Reviews

Weirdly wacky--Just happened to see this ancient short, as we used to call them, on Turner Classic Movies. I missed the beginning but did manage to catch Betty's rendition of "Old Man Mose", backed by Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra, which has lyrics by LOUIS ARMSTRONG--Talk about cross cultural adventures! Although it is 1939, the jitterbuggy culture that drove GIs and their Janes up the walls a few years later, is already very much in evidence in this zoot-suit-y extravaganza! All she needed was Cab Calloway to back her up--That would have been sublime, a la Minnie the Moocher!

Betty's gown, if you can call it that, looks like a bobby soxer's dirndl gone mad! It is floor length with deep pleats and and odd peasant neckline and she does some Judy Canova/Kay Thompson/Charlotte Greenwood high side kicks in the manner of the 1930's "eccentric" dance style. Her voice is as it remained--wild and woolly! She is more an experience than a talent--but she sure "had it!"

See this antique if TCM ever shows it again! I still wish Judy Garland had completed Annie Get Your Gun instead of Betty but Betty's OOMPH is undeniable!

Hardly ever seen on TV or cable, this sweeping spectacle is a rare but welcome opportunity to see Marlene at the height of her powers as a star. Sadly, good prints seem to be rare. We saw it on a slightly scratchy VHS cassette we bought used on the internet but it brought back wonderful memories and its attention to period Russian detail is truly great. After a while the film overcame its physical limitations (in the print). The Russian atmosphere is superior to that in Dr. Zhivago, which seems flat and two dimensional in many ways.

The first appearance of Alexandra at the races in England, her departure by train for Russia, her presentation at court in a procession of girls in white presentation gowns and Russian headdresses--all perfectly detailed--to Nicholas and Alexandra, ("Lucky devil", a court lady says of her fiancé, "he is the most stupid officer at court and she is the smartest girl"), the attempted assassination of her father in her wedding procession across a bridge in St. Petersburg, her taking tea alone at the gardens of the neoclassical Adraxin country estate, served by a procession of servants and then waking up and finding the servants have deserted, the Revolution having begun, are all extremely beautifully done. True to 1930's convention, her makeup is never out of place, except in one scene when peasants capture her in her gauzy nightgown and negligee.

Robert Donat is a perfect foil to her elegance, dashing and always the epitome of 1930s savoir faire. His scenes as a prisoner in Siberia are also very well done.

All in all a great 1930's adventure of the highest style. They will never make another one like this! Jacques Feyder was a great director and his use of Marlene is equal to von Sternberg's. Bravo Countess Adraxin! Another great and sadly overlooked star vehicle for La Dietrich!