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The Last Command (film)

 

 
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The Last Command (1928
1928 in film

EventsAlthough some movies released in 1928 had Sound film, most were still silent film.* July 31 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's mascot Leo the Lion roars for the very first time, creating one of the most popular American film logos....
) is a silent film
Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made possible in the late 1920s with the introduction of the Vitaphone system....
, written by John F. Goodrich and Herman J. Mankiewicz
Herman J. Mankiewicz

Herman Jacob Mankiewicz , was an American screenwriter, who with Orson Welles, wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane. He was also the Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and later the drama critic for The New York Times and the New Yorker....
, from a story by Lajos Biró
Lajos Biró

Lajos B?r? was a Hungary novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who wrote many films from the early 1920s through the late 1940s. He was born in Nagyv?rad, Austria-Hungary and eventually moved to the United Kingdom where he worked as a scenario chief for London Film Productions run by Alexander Korda....
, and directed by Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg

Josef von Sternberg aka Jonas Sternberg was an Austrian-United States film Film director. He is one of the earliest examples of 'auteur' filmmakers, and practised many other skills while making his films including cinematography, writer, and film editor....
.

plot concerns a Tsarist Russian officer, Grand Duke Sergeus Alexander (Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings

Emil Jannings was a Switzerland-born German people actor and the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor....
), who has just committed revolutionary Leo Andreyev (William Powell
William Powell

William Horatio Powell was a three-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, noted for his sophisticated, cynical roles. He was a major MGM film star and is most widely known for portraying the detective Nick and Nora Charles in six The Thin Man films....
) to prison, while retaining his beautiful partner Natacha as a mistress. She plans to kill him, but comes to realize that he is at heart a man of honor who loves Russia as deeply as she does.






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The Last Command (1928
1928 in film

EventsAlthough some movies released in 1928 had Sound film, most were still silent film.* July 31 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's mascot Leo the Lion roars for the very first time, creating one of the most popular American film logos....
) is a silent film
Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made possible in the late 1920s with the introduction of the Vitaphone system....
, written by John F. Goodrich and Herman J. Mankiewicz
Herman J. Mankiewicz

Herman Jacob Mankiewicz , was an American screenwriter, who with Orson Welles, wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane. He was also the Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and later the drama critic for The New York Times and the New Yorker....
, from a story by Lajos Biró
Lajos Biró

Lajos B?r? was a Hungary novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who wrote many films from the early 1920s through the late 1940s. He was born in Nagyv?rad, Austria-Hungary and eventually moved to the United Kingdom where he worked as a scenario chief for London Film Productions run by Alexander Korda....
, and directed by Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg

Josef von Sternberg aka Jonas Sternberg was an Austrian-United States film Film director. He is one of the earliest examples of 'auteur' filmmakers, and practised many other skills while making his films including cinematography, writer, and film editor....
.

Synopsis

The plot concerns a Tsarist Russian officer, Grand Duke Sergeus Alexander (Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings

Emil Jannings was a Switzerland-born German people actor and the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor....
), who has just committed revolutionary Leo Andreyev (William Powell
William Powell

William Horatio Powell was a three-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, noted for his sophisticated, cynical roles. He was a major MGM film star and is most widely known for portraying the detective Nick and Nora Charles in six The Thin Man films....
) to prison, while retaining his beautiful partner Natacha as a mistress. She plans to kill him, but comes to realize that he is at heart a man of honor who loves Russia as deeply as she does. While helping him escape the Bolsheviks she is killed, the shock of which gives him a nervous tremor. Many years later we see Sergeus Alexander reduced to near poverty and making a slim living as a Hollywood extra. A director, none other than his old adversary Leo Andreyev, recognizes him and, in an ironic act calculated to humiliate him, casts him as a Russian general in a battle scene. Bullied by the costume department (his uniform and boots are thrown right in his face) he is directed to give a speech to a group of actors playing his soldiers. Slowly losing his grip on reality he imagines himself genuinely on the battlefield and passionately urges them to fight for Russia. Overstraining himself he dies, his last words inquiring if they'd won the battle. Andreyev remarks "He was a great man."

Awards

Jannings won the first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
 for his performances in this film and The Way of All Flesh
The Way of All Flesh (film)

The Way of All Flesh is a 1927 in film film that was written by Lajos Bir?, Jules Furthman, Julian Johnson and Ernest Maas from a story by Perley Poore Sheehan....
, the only year that actors were awarded for multiple performances.

Trivia

  • Fritz Feld
    Fritz Feld

    Fritz Feld was a film character actor actor who appeared in over 140 films, both silent film and synchronized sound....
     can be spotted as a screaming revolutionary who at one point sneers in Jannings' face.


Modern Use

The ARG
Alternate reality game

An alternate reality game, also known as an altered reality game , is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
 of the same name used cast and crew names from both this and the 1955 film
The Last Command (1955 film)

The Last Command is a 1955 Trucolor film about Jim Bowie and the fall of the Alamo. Filmed by Republic Pictures, it was an unusually expensive undertaking for the low-budget studio....
 to populate its initial "subroutine list."

Quotes

When Sergeus Alexander finds one of his aides trying on his overcoat he instructs his guards, "If this happens again remove the coat and shoot the contents."

External links