Rasputin, Demon with Women (1932) User Reviews (3)

This Rasputin is sinister and sexy!

[Zurdta · 10/10 · 31 July 2006]

An interesting little film, with clever direction and strong performances not to mention a storyline based on facts rather than exaggerating the 'evils' of the 'mad monk'. The whole film, however, is elevated by the towering performance of Conrad Veidt. His Rasputin is a simple man with crude manners and a strong appetite for carousing and womanising – but he also deeply spiritual and mystical with a gift for healing. His rise from troublesome peasant to Royal Adviser is swiftly dealt with, between bouts of partying and drunken lechery with the ladies eager to join in! His impending doom and his demise are handled with skill, and once more Veidt brings forth his amazing capacity for expressing depths of intense emotion. The death scene is one that will chill you to the bone.

This film is based on manuscript produced by Ossip Dymow, a writer who had known Rasputin, as well as some of his friends and enemies, and so this production sticks to the facts as much as possible. It is a world away from the fabulous MGM Barrymore filled "Rasputin and the Empress" (aka "The Mad Monk")(US, Richard Boleslawski, 1933) with Lionel Barrymore gloriously hamming and riotously scene stealing through the production. The idea of Rasputin as a cunning monster who used his hypnotic powers to fulfil his lust for power and women is one that endures, and makes a great film. But this is a very different film. Adolf Trotz keeps the whole story moving along, and gives emphasis where necessary but on the whole keeps everything low key. It would have been easy to have Veidt's eyes hypnotising and captivating everyone around him, but Rasputin's gift is subtly revealed and Veidt's eyes are utilised to their startling best in the end scene. The production is not flawless and the inappropriate music that interrupts the end of Rasputin's life is a serious mistake. The performance of Conrad Veidt is utterly spellbinding and whilst creating a very human Rasputin, his presence is mesmerising enough for us to understand why so many fell under his influence.

This Rasputin is sinister and sexy!

Worth watching and buying

[cynthiahost · 10 October 2011]

Conrads performance as Rasputin was excellent. The portrayal of this historical fact is close to being accurate, but at the end when he is drugged and shot to death it's right in front of the house of his friends. You don't see them dumping him in the iced water.Brigitte Horney plays Luscha, Rasputine girl friend ,in the small village he was living at. Here ,the authorities from the Russian Government,played by Henry Heilinger, as Petrov, to work for the Czar and Czarina Nicholause,played By Paul Otto and Hermione Sterle, to heal their son Aliouscha,played by Kenneth Rives.Once he slows down his blood problem and he's back playing out side building a snow man tributing Rasputine, He becomes famous all over Russia. He starts to drawing Women too. But he start getting spied on by enemies. His enemies hires a woman to spy on him as she seduces him. Then she reports to his enemies so they can inform the Cszar, to get him to fire ,Rasputine.One of the Women, Musja, is either a girl friend or a fiancé of lieutenant Suschkoff,played by Theo Shall.At the party Rasputine takes a quick interest in her causing jealousy for Suschkoff. Rasp also makes friend with Prince Jussupoff too.But his getting together with a lot of Women in town and in restaurants starts becoming offensive, so the Lieutenant and the prince along with Abgeordneter, played by Paul Henkels, plan to get rid of him.The Czar confronts him with a picture of him going with a women up stairs to his place and he tries to get around that. He's visiting his village and when he at the local tavern and Luscha finds out and goes to him,her father ,angry , G Rossbauer played by Bernhard Goetzke, it turns to a fight. Rasputine ends up at the Hospital. Now they don't show Rasputine being drowned in the river of ice, poisoning him and shooting him by Both the prince and the lieutenant. This was a sympathetic portrayal of Rasputine . The print is from possibly a well worn video master or a second generation video master of a fair film print.It just hasn't been restored yet.But it's worth buying since t.c.m probably would not show it, since they only serve the masses only and not including ,barely that is serious classic film fan by Academic definition.this is only the truth.This is an alternate classic. Available at reichkino 09/10/11

Veidt mesmerizes

[leif-38 · 4 November 2023]

Maria Rasputin (who may or may not have been Rasputin's daughter) said watching Veidt's performance was like seeing her father resurrected, his portrayal was so eerily accurate. Veidt's gestures- whether in his eyes, with his hands, or how he obsessively smokes a cigarette- take the viewer far beyond the script's rather obvious limitations.

When Veidt heals the Tsarevitch (Kenneth Rive), the interaction between the two is genuinely poignant. During the assassination, Veidt conveys the sense that the character he plays might have been seriously misunderstood not just by the audience, but by the filmmakers themselves.

Veidt's Rasputin is alternately dissolute, menacing, or touching. As an actor he has the ability to turn on a dime, a talent he put to use in a comparable pantomime eight year's earlier as Ivan the Terrible in Paul Leni's 'Waxworks'.

With women, Veidt conveys capriciousness bordering on cruelty- one asks the return of her garter, Veidt carelessly gives her the wrong one. And while otherwise the film excels at few things, it gives an excellent sense of eroticism- these days a lost art.

Scriptwriter Osip Dymov (Yosif Isidorovich Perelman) apparently knew the titular character- which true did him no favors. The result is little more than prosaic.

As a director, Adolf Trotz is no match for Paul Leni, as the film suffers from a number of foundational flaws. First, there is no character development- Rasputin does not evolve in anyway throughout the film. The real man, in contrast, changed quite a bit during his ten years in St. Petersburg- unfortunately not for the better.

Also missing is point of view. With each scene, the director knows exactly which character the audience identifies with- providing a sense of interpretation (something along the lines of a narrator in a novel). Not so here. Scenes follow each other haphazardly- and while a few are quite memorable, overall the film lacks cohesion. The result is oddly distancing and not at all compelling in spite of Veidt.

'Rasputin: Dämon der Frauen' should be considered in its historical context- early 1930s Berlin. Rasputin was a mