NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA

'''Nicholas and Alexandra''' is a 1971 biographical film which tells the story of the last of Russia's monarchs, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his wife, the Empress Alexandra.
It stars Michael Jayston (Nicholas II), Janet Suzman (Alexandra), Roderic Noble (Alexei), Ania Marson (Olga), Lynne Frederick (Tatiana), Candace Glendenning (Maria), Fiona Fullerton (Anastasia), Harry Andrews (Grand Duke Nicholas), Irene Worth (The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna), Tom Baker (Rasputin), Jack Hawkins (Count Fredericks), Ian Holm (Comissar Yakovlev) and Timothy West (Dr. Botkin).
The movie was adapted by James Goldman from the book by Robert K. Massie. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.
It won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Janet Suzman), Best Cinematography, Best Music, Original Dramatic Score and Best Picture.

Contents

Summary

Historical accuracy

External links

Summary

The story begins with the birth of the Tsarevich Alexei in the opulent surroundings of the Imperial Court. The Russo-Japanese War is on, and Tsar Nicholas' cousin Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich and Count Witte warn him that this war is futile and costing too many lives. They also tell him that the Russian people want a representative government, health care and voting and workers' rights, but Nicholas wants to keep the traditional autocracy left to him by his forefathers. Meanwhile, underground political parties led by Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky have formed. At this point, the Social Democratic Labor Party is doing poorly and Lenin is being cast out of the limelight. Lenin splits the party into the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks to grab a top spot.
Alexei is soon diagnosed with haemophilia. The Tsarina is frantic. A German from the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt who is not highly thought of by the Russian royal court, she is somewhat shy and isolated. On the evening of a birthday reception for the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Alexandra meets Grigori Rasputin, a Siberian peasant who describes himself as a religious pilgrim or holy man. Rasputin has come to the attention of some members of the royal court. Later Alexandra calls upon Rasputin to help her pray for Alexei, and comes to believe in his healing abilities.
In a textile mill in St. Petersburg, workers are enduring ghastly conditions. They are encouraged by their priest, Father George Gapon, to make an attempt to improve their situation by marching in a demonstration to the Tsar at the Winter Palace. He leads them, joined by many other peasant workers, in a clearly peaceful procession. Gapon intends to present the people's petition to the Tsar. Hundreds of soldiers stand ready to secure the palace; their commanding officer orders the people to disperse and when they do not he orders his soldiers to shoot a warning volley over the heads of the people. He falls from his horse and there is a panic. The soldiers in an effort to halt the procession proceed to fire randomly into the crowd. Nicholas is horrified when he hears of the massacre, but insists he wouldn't have granted the people's requests.
Eight years later, on the 300th anniversary of Romanov rule, the family is vacationing in the Crimea. Alexei is a very lively little boy who is constantly prevented from leading a normal life. Nicholas is shown vulgar cartoons of Alexandra and Rasputin, indicating many Russians know of their close relationship, but not of the reason why they are so close. The Tsar does not believe it is politically wise to reveal Alexei's hemophilia to the public. Nicholas also gets police reports about Rasputin's dissolute behavior, and dismisses him from the court. Alexandra demands his return. She knows Alexei's hemophilia was inherited from her, and is wracked with guilt. She is obsessed with the thought that Rasputin can stop the bleeding attacks when they occur.
Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin has granted some of the people's requests in order to preserve the Empire, but he is shot at an opera performance in Kiev. Nicholas retaliates not only by executing the killer and rooting out the conspiracy, but by dissolving the Duma and allowing police to terrorise the peasants and burn their homes.
Alexei has a minor fall, which leads to the worst attack yet. It is presumed that he will die. The Tsarina writes a letter to Rasputin, who soon responds with words of comfort and confidence. Sure enough, the Tsarevich recovers, and Rasputin is allowed to return.
World War I begins with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg. Nicholas is meeting with his general staff and is sending messages to Kaiser Wilhelm, the so called Willy and Nicky telegrams trying to tell each other both are just participating in defensive exercises. The retired Sergei Witte advises Nicholas to stay out this war, but Nicholas does not listen. Soon thereafter Germany declares war on Russia. After a year, Nicholas decides to command the troops himself and leaves for the front, taking over from his much more experienced supreme commander, Grand Duke Nicholas, whose advice to him is to retreat and preserve as many Russian lives as possible. Nicholas makes the unwise decision to leave Alexandra in charge at home. Under Rasputin's influence and her own conservative inclinations, she makes unwise decisions. Very few people have been told about Alexei's illness or how Rasputin appears to help him, so it looks like the Tsarina is losing her mind, or perhaps having an affair with Rasputin. In December 1916, Prince (Felix Yusupov and the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich) invite Rasputin to the Yussopov Palace where they plan to murder him with poisoned wine and cakes. The poisons do not work and instead Rasputin is shot to death.

