The Patriot (1928 film)

Last updated

The Patriot
The Patriot (1928) Poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Written by Hanns Kräly
Alfred Neumann (Novel)
Ashley Dukes (Play)
Dmitry Merezhkovsky (Play)
Starring Emil Jannings
Florence Vidor
Lewis Stone
Neil Hamilton
Cinematography Bert Glennon
Edited byErnst Lubitsch
Music by Max Bergunker
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • August 17, 1928 (1928-08-17)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
Languages Sound (Part-Talkie)
English sequences
Budget$1 million

The Patriot is a 1928 semi-biographical sound film (Part-Talkie) directed by Ernst Lubitsch and released by Paramount Pictures. It features synchronized music and sound effects, with some talking sequences, depicting the story of Emperor Paul I of Russia. The plot revolves around Count Pahlen's plot to remove the mad Tsar from the throne, eventually leading to the Tsar's death. The film stars Emil Jannings, Florence Vidor, and Lewis Stone.

Contents

The film won the Academy Award for Best Writing and was nominated for several other categories. However, only fragments of the film remain, with no complete copy found to date. [1]

Plot

In 18th-century Russia, Tsar Paul is surrounded by murderous plots and trusts only Count Pahlen. Pahlen wishes to protect his friend, the mad king, but because of the horror of the king's acts, he feels that he must remove him from the throne. Stefan, who was whipped by the tsar for not having the correct number of buttons on his gaiters, joins with the count in the plot. The crown prince is horrified by their plans and warns his father, who, having no love for his son, places him under arrest for his foolish accusations. Pahlen uses his mistress, Countess Ostermann, to lure the tsar into the bedroom, where she tells him of the plot. The tsar summons Pahlen, who reassures him of his loyalty. Later that night, the count and Stefan enter his bedroom, and presently the tsar is dead. But moments later, Stefan turns a pistol on Pahlen. As the count lies dying on the floor, the countess appears and embraces Pahlen as he says, "I have been a bad friend and lover—but I have been a Patriot."

Cast

Tullio Carminati and Carmencita Johnson appear uncredited in this movie.

Emil Jannings and Florence Vidor The Patriot (SAYRE 14388) (cropped).jpg
Emil Jannings and Florence Vidor

Music

The musical score for the film was composed by Max Bergunker, Gerard Carbonara and Domenico Savino.

Production

Writing

The film was written by Hanns Kräly; it is an adaptation of two plays: Paul I by Dmitry Merezhkovsky and The Patriot by Ashley Dukes (based on the novel Der Patriot by Alfred Neumann). The Dukes play was performed on Broadway in January 1928. [2] John Gielgud made his Broadway debut in that play.

Reception

Awards

It won the Academy Award for Best Writing and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Lewis Stone) and Best Art Direction. [3] [4] It was the last Part-talkie that was nominated for Best Picture.

Remake

The film was remade in France in 1938 with the same title.

Preservation status

Only pieces of this film are left, including trailers. The UCLA Film and Television Archive is in possession of 2500 feet of footage (out of 10,000), and one reel was found in Portugal, [1] but to date no complete copy has been located. [5] [6]

It is the only Best Picture Academy Award nominee for which no complete or near-complete copy has been found.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>In Old Arizona</i> 1928 film

In Old Arizona is a 1928 American pre-Code Western film directed by Raoul Walsh and Irving Cummings, nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film, which was based on the character of the Cisco Kid in the 1907 story "The Caballero's Way" by O. Henry, was a major innovation in Hollywood. It was the first major Western to use the new technology of sound and the first talkie to be filmed outdoors. It made extensive use of authentic locations, filming in Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park in Utah, and the Mission San Juan Capistrano and the Mojave Desert in California. The film premiered in Los Angeles on December 25, 1928, and went into general release on January 20, 1929.

The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot. The Best Picture category is traditionally the final award of the night and is widely considered as the most prestigious honor of the ceremony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emil Jannings</span> German actor (1884–1950)

Emil Jannings was a Swiss-born German actor who was popular in Hollywood films in the 1920s. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for starring roles in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. As of 2024, Jannings is the only German ever to win in the category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis Stone</span> American actor (1879–1953)

Lewis Shepard Stone was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular Andy Hardy film series. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929 for his performance as Russian Count Pahlen in The Patriot. Stone was also cast in seven films with Greta Garbo, including in the role of Doctor Otternschlag in the 1932 drama Grand Hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joanne Woodward</span> American actress (born 1930)

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American retired actress. She made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a characteristic nuance and depth of character. Her accolades include an Academy Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She is the oldest living winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Schildkraut</span> Austrian-American actor (1896–1964)

Joseph Schildkraut was an Austrian-American actor. He won an Oscar for his performance as Captain Alfred Dreyfus in the film The Life of Emile Zola (1937). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as Otto Frank in the film The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and a Primetime Emmy for his performance as Rabbi Gottlieb in a 1962 episode of the television series Sam Benedict.

