In the final days of Czarist Russia, a peasant is raised from the ranks to Lieutenant. The other officers, aristocrats all, resent him, and make his life difficult. He falls in love with a princess, who spurns him. When he is caught in her room, he is stripped of his rank and thrown into prison. Then comes the Red Terror, and the tables are turned.
Acting
Barrymore's face does what dialogue cannot — devastating.
Cinematography
Shadowy Russian palaces and prison cells shot like fever dreams.
Practical Effects
Massive crowd scenes built without CGI, just pure 1920s ambition.
Director
Sam Taylor
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was John Barrymore's first sound film test — he failed, ironically because his legendary stage voice recorded poorly.
Released in 1928, the film's sympathetic peasant hero hit theaters months before Stalin's first Five-Year Plan reshaped Soviet cinema into propaganda.
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