Rasputin and the Empress (1932) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Rasputin and the Empress
Year: 1932
Director: Richard Boleslavsky
Country: US
Language: English

If you stick long enough through the credits, you'll find that pretty much every modern picture ends with "This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.” This is standard legal rhetoric that has become so cliche some films go out of their way to mock it. I've always wondered "when did this practice begin?" Well, its origins involve an infamous Russian named Rasputin. 

In this film, a prince (John Barrymore) plots to kill the mad monk Rasputin (Lionel Barrymore) for the good of the czar, the czarina and Russia. 

In 1916 Prince Felix Yusupov was one of several Russian aristocrats agonizing over the unseemly influence that Rasputin held over the czar and his wife. In December he killed Rasputin, but the czar was so distraught about the event that he exiled the prince (inadvertently saving him from certain slaughter during the revolution). 16 years later Yusupov was penniless in Paris, though he had heard about the film and thought he could make some money off of it. 

Having bragged about Rasputin's murder in a memoir, Yusupov couldn't build a libel case against the studio. Instead he insisted that the film was factually inaccurate, a problem that MGM ignored even when an MGM researcher warned them about the possibility of being sued during production. Yiusupov and his wife sued the Studio, and a jury helped in awarding them over $125,000. A justice in the case told MGM that they ought to have put in a disclaimer stating inaccuracy. MGM took their advice.

Featuring three Barrymores in prominent roles (John, Lionel and Ethel) their performances are better than average, making this a somewhat entertaining picture. Though one should not neglect reading about Russian history in favor of viewing this film, the lack of accuracy is forgiven when presented with visually pleasing set-pieces and a well-structured script. While Rasputin and the Empress did change Hollywood legal practice it is pretty dated and it's clear why the film hasn't aged as well as other pictures from that time period.