Review of Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) by Lisa L — 07 Apr 2008

This film is a real childhood memory for me. I know when I first saw it as a teenager I was fascinated by this story. I think this was the first time I learnt about haemophilia and Rasputin. There is sadness at the loss of life, the love the tsar and tsarina obviously had for each other and their foolishness in some of their decisions.

How could they have done things differently or were they doomed from the start? This film is a long haul but is beautifully shot and full of some of the 70s greatest classically trained actors like Suzman, Olivier, Harry Andrews, Jack Hawkins and familiar faces in their younger days like Ian Holm , Brian Cox, Fiona Fullerton and Lynne Frederick.

Tom Baker stands out as Rasputin overacting wonderfully as they fail to bump him off several times!