Tom Baker

(On Cable TV, November 2022) At slightly more than three hours of Russian historical melodrama, Nicholas and Alexandra is a lot to take in, and it’s a fair question as to whether the trouble is worth it. Chronicling the last years of Russian Tsar Nicholas II’s life and leading into the bloody Russian Revolution of 1917, the film was clearly designed to ape the long-form prestige epics of the 1950s and 1960s: sweeping historical scope, real-life figures, lavish production values, a cast of dozens and a pacing that clearly doesn’t know the value of restraint. But unlike many other long-form epics, Nicholas and Alexandra doesn’t quite spark until it’s too late. The recreation of the last Russian court lacks a point for too long, and it’s telling that the film only becomes more urgent (to use the term loosely) once the tsar has been deposed, and the family fears for their lives. Any casual student of Russian history knows that this isn’t headed for a happy finale, and indeed the film eventually gets there… after the sumptuous sets are replaced by smaller and dingier environments. But director Franklin J. Schaffner doesn’t do much with what he’s given—even Tom Baker’s deeply weird performance as Rasputin is muted. No one in their right minds will call Nicholas and Alexandra a bad movie—if nothing else, the film will forever boast of its six Academy Awards nominations (including Best Picture) and its two wins in technical categories. But you can rightly suspect that the Academy was honouring the film’s ambitions more than its results, because as a whole it’s a limp and dull film, seldom involving despite the tragic nature of the dramatic events it covers. Alas, it takes three hours to get to that conclusion.