Sternberg - The Last Command

[Jake Fredel]

Semester final exams are over now (insert exclamation of joy), so I got to another Sternberg film. I have to admit that I didn't like The Last Command quite as much as Underworld. Emil Jannings' performance is very powerful, as is Josef von Sternberg's dynamic and distinctive visual style. However, although the premise of having the present film set plot as a frame story for the earlier Russian Revolution segment seemed ingenious to me, I don't think it worked all that well. There is a certain level of satisfaction to be had in the basic irony of a high-ranking Russian general ending up as an extra in a film directed by a former revolutionary, but that irony doesn't really go anywhere - in other words, it doesn't serve any purpose other than to just be ironic. So in the end, I felt that the film, as a whole, came across rather muddled in its motives and plot. I'm perfectly willing to dismiss the points others have made concerning the unbelievable political elements in the Russian Revolution segment, because it's a melodrama and shouldn't be expected to follow standards of historical accuracy. However, even though I'm a supporter of melodrama, I think that good melodramas should have a point or theme that they hammer home, and powerfully. And with as many great points as The Last Command had, I thought it fell short in this aspect, and could have been a great deal more effective had it been a bit more focused. However, I'm only splitting hairs here - it's still a very good film and definitely worth a view. 7/10

-Jake

[Mindy Arbo]

jake, what school and subject?

mindy

[Bobby Beksinski]

Jake, I think your assessment is accurate regarding the plot but my
personal feelings toward the film differs from yours. While I liked
the story and appreciate the irony in it (even more so discovering it
is based on a true story,)

IMDB Trivia states "Based on the life of General Lodijensky, a former
general in the Russian army of Czar Nicholas, who fled Russia after
the 1917 Communist revolution and wound up in Hollywood, where he
worked for a while as a movie extra."

I also thought the story did not flow entirely seamless and the ending
SPOILERS, Im talking about the very end did not make sense to me, well
it did but it felt out of place as the movie director former
revolutionist wanted Jannings in the film to embarrass him, enact a
sort of revenge if you will. And I guess when Jannings goes full
throttle into the past acting out his patriotic fight against the
revolution before he died it must have sparked something in the
director to realize he was actually a good man for how much he loved
his country, the same thing that happen with the failed assassination
from the girl revolutionist. But for me it feels out of place because
it seems pretty clear that the director wants Jannings there to enact
some sort of humiliating revenge but his whole idea or way of thinking
changes very abruptly, too abrupt. But besides that and maybe a little
of the love story between Jannings and the revolutionist girl, I loved
the rest of the film. But most of all I have discovered......

I LOVE EMIL JANNINGS, This is the first film of his I have seen (since
then I have also seen The Blue Angel and even more a reason to cement
this statement.) Jannings performance is with out a doubt the #1
reason why I loved the film so much, He holds it all together as I
think The Blue Angel is a better all around film than this one.
Without Jannings then I probably would have given it about the same
rating as you Jake a 7. But it was his performance that also got me
emotionally involved in the story. To begin by witnessing his
character's downfall, to see how low he has fallen and a very
heartbreaking scene in the dressing room with the other extras. Then
leading into the past, flashback to only a mere 11 years prior and we
see his character on top of the world. And one imagines how can this
General ever get to the situation we see in the beginning of the film.
The revolution sequence was very well done, especially when the
revolutionists won and took over the train. The way they shot all the
other government officials and beat and humiliated The General before
he was to be killed was reminsicent to any downfall of a dictator, It
actually reminded me of the fate of the recent Gaddafi murder as the
people captured humilated and then killed him before any kind of trail
could be performed. Which actually made the scenes even more
disturbing. The ending is just like the tagline suggests "The most
terrific climax the screen has ever known!" I rate it a 9/10