Tarakanova

The unfortunate principessa Tarakanova was a pretender to the Russian throne. Catherine the Second sent count Alexis Orlov to take her back as a prisoner ;he seduced her and lured her into a Russian boat (1775);she was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul fortress where she died of tuberculosis in December.

This is the best version of the unfortunate would be Catherine the Second's rival ; made by a great director , Raymond Bernard,whose silent works were sometimes remade as weaker talkies (see also "le miracle des loups" "le joueur d'échecs");Bernard made the best version of "les miserables" which ever was and his "croix de bois" compares favorably with Kubrick's "paths of glory" ; his forte was also the melodrama , often the costume melodrama such works as "le jugement de Dieu" "cavalcades " , "adieu chérie" ,and his remake of the tear-jerker " le coupable ".

Although based on historical facts , the first version of "Tarakanova" takes a lot of liberties with history and Bernard produces what he does best: "costume melodrama",and with an unexpected twist at that !

The screenplay is much more developed than in the talkie and begins in a convent ,then moves to a band of gypsies,before going to Italy (not Venice ,like in the remake,so no carnival!) .

Orlov's trap on the fatal ship climaxes the movie and Bernard uses the sound of the guns and of the clamors with stunning results :the heroine daydreams and does believe she triumphantly returns to her dear Russia where she is crowned and married her abductor (who of course had fallen in love with her) ; these make-believe scenes come back again when she's given away to the ruthless empress ; the film comes full circle and ends where it has begun : hence a different conclusion than in the remake (and in real life!!)

Though too unsung,Raymond Bernard's movies need reassessment.

The intrigues of Imperial Russia provided a fertile source of melodrama for filmmakers during the 1920s, and at first glance this lavish French production would seem to present a familiar variation of a foolproof romantic formula. The far-fetched but enjoyable story introduces a handsome young General who falls in love with a beautiful gypsy girl being groomed in secret to assume the throne in place of a look-alike princess, who meanwhile refuses to abandon the holy anonymity of her convent hideaway...and so forth and so on. Sadly, the film itself has dated pretty severely after all these years, and the awkward 'sonorization' (the synchronized music and sound track added during the mad, post-'Jazz Singer' rush into talkie technology) only makes it appear even more stiff and static when seen today. Of academic interest only.