Another late silent masterpiece is a powerfully ironic meditation on power and pride. It begins in a very modern way - anticipating Blimp - at the beginning of the last part of the story in Hollywood in 1928, with a now reduced and shell-shocked film extra Emil Jannings, then flashes back to Russia 1917 where he was formerly the cocky head of the Russian army.
von Sternberg's recreation of Russia scenes at Paramount Studios is impressive indeed - already we're seeing these richly textured complex frames and camera motion, shot by Bert Glennon, designed by Hans Dreier (uncredited, a major collaborator - amazing credits including his final one A Place in the Sun). Moves along well in shot sizes and editing, rarely shows signs of creaking.
The Jannings character (an incredible performance, by the way, won Oscar - later to appear in von Sternberg's The Blue Angel) imprisons revolutionary William Powell (impressive) but takes fellow revolutionary as his mistress. She is Evelyn Brent and she's also fabulous - a prototype for Sternberg's later heroines so often depicted by Marlene Dietrich. She finds herself unable to assassinate him, something he's well aware of that she's about do to, and it's because the Colonel has ideals - he will not sacrifice his men just to put on a pantomime for the Czar.
Full of great touches: sycophants offering a light to Powell, soldier's torn coat, military badge on the wrong side of the coat; 'We won't rehearse that - you know how to use a whip'.
The idea was briefly suggested by Lubitsch as an idea about how badly treated film extras were. This was developed into a story by Sternberg and John F Goodrich and Lajos Biro, with titles by Herman Mankiewicz. It's clear that they hold no special love for the revolutionaries either, who are depicted as a drunken rabble liable to shoot one another over a coat.
The ending is particularly moving. Hopefully Eureka / Masters of Cinema will revive Sternberg's other silent greats Underworld and The Docks of New York. (I myself would have preferred a full orchestral score but hey - most people would have seen it this way, with an organ accompaniment.)
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