Story of the Siberian monk Gregory Rasputin and the hold he exerted over the court of the last Russian czar, Nicholas.
Acting
Harry Baur's unhinged, hypnotic stare steals every frame
Production
Lavish 1930s imagining of Romanov decadence on French studio budget
Costume
Rasputin's increasingly filthy robes vs. stiff imperial glamour
Director
Marcel L'Herbier
Harry Baur
Rasputin
Marcelle Chantal
Tsarina Alexandra
Pierre Richard-Willm
Captain Igor Kourlov
Gabrielle Robinne
Dagmar of Denmark
Denis d'Inès
Bishop Gregorian
Jean Worms
Tsar Nicholas II
Alexandre Rignault
Bloch
Jacques Baumer
Prokoff
Jany Holt
Groussina
Mady Berry
Dounia
Marguerite Templey
The General
Suzanne Devoyod
Superior of the convent
Mila Parély
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Harry Baur died in a Nazi concentration camp four years later; this was his penultimate film.
Released during Stalin's purges, the film's depiction of doomed Russian aristocracy carried unintended contemporary weight for European audiences.
FR
