CinemaSerf

John Barrymore is the aspiring sergeant "Markov" who is studying hard for a commission in the Russian Imperial army. It's ten years since any NCO has been promoted, but he has the support of the old General (George Fawcett) and though sceptical initially, the board agrees his promotion to lieutenant. It's at this interview that he first meets the old man's daughter, the "Princess Tamara" (Camille Horn) who is disdainful of his lowly, peasant, birth - but of course the more they meet the more they begin to fall in love. She can't acknowledge him publicly, and when they are caught in a room together, she acclaims that he is an interloper. He is broken through the ranks and imprisoned - destined for the battle-torn front. This is all happening against a backdrop of increasing Bolshevism and he encounters the pedlar (Boris de Fast) who convinces him that he has a place in the new Russia. When that comes, it is the old general who is humiliated and degraded and it is she who needs help from him to rescue the old man from the excesses of the pedlar who is now the vengeful Robespierre-esque commissar. "Markov" must now make some tough choices - his passion for his new-found freedom or his love for this disenfranchised woman. Though it's a bit of a slow burn at times, there's a chemistry between Barrymore and Horn - she portrays the privileged creature well - especially when her privileges are brutally withdrawn. Louis Wolheim also turns in a solid effort as the loyal friend "Bulba" and Fawcett likewise as the decent old general. The photography captures the intimacy of the story well and the direction and writing pull together effectively to demonstrate the end of an era, the brutality of change and - well, just a bit of romance too.