Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

Benas Mcloughlin Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

DKosty123 For it's time, this movie is a bit over long. As far as how accurate it is, I really wonder if Rasputin is really the person Lionel Barrymore plays. There is no doubt Lionel is the meaty role here and this might be his best role.The film does present the fact accurately that Rasputin is considered dangerous at the end so he is poisoned.Kind of surprised to hear the Russian President advocating a British or American style of government for Russia. Think that might be dreaming historically as when the Czar falls, there is no doubt the Communists and then Stalin were more ruthless and Dictatorial than ever. This is to play for US Audiences I am sure.

wes-connors The Royal Family of Broadway - John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, and Lionel Barrymore - come together at MGM, for their one and only feature film together. Having them play out the epoch final years of the Russian Royal Family (The House of Romanov) seems an appropriately lofty assignment. Add to this the fact that writer Charles MacArthur received an "Academy Award" nomination for his screenplay, and you'd think "Rasputin and the Empress" must be somewhere between average and excellent. But, it really ventures between average and dreadful. It's hardly worth watching for the hysterics, and certainly isn't for the history.Taking moustache-twirling to a new low, Lionel takes advantage of brother John's dissipated state and sister Ethel being new to sound films, to steal the picture. But, in whatever state, no Barrymore gives up easily - the overwrought threesome play against each other, and slavishly to the back row of newspaper and magazine critics. Two of the more natural performances are given by the fly and the ant Lionel shows young Tad Alexander, under a microscope. There should be some entertainment value in watching all of this, but there just isn't - poorly paced at over two hours, it becomes tiresome. William Daniels photographs the sets nicely.**** Rasputin and the Empress (12/23/32) Richard Boleslawski ~ Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Diana Wynyard

bkoganbing In Margot Peters excellent book The House of Barrymore she characterized what MGM had to deal with in the only time the three Barrymore siblings were in a film together, John on drink, Lionel on drugs, and Ethel on her high horse. More truth than humor there.John's drinking and self destruction from same are well known. Lionel was on all kinds of pain killing medication which Louis B. Mayer kept him supplied with in return for being the fifth column of management whenever his contract players started getting ideas. For Ethel however this was her first venture into sound films and she was one who took the title of First Lady of the American Theater quite seriously with all the royal prerogatives of same.Somehow this retelling of the last days of the Romanovs did get made and in it Lionel Barrymore who had the most colorful part of the film, takes the acting honors. His Rasputin, the malevolent monk who held sway over the Tsar and Tsarina because of his ability to control the symptoms of the Tsaretch's hemophilia is a classic study in evil. Ethel is properly regal and John is the noble prince who eventually does something about the curse over the Romanovs, though too late.Rasputin was bad enough in history though here the writers went a bit overboard. There's no accusation against him of having designs on the royal princesses, yet we see Lionel casting a lascivious eye on the Princess Anastasia.Though the name was changed for the film, the real assassin of Rasputin, Prince Felix Yousapov did sue MGM and collect a bundle from them. Personally I think he robbed the lion studio because if anything John Barrymore's portrayal was far more noble than Yousapov was in real life. To add insult to injury though another guy with the name of Chegodieff which was John's name in the film also sued MGM and claimed he was defamed and won.The biggest historical error I find though was the fact that Rasputin was urging Tsar Nicholas to enter World War I. In fact the opposite was the case. Speaking of the Tsar, he's played here as the nebbish he was in real life by Ralph Morgan.For reasons I don't understand the film did not end with Rasputin's demise. Dramatically speaking it should have. But the film continued on until the execution of the royal family by the Bolsheviks. No proper dramatic foundation was laid for that event. There is some mention of revolution in the air, but nothing in the story suggests what will take place.Rasputin and the Empress is bad history and mediocre drama. But it is a chance to see the Barrymore siblings all in the same film and shouldn't be missed for that.

Robert Reynolds This is a reasonably decent movie, well acted (particularly by Lionel, who practically chews the scenery as Rasputin) and the sets and costumes are fairly nice. But the main selling point is that this is the only time the three Barrymores -Ethel, John and Lionel did a movie together. It's a good movie but could have been much better.