Though this movie didn't quite have the impact on me personally the way some epic films have had, there were undeniably well-done and indelible moments in it. And it was also well-acted.
Well, it was nominated for Best Picture in 1971, but lost to "The French Connection," a popular film but a bad choice. I think "Nicholas and Alexandra was a better film. The actibng was outstanding and the cinematograply was breath-taking. But American audiences didn't warm up to it.
@@miamidolphinsfan I loved "Fiddler," too. It did a very good job of describing the problems between Jews and Christians in Russia in the same time period.
The big budget movies that the studios used to make were prestige films like this or Patton or Ben Hur etc. Now the big budget films are made for teenagers. This is a very interesting movie (from the director of Patton) that was basically an intimate character study disguised as a big sweeping epic. I've seen this movie 3 or 4 times and I own it on DVD Wonderful picture
Ahhhhh. Tom Baker befor Doctor Who, absolutly amazing. But, there is a funny fact. Michael Jayston (actor who played as Nicolas) then will play as a Valeyard, in Doctor Who.
Bet you haven't read, studied, or know much of anything, except what you think you know, or have been told by someone else who doesn't know or much cares, except that ........it involved, cold blooded Communist KILLERS, who, if it was THEIR own family member, they would have thought twice about consorting to commit such a heinous massacre of 4 impartial, yet, innocent young girls/women, who, after the birth of son and heir-apparent to the Russian throne, Alexi, the girls were of no real threat to the rotten Bolshevik communists, who btw.................ran like rats, from the depths of the forest in Siberia, where the execution took place, and the real 'bloodshed' began and ended.
@OldNoir I would guess that they are quotes from their letters between each other, of which there were many over the years. These are heavily referenced in the Robert Massie text.
To "DjangosBurntFingers: Get your facts right. You can get them from any book that lists the Oscars or from either the Academy Awards website or Wikipedia. "Nicholas and Alexandra" was a fine movie, but it did NOT win Best Picture in 1971. It lost to "The French Connection." Schaffner's film won Oscars for it's Art Direction-Set Decoration and Costume Design. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Score, but lost in all of those categories. Also, TCM does not "own" the film. It just leases the right to show it from time to time from Columbia Pictures, which originally distributed it world-wide. I don't know whether Columbia now owns it, because Sam Speigel's company, Horizon---which owned the copyright, isn't in business anymore. But TCM does not "own" it.
This really was an excellent film, probably as true to a book (by Robert K. Massie) as a movie can be. However, despite a Best Picture nomination and a nomination for Best Actress for Janet Suzman, the film failed at the box office. It comes across more like a BBC production on PBS than the kind of rock-em, sock-em nonsense most Americans want. Too bad. Like Massie's book, it's a pretty objective look at the last Tsar of Russia and his family. Nicholas WAS a good, loving family man, but he also was an autocrat who never really looked out for the welfare of his people. The film's contrasts of the splendor of the Winter Palace and another palace at Livadia when compared to the squalor of the poor put everything in proper perspective. Throw in Nicholas' Okrana (the secret police) and you have a recipe for revolution.
why is he being blamed, the murderers of Alexander II, who was actually trying to improve their lives, set this in motion RIP Romanovs died July 16, 1918
+rias Alexander II freed the serfs in 1861, but 20 years later, word got out that he was planning to reverse that. In a reactionary culture, that didn't bode very well.
Really? I know there are cousins and distant relatives alive, but as far as the immediate Royal family (Tsar Nicholas, his wife and kids) all their bodies have been found and buried.
***** They have confirmed with DNA, verified through independent sources, as well as having a signed statement sent by the man who carried out the executions to his superiors. I'm not denying that other members of the Romanov family are alive and well, I am just saying that Tsar Nicholas and his wife and children are dead.
The murder of Nicholas and is family was even worse than this film showed. In reality some of them were still alive after being shot by the hand guns, so they bannated the ones still alive then theyt threw the bodies down in the aellers
+ELPaso1990TX Prince Michael Romanov is still very much alive and a grandson of Czar Alexander II (Nicholas grandfather) and many other members of the family. However none of the males are legitimate heirs anymore since they were the products of marriages not in line with the Pauline Family Laws set out by the Emperor (Tsar) Paul in 1801....in which to be an heir you must marry an equal, and their marriages have all been un-equal theirfore any children are not considered dynasts.
So were Sam Spiegel, Franklin Schafner and Columbia Pictures aligned with the Russians? The Romanovs? Walk me through your theory that had the makers of this movie involved in some cover up.
