soft hues to marvelous effect: the English and Irish countryside scenery is exquisite. Visually, it's a genuinely beautiful film which is never garish, i.e. overpowering the eyes with brilliant hues like some American films of the period did. Oddly enough, Fonda also starred in America's first all-Technicolor outdoor feature: TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE (1936). ... Read more