Details

Release year: 1928

Storyline

A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.

Top credits

Directors

Josef von Sternberg

Writers

Cast

Emil Jannings — Grand Duke Sergius Alexander
Evelyn Brent — Natalie Dobrova
William Powell — Leo Andreyev - The Director
Jack Raymond — The Assistant

See all 21 credits →

Awards

1 win & 1 nomination

See all awards →

Did you know

• Based on the life of Theodore Lodi, a former general in the Russian army of Czar Nicholas, who fled Russia after the 1917 Communist revolution and wound up in Hollywood, where he worked for a while as a movie extra.

• In the first year of the Academy Awards, winners had been announced three months before the ceremony took place. Emil Jannings, who had been named Best Actor for his work in this particular film and The Way of All Flesh (1927), was planning to depart for his home in Germany, so he requested that he receive his award before he left. The Academy honored his request, effectively making Jannings the first person to officially receive an Academy Award. He would also become the first no-show winner.

• Both Emil Jannings and William Powell clashed with director Josef von Sternberg. Powell rewrote his contract with a provision that he never be assigned to any future Sternberg production.