This poorly transferred pan and scan trailer was included in Columbia's Region 1 DVD of the film. If only they they could have transferred it properly in its original 2.35:1 Panavision format as they did with the actual film.
Ok it's a beautiful picture but now you're just making stuff up. The film did not win the Academy Award for best picture. It was NOMINATED for SIX and WON TWO; art direction/set decoration and costume design. William Friedkin's "The French Connection" won best picture that year.
HBB You are terribly misinformed. The Romanov' s were in fact murdered and their bodies were buried in the forest. Recent events, consisting of the unearthing of their bones with DNA confirmation has put your theory to rest. Their bodies have now been given a proper burial befitting their station, and they have been declared Saints by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Very beautiful movie with sad end but Nicholas was a stupid and coward man that knows nothing of strategy or how to rule made worst decision against Russia he followed his wife and was very weak if the movie is real i think the only crime was made to princesses,sailor and doctor he was Stubborn does not listen to his wise mother or faithful advisers and against change which caused a great risk to all Russia
I never liked this movie. I think it made the fall of the Romanov Dynasty into a boring soap opera! The set's were awful (using the Royal Palace in Madrid was cool) ... the script mellow dramatic and the whole saga drawn out. I was very disappointed in this film and still am. (Rasputin; Dark Servant of Destiny - was a better film in my view and that was a low budget HBO film).
Meraviglioso, corposo e obiettivo film, che non ha avuto i dovuti premi e ovviamente non ha avuto il giusto numero di spettatori. Vergogna dell'Umanità, per niente umana.
Probably the most underrated feature film directed by franklin J. Schaffner.
A remarkable and underrated movie
Great Movie
Though this movie didn't quite have the impact on me personally the way some epic films have had, there were undeniably well-done and indelible moments in it. And it was also well-acted.
A great movie, and not remembered as it should be. The casting was pure genius.
Well, it was nominated for Best Picture in 1971, but lost to "The French Connection," a popular film but a bad choice. I think "Nicholas and Alexandra was a better film. The actibng was outstanding and the cinematograply was breath-taking. But American audiences didn't warm up to it.
@@williamsnyder5616 I always thought the film of the year in 1971 was Fiddler on the Roof
@@miamidolphinsfan I loved "Fiddler," too. It did a very good job of describing the problems between Jews and Christians in Russia in the same time period.
Rasputin: "Alexandra...Would you like a jelly baby?"
The big budget movies that the studios used to make were prestige films like this or Patton or Ben Hur etc.
Now the big budget films are made for teenagers.
This is a very interesting movie (from the director of Patton) that was basically an intimate character study disguised as a big sweeping epic.
I've seen this movie 3 or 4 times and I own it on DVD
Wonderful picture
And the Valeyard is Nicholas!
That is so true! They make very few movies like that anymore! More's the pity!
Ahhhhh. Tom Baker befor Doctor Who, absolutly amazing. But, there is a funny fact. Michael Jayston (actor who played as Nicolas) then will play as a Valeyard, in Doctor Who.
Great movie based on a wonderful book- Massie's Catherine the Great is excellent too!
Dude...the Valeyard and the 4th Doctor in a movie about the rise of communism...I MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!!
+Simon Batterberry-Hecimovich
you should see it, it's a really good film
Bet you haven't read, studied, or know much of anything, except what you think you know, or have been told by someone else who doesn't know or much cares, except that ........it involved, cold blooded Communist KILLERS, who, if it was THEIR own family member, they would have thought twice about consorting to commit such a heinous massacre of 4 impartial, yet, innocent young girls/women, who, after the birth of son and heir-apparent to the Russian throne, Alexi, the girls were of no real threat to the rotten Bolshevik communists, who btw.................ran like rats, from the depths of the forest in Siberia, where the execution took place, and the real 'bloodshed' began and ended.
Aka the _real_ reason the Valeyard hates the Doctor so much.
Let him talk
He fascinates me
@OldNoir I would guess that they are quotes from their letters between each other, of which there were many over the years. These are heavily referenced in the Robert Massie text.
To "DjangosBurntFingers: Get your facts right. You can get them from any book that lists the Oscars or from either the Academy Awards website or Wikipedia. "Nicholas and Alexandra" was a fine movie, but it did NOT win Best Picture in 1971. It lost to "The French Connection." Schaffner's film won Oscars for it's Art Direction-Set Decoration and Costume Design. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Score, but lost in all of those categories. Also, TCM does not "own" the film. It just leases the right to show it from time to time from Columbia Pictures, which originally distributed it world-wide. I don't know whether Columbia now owns it, because Sam Speigel's company, Horizon---which owned the copyright, isn't in business anymore. But TCM does not "own" it.
