The Last Command
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Synopsis
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.
Picture 6/10
The second disc in Criterion’s wonderful box set of 3 early silents by Josef von Sternberg presents his 1928 film The Last Command in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on a dual-layer disc. The picture has also been window boxed, with a black border around the entire frame.
The image here is weaker than what is found on the disc for Underworld, coming off fuzzier and softer, but it was still a pleasant surprise. It’s issues are solely because of the source materials and, other than a few moments, the image lacks definition and just looks out-of-focus. I’m sure some extensive restoration has been done (since it still looks far better than I would have expected) but there are still some problems remaining, none of them really being a surprise. We still get a number of scratches, frame jumps, pulsating, and flickering, but all things considered it’s not all that bad and easy to look over.
But the digital transfer is very good, presenting next to nothing in the way of artifacts and noise. It looks superb upscaled, and even manages to handle the grain structure properly. Despite the number of flaws still present in the materials it’s a lovely looking image, and it still exceeds my expectations.
Audio 8/10
The film is silent but Criterion has included two stereo orchestral tracks, the first (and default) by Robert Israel, recorded exclusively for this edition, and then another by the Alloy Orchestra, which was recorded for a showing at the 2007 New York Film Festival. Both are good, but similarly to my feelings for Underworld I do prefer the Israel track, which isn’t subtle at all but still manages to be suiting and enhances the presentation of the film. The Alloy Orchestra track presents a somewhat different mood in certain sequences, but it’s still suiting despite the fact it really is a little more experimental. The sound quality of both is exceptional as well, though since these were recorded in the last few years this isn’t a surprise.
Extras 7/10
Part of a three-disc set, this disc (like the others in the set) only contains one substantial supplement, but it is a very strong one.
Tag Gallagher provides another one of his visual essays, this one entitled Von Sternberg Till ‘29. Similar to the visual essay by Janet Bergstrom on the Underworld disc, Gallagher covers the director’s early life and then quickly moves to his feature film, The Salvation Hunters, and his brief working relationship with Charlie Chaplin. From there Gallagher focuses on the films in this set, offering an analysis and breakdown of many sequences from the three films and his first film, The Salvation Hunters, with clips from all, showing how von Sternberg had an early grasp on film language. He talks about how the director displays emotions, talks about his framing, use of sets (including how the placement of items in the foreground affect the feel of a scene,) light and shadow, and even gets into great detail how cigarettes come into play in each of the films in this set. Mixed in are plenty of photos and archival film footage, and he offers plenty of quotes from von Sternberg. As with all of Gallagher’s visual essays it’s an exceptional and intriguing one. The lack of much else may seem disappointing but this 35-minute piece more than makes up for the absence of other features on the disc.
(This review only refers to the supplements on the disc for The Last Command. The other discs for the other films in the set contain their own supplements, and the set comes with a thick 95-page booklet, which does contain essays on the film.)
Closing
Making my way through each disc I’m already more than satisfied with this set, even before getting to The Docks of New York, the third film. On its own Criterion’s DVD for The Last Command is a wonderful edition, and on its own I’d give it a hardy recommendation. But the set itself is proving to be one of the best releases so far this year.
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