Deprived of her one trusted advisor, Alexandra is unable to cope. Workers go on strike everywhere. The army is ill supplied. Starving and freezing, they mutiny, and St. Petersburg goes over to the revolutionaries. The military allows the people to strike and raid storehouses, and even helps them do it. In his train at Pskov, Nicholas is forced to abdicate, not only for himself but for Alexei, on account of the fact that Alexei is too young and physically weak to assume the throne. At Pksov station, Nicholas meets with his Mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, who is generally displeased with her son and his inability to deal with circumstances. This will be their final meeting.
Nicholas returns to Tsarskoe Selo, where immediately the change in regime is apparent. He breaks down in front of Alexandra when he admits he had to abdicate and is deeply ashamed. For a time the family stays at the Alexander Palace but is eventually sent away by Kerensky, leader of the new Provisional Government, by train to Siberia in mid-1917, where they live under changed conditions with rough but decent guards. In late 1917, Russia falls into the hands of the Bolshevik party, the one revolutionary group that nobody took seriously, showing the rise of the Soviet Union. Shortly thereafter, there is news of anti-Communist forces attacking the newly commissioned Soviet armed forces, starting the Russian Civil War. The family are transferred to Yekaterinburg, under even harsher conditions. In a final tragic scene, the family are shown reading letters from friends, relatives and teachers. Alexei remains sober and aloof. The family are awakened and told they are to be sent to another city/ They are escorted downstairs into a small cellar room and are told to wait. Soviet soldiers under the command of Commissar Yurovsky enter the room then shoot them all.

Historical accuracy

The film takes liberties with known historical details. According to Gapon's diary, the Winter Palace scene is not consistent with what really happened on Bloody Sunday (1905). The murder of Rasputin is portrayed as having been committed on a drunken whim, rather than the deadly serious (although badly planned) business it really was according to the participants. Also, another historical inaccuracy occurs where Prime Minister Stolypin (Eric Porter) is seen with the Tsar aboard the royal train during the 1913 tercentenary tour. In fact, Stolypin had been murdered by an assassin in 1911, two years prior to the tercentenary. Furthermore, Count Witte (Laurence Olivier) is seen begging the Tsar not to go to war in 1914. In reality, Witte was in France when war broke out. However, the real Witte thought Russia going to war would be a bad idea. There were a number of meetings between Nicholas and his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (Irene Worth) before the abdication. The one presented is not particularly accurate. Nobody knows what happened during their final meetings.
The murder scene of the royal family was partly accurate. Dr.Botkin was present with the family, but Demidova (a maid), Trupp (a footman) and Kharitonov (a cook) are missing. Yurovsky enters with the fellow murderers and starts shooting without speaking. According to declassified Soviet papers detailing accounts of the killers, they had originally planned to transport the Tsar to Moscow. It is thought that Nicholas and Alexandra would have been placed on trial and then perhaps executed.
News of the White Army making battlefield advances worried the Reds, who feared that if the Whites captured the city of Yekaterinberg and learned the royal family was being held there, they would attempt a combat search and rescue mission to free the Tsar. The killers entered the room and made the statement "In light of the fact your relatives continue their aggression against the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet has decided to sentence you to death!" The Tsar's last words are reputed to be "What?! I do not understand!"

External links

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