Oliver as witte, brillent and too the mark
I half expected him to regenerate into Peter Davidson after they killed him....
This really was an excellent film, probably as true to a book (by Robert K. Massie) as a movie can be. However, despite a Best Picture nomination and a nomination for Best Actress for Janet Suzman, the film failed at the box office. It comes across more like a BBC production on PBS than the kind of rock-em, sock-em nonsense most Americans want. Too bad. Like Massie's book, it's a pretty objective look at the last Tsar of Russia and his family. Nicholas WAS a good, loving family man, but he also was an autocrat who never really looked out for the welfare of his people. The film's contrasts of the splendor of the Winter Palace and another palace at Livadia when compared to the squalor of the poor put everything in proper perspective. Throw in Nicholas' Okrana (the secret police) and you have a recipe for revolution.
Oh please.
2:34 Isn't that Michael Bryant, who played head of the secret police, Pyotr Rachkovsky, in Fall of Eagles?
I believe he is.
And it had the guy who played bismark in the fall of eagles also
I spy with my little eye... the Fourth Doctor!!
I just love how Russians have English accents
why is he being blamed, the murderers of Alexander II, who was actually trying to improve their lives, set this in motion RIP Romanovs died July 16, 1918
+rias Alexander II freed the serfs in 1861, but 20 years later, word got out that he was planning to reverse that. In a reactionary culture, that didn't bode very well.
There are still members of the Romanov family alive I think in Italy
Really? I know there are cousins and distant relatives alive, but as far as the immediate Royal family (Tsar Nicholas, his wife and kids) all their bodies have been found and buried.
***** They have confirmed with DNA, verified through independent sources, as well as having a signed statement sent by the man who carried out the executions to his superiors. I'm not denying that other members of the Romanov family are alive and well, I am just saying that Tsar Nicholas and his wife and children are dead.
The murder of Nicholas and is family was even worse than this film showed. In reality some of them were still alive after being shot by the hand guns, so they bannated the ones still alive then theyt threw the bodies down in the aellers
Professor6871 True. A little barbaric and probably the reason they covered up the murders-- they didn't want the people to know what they had done.
+ELPaso1990TX
Prince Michael Romanov is still very much alive and a grandson of Czar Alexander II (Nicholas grandfather) and many other members of the family. However none of the males are legitimate heirs anymore since they were the products of marriages not in line with the Pauline Family Laws set out by the Emperor (Tsar) Paul in 1801....in which to be an heir you must marry an equal, and their marriages have all been un-equal theirfore any children are not considered dynasts.
Where the hell is Brian Cox???
Keep telling yourself that
Why the hell are you quoting that?
So were Sam Spiegel, Franklin Schafner and Columbia Pictures aligned with the Russians? The Romanovs? Walk me through your theory that had the makers of this movie involved in some cover up.
This poorly transferred pan and scan trailer was included in Columbia's Region 1 DVD of the film. If only they they could have transferred it properly in its original 2.35:1 Panavision format as they did with the actual film.
Ok it's a beautiful picture but now you're just making stuff up. The film did not win the Academy Award for best picture. It was NOMINATED for SIX and WON TWO; art direction/set decoration and costume design. William Friedkin's "The French Connection" won best picture that year.
HBB You are terribly misinformed. The Romanov' s were in fact murdered and their bodies were buried in the forest. Recent events, consisting of the unearthing of their bones with DNA confirmation has put your theory to rest. Their bodies have now been given a proper burial befitting their station, and they have been declared Saints by the Russian Orthodox Church.
God Bless them! forever!
Very beautiful movie with sad end but Nicholas was a stupid and coward man that knows nothing of strategy or how to rule made worst decision against Russia he followed his wife and was very weak if the movie is real i think the only crime was made to princesses,sailor and doctor he was Stubborn does not listen to his wise mother or faithful advisers and against change which caused a great risk to all Russia
I do not think I am fit to rule-Nicholas II
Dr. Who!
Soyuz nerushimy respublik svobodnykh!
I never liked this movie. I think it made the fall of the Romanov Dynasty into a boring soap opera! The set's were awful (using the Royal Palace in Madrid was cool) ... the script mellow dramatic and the whole saga drawn out. I was very disappointed in this film and still am. (Rasputin; Dark Servant of Destiny - was a better film in my view and that was a low budget HBO film).
Meraviglioso, corposo e obiettivo film, che non ha avuto i dovuti premi e ovviamente non ha avuto il giusto numero di spettatori. Vergogna dell'Umanità, per niente umana.