The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty details
| Format: | Ex DVD |
|---|---|
| Starring: | Emperor Franz Josef, Mikhail Alekseyev, Nikolai Chkheidze, Alexei Brusilov |
| Director: | Esfir Shub |
| Genre: | Documentary - Biography |
| Name | Discs | |
|---|---|---|
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty |
Ex Feature |
DVD Information
| Run time: | 1 hour 27 minutes |
|---|---|
| Rental release: | 22 Apr 2002 |
| Main languages: | English |
| Subtitles: | English |
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Most helpful review
Of truths, lies and the power of cinema
By bertruche from london , 29 Sep 2006[Highly rated reviewer]
Fall of the Romanov Dynasty is not – as your website introduction inaccurately claims – “an account of what really happened”. In actual fact, its quality and value as a piece of film can only be appreciated if it is seen for what it is: an epic propaganda effort designed to feed Soviet masses with a much simplified official narrative of the October Revolution. Shub herself was an essential cog in the early machinery of Soviet film censorship and propaganda. Her main métier was to edit foreign films (a few of Fritz Lang’s 1920s movies came into contact with her splicer!), to render them suitable for an audience carefully endoctrinated with Bolshevik principles.
None of this detracts from the film’s quality and skilfulness as a movie. The material is a jaw-droppingly vivid and often poignant testimony to Russian life and its epic/tragic transition from one gruesome regime to another, at an exhorbitant cost in human suffering. Shub has an instinctive grasp of pacing and story telling, displaying sophistication and clarity in equal measures through often complex editing.
Adding much value to this re-mastered DVD edition is a counterpoint commentary by Russian history professor Oleg Douskikh. Watching this silent work with his words super-imposed is often illuminating, despite the dour oratories. A must-see.- Was this review helpful to you?
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(4)czarist Russia as paradise on earth
By fengzi (9 reviews) from Durham , 28 Aug 2010the documentary makes some interesting points and has interesting opinions, but is biased to the extent of being propaganda for the Romanov dynasty
Maybe worth watching as a perspective and interpretation, is certainly rather one-sided though.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Of truths, lies and the power of cinema
By bertruche from london , 29 Sep 2006Fall of the Romanov Dynasty is not – as your website introduction inaccurately claims – “an account of what really happened”. In actual fact, its quality and value as a piece of film can only be appreciated if it is seen for what it is: an epic propaganda effort designed to feed Soviet masses with a much simplified official narrative of the October Revolution. Shub herself was an essential cog in the early machinery of Soviet film censorship and propaganda. Her main métier was to edit foreign films (a few of Fritz Lang’s 1920s movies came into contact with her splicer!), to render them suitable for an audience carefully endoctrinated with Bolshevik principles.
None of this detracts from the film’s quality and skilfulness as a movie. The material is a jaw-droppingly vivid and often poignant testimony to Russian life and its epic/tragic transition from one gruesome regime to another, at an exhorbitant cost in human suffering. Shub has an instinctive grasp of pacing and story telling, displaying sophistication and clarity in equal measures through often complex editing.
Adding much value to this re-mastered DVD edition is a counterpoint commentary by Russian history professor Oleg Douskikh. Watching this silent work with his words super-imposed is often illuminating, despite the dour oratories. A must-see.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (4) Yes |
- No (0)
Very Biased
By a customer from England , 21 Sep 2005The actual footage is interestring to watch if you have knowledge of the subject.
The reason that I have given 1 star is because of the terribly biased commetary the runs with it. The commentator is an extreme royalist!- Was this review helpful to you?
- (2) Yes |
- No (1)
The collection of ...
By Ian#51 from EDINBURGH , 08 Mar 2004The collection of historic film was interesting, the piano playing was very nice and well selected. However, I chose to view this disc with the commentary switched on. This was done by a, so called, Russian historian. His analysis was unhistorical. He turned this historic document into an anti-historical diatribe- Was this review helpful to you?
- (3) Yes |
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