nicholas and alexandra

Director: franklin j. schaffner

Actor: michael jayston,janet suzman,roderic noble,ania marson

Data Published: Tue Nov 30 1971

Genres: Biography,Drama,History,War

Key Words: 1910s,bolshevik,princess,rasputin character,character names as title

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067483/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_and_Alexandra

Description: Nicholas and Alexandra is a movie starring Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, and Roderic Noble. Tsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his...

Plot: Tsarevich Alexei is born in 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War. Tsar Nicholas is warned by the Prime Minister Count Witte and his cousin Grand Duke Nicholas that the war is futile and costing too many lives. They tell him the Russian people want representative government, health care, voting and workers' rights, but Nicholas wants to maintain the autocracy. Meanwhile, underground political parties led by Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky have formed. Alexei is diagnosed with hemophilia. The Tsarina Alexandra, a German princess, is disliked by the Russian royal court. She befriends Rasputin, a Siberian peasant passing as a holy man, hoping he will heal Alexei. Working under appalling conditions, the factory workers are encouraged by Father Georgy Gapon to take part in a peaceful procession to the Winter Palace to present a petition to the Tsar. However, hundreds of soldiers standing in front of the palace fire into the crowd. Nicholas hears of the Bloody Sunday massacre and is horrified. In 1913 the family holidays at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea. Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin has preserved the Russian Empire. He presents Nicholas with police reports about Rasputin's dissolute behaviour, which is damaging the Tsar's reputation. Nicholas dismisses Rasputin from the court. Alexandra demands his return, as she believes only Rasputin can stop the bleeding attacks, but Nicholas stands firm in his decision. The Tercentenary celebrations occur and a lavish Royal Tour across Imperial Russia ensues, but crowds are thin. Other national festivities and Church celebrations go ahead, but an event at the Kiev Opera House ends horribly when Prime Minister Stolypin is assassinated. Nicholas executes the killers and closes the Duma, allowing police to terrorise the peasants. Alexei falls at the Spała Hunting Lodge, which leads to another bleeding attack. It is presumed he will die. The Tsarina writes to Rasputin, who responds with words of comfort. The Tsarevich recovers and Rasputin returns. World War I begins a few weeks after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, part of Austria-Hungary. Nicholas orders a full mobilization of the Russian army on the German border and as a result Germany declares war, activating a series of alliances that enlarges the war. He decides to command the troops in 1915 and leaves for the front, taking over from the experienced Grand Duke Nicholas. Meanwhile Alexandra is left charge at home, and under Rasputin's influence, she makes poor decisions. The Tsarina is losing control and Rasputin's behavior has not changed. Nicholas is visited by his mother Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, who is critical of his incompetence. She scolds him about avoiding domestic issues and implores him to eliminate Rasputin and to send Alexandra to Livadia in the Crimea. Concerned about Rasputin's influence, Grand Duke Dmitri and Prince Felix Yusupov invite Rasputin to a party and slowly murder him through several unsuccessful methods in December, 1916. Despite Rasputin's death, Alexandra continues her misrule. The army is ill supplied, and starving and freezing workers revolt in St. Petersburg in March 1917. Nicholas decides to return to Tsarskoye Selo too late and is forced to abdicate in his train. This event is known as the February Revolution. The family with Dr. Botkin and attendants leave Tsarskoye Selo and are exiled by Kerensky to Tobolsk in Siberia in August 1917. They live guarded under less grand conditions. In October 1917, Russia falls to the Bolsheviks. The family is transferred to the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. Under harsher conditions they are guarded by the cold-blooded Yakov Yurovsky. One of the guards attempts to steal Alexei's gold chain, in the process attacking the child, and Nagorny leaps to his defense. Nagorny is taken away and shot. In a near-final scene, the family are laughing as they read withheld letters from friends and relatives. In the early hours of 17 July 1918, the Bolsheviks awaken the Romanov family and Dr. Botkin telling them they must leave. They wait in the cellar. Yurovsky and his assistants enter the room and open fire.