More fascinating ‘What-If’ than satisfying accomplishment, this zesty romance, set during the chaotic start of the Russian Revolution, lost nearly two reels worth of Pre-Code footage (and possibly dicey political action), presumably for a re-release, leaving a bit less than an hour’s running time with many missing links & dramatic lacunae. (It even lost its better original title: SON OF RUSSIA.) Yet, there's too much that's good in it to write off regardless of length. William Dieterle, having smoothly transitioned from German actor to Hollywood helmer, gets it off to a running start as impossibly handsome Russian Baron Douglas Fairbanks Jr. trains home to Moscow with fellow WWI officers on leave from the front. Within five minutes we’ve landed at a vodka-soaked orgy, only to wake up two days later with Bolsheviks knocking down the door. Goodbye lovely/willing aristocrat Lilyan Tashman/Hello sweet housemaid (an overparted Nancy Carroll), the gal Fairbanks has long tried to molest, now useful proletarian cover to flee the country . . . tru-love & marriage to follow. Surviving as a busboy in Constantinople, who should Doug bump into but Tashman, eager to have his help working a lucrative con on a green pair of Father/Daughter American tourists hoping to rub against royalty. Everything in here is smashingly handled: fabulous Anton Grot designs; evocative Ernest Haller lensing; neat cameos from Russian ex-pats like Mischa Auer; all imaginatively done up by Dieterle. But now so choppy! Disfigured thru hellish cuts right up to its abrupt, if haunting question mark of an ending.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/DOUBLE-BILL: Hollywood portrayed the 1917 Russian Revolution in the ‘20s and ‘30s with a wonderfully conflicted attitude. Whom to root for? After all, didn't we start with a revolution against Aristos & Royalty? On the other hand . . . Communists!! Running the gamut from C. B. DeMille’s VOLGA BOATMAN/’26 to Jacques Feder’s KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR/’37. Perhaps best balanced in Josef von Sternberg’s late silent masterpiece THE LAST COMMAND/’28.
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