<i>The Last Command</i> (1928 film) 1928 film

The Last Command is a 1928 American silent romantic drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg, and written by John F. Goodrich and Herman J. Mankiewicz from a story by Lajos Bíró. The film stars Emil Jannings, who won the first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 1929 ceremony for his performances in this film and The Way of All Flesh, the only year multiple roles were considered. Evelyn Brent and William Powell co-star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1st Academy Awards</span> Award ceremony for films of 1927 and 1928

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and hosted by AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks, honored the best films from 1 August 1927 to 31 July 1928 and took place on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Tickets cost $5 ; 270 people attended the event, which lasted 15 minutes. It is the only Academy Awards ceremony not broadcast on either radio or television; a radio broadcast was introduced for the 2nd Academy Awards.

The 2nd Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on April 3, 1930, at an awards banquet in the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, honored the best films released between August 1, 1928, and July 31, 1929. This was the first Academy Awards ceremony broadcast on radio, by local station KNX, Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen</span> Baltic German noble, general, statesman

Peter Ludwig Graf von der Pahlen was a Russian courtier and general of Baltic German stock, who played a pivotal role in the assassination of Emperor Paul of Russia in 1801. He became a general in the Imperial Russian Army in 1798, a count in 1799, and served as the Military Governor of St. Petersburg from 1798 to 1801.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Vidor</span> American actress

Florence Vidor was an American silent film actress.

<i>The Age of Innocence</i> (1993 film) 1993 film directed by Martin Scorsese

The Age of Innocence is a 1993 American historical romantic drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. The screenplay, an adaptation of the 1920 novel of the same name by Edith Wharton, is by Scorsese and Jay Cocks. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, and Miriam Margolyes, and was released by Columbia Pictures. It recounts the courtship and marriage of Newland Archer (Day-Lewis), a wealthy New York society attorney, to May Welland (Ryder); Archer then encounters and legally represents Countess Olenska (Pfeiffer) before unexpected romantic entanglements.

<i>The Valiant</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

The Valiant is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film released by Fox Film Corporation in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system on May 19, 1929. It is produced and directed by William K. Howard and stars Paul Muni, Marguerite Churchill, and John Mack Brown. Although described by at least one source as a silent film containing talking sequences, synchronized music, and sound effects, The Valiant has continuous dialogue and is a full "talkie" made without a corresponding silent version.

<i>Strictly Dishonorable</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by Norman Panama, Melvin Frank

Strictly Dishonorable is a 1951 romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, and starring Ezio Pinza and Janet Leigh. It is the second film to be based on Preston Sturges' 1929 hit Broadway play of the same name after a pre-Code film released by Universal Pictures in 1931 with the same title.

<i>Sins of the Fathers</i> (1928 film) 1928 film

Sins of the Fathers is a 1928 American sound part-talkie drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. Like the majority of films during the early sound era, it was also issued in a silent version for theaters which were not yet wired for sound. The film was directed by Ludwig Berger and stars Emil Jannings and Ruth Chatterton in her motion picture debut.

<i>Betrayal</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

Betrayal is a 1929 American sound drama film produced for Famous Players–Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film is the last film without audible dialogue that was directed by Lewis Milestone, the last non-speaking role performance by Gary Cooper, the last non-speaking performance by Germany's Emil Jannings, and the only onscreen pairing of Cooper and Jannings. It is considered a lost film.

<i>Peter the Great</i> (1922 film) 1922 film

Peter the Great is a 1922 German silent historical film directed by Dimitri Buchowetzki and starring Emil Jannings, Bernhard Goetzke and Dagny Servaes. It depicts the life of the reformist Russian Tsar Peter the Great. It premiered in Berlin on 2 November 1922. The film's art direction was by Hans Dreier.

<i>The Patriot</i> (1938 film) 1938 film

The Patriot is a 1938 French historical drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Harry Baur, Pierre Renoir and Suzy Prim. The film was based on a novel by Alfred Neumann which had previously been turned into a 1928 American silent film The Patriot starring Emil Jannings. It was made by the French subsidiary of the German company Tobis Film. The sets were designed by the Russian-born art director Alexandre Lochakoff.

<i>Poor Poor Paul</i> 2003 film

Poor Poor Paul is a 2003 Russian historical drama film. It is a biopic of Czar Paul I of Russia and the final film of the historical trilogy of Vitaly Melnikov "The Empire. The Beginning".

References

  1. 1 2 "The Patriot". silentera.com.
  2. The Patriot by Ashley Dukes performed on Broadway January 1928, Majestic Theatre; IBDb.com
  3. "NY Times: The Patriot". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Baseline & All Movie Guide. 2008. Archived from the original on April 20, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
  4. "The 2nd Academy Awards (1930) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  5. The Library of Congress/FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog:The Patriot
  6. The Patriot at TheGreatStars.com; Lost Films Wanted(Wayback Machine)..Retrieved July 21, 2018