The Last Command (1928)
Time: 1h 28mins
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Quick Summary: A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
As slow as this film was, I ended up really enjoying this. It took me a while to adjust to it being a silent film, but after not too long I was up to speed.
The story is so interesting in itself, an exiled Russian general winds up on a Hollywood set as a movie extra to play a Russian general, reliving the past. On the offset that does sound quite boring and admittedly it took me a while to get into the story and understand what was going on. There ends up being so much emotion and complexity to it though that I wasn't expecting, and I was so so impressed that most of it was done through the use of music or expression.
Emil Jannings is pretty good in this considering he doesn't say a single word. There are some nice laughs, a pretty good love story, some political drama and some incredibly tense scenes. The story is part tragedy but it also works incredibly well as a character study because one can't help but love this guy and feel sorry for the pain he goes through.
Surprisingly I was amazed at the cinematography that was achieved, such things as a long shot panning the whole length of a room, dashing with the characters, or throwing us into intense up-close shots. With this you really feel like you're part of the film, just simply onlooking onto what is going on.
Evelyn Brent is fairly good, giving us some good emoting, but overplaying it here and there. It's too bad her character weakens somewhat in a crucial moment, but it gave an extra layer of bittersweetness to the story.
There are some plot points that don't quite make sense, but overall the movie still held my interest and I think it's definitely a good film to start with when getting into silent films. The performances are what really make this film, and honestly, they're just so powerful. And for those who are interested, this is inspired by real events! Go nuts history people.
7/10
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