Directed by:
Josef von SternbergScreenplay:
Lajos BiróCinematography:
Bert GlennonCast:
Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell, Jack Raymond, Fritz Feld, Harry Semels, Harry Cording, Guy Oliver, Sam Savitsky, Shep Houghton, Michael VisaroffPlots(1)
Emil Jannings won the first best actor Academy Award for his performance as a sympathetic tyrant: an exiled Russian general turned Hollywood extra who lands a role playing a version of his former czarist self, bringing about his emotional downfall. Josef von Sternberg’s The Last Command is a brilliantly realized silent melodrama and a witty send-up of the Hollywood machine, featuring virtuoso cinematography, grandly designed sets and effects, and rousing Russian Revolution sequences. Towering above all is the passionate, heartbreaking Jannings, whose portrayal of a man losing his grip on reality is one for the history books. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Emil Jannings
Switzerland
Best movies:
Jealousy (1925)
The Last Laugh (1924)
Faust (1926)
Evelyn Brent
USA
Best movies:
Underworld (1927)
The Last Command (1928)
Paramount on Parade (1930)
William Powell
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
After the Thin Man (1936)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Jack Raymond
USA
Best movies:
After the Thin Man (1936)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Lonesome (1928)
Fritz Feld
German Empire
Best movies:
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
You Gotta Stay Happy (1948)
Heidi's Song (1982)
Harry Semels
USA
Best movies:
The Great Dictator (1940)
Sunrise (1927)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Harry Cording
UK
Best movies:
East of Eden (1955)
The Last of the Mohicans (1936)
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Guy Oliver
USA
Best movies:
Beggars of Life (1928)
The Last Command (1928)
Male and Female (1919)
Sam Savitsky
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
The Last Command (1928)
Silver River (1948)
Shep Houghton
USA
Best movies:
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Michael Visaroff
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Freaks (1932)
Madame Curie (1943)
Midnight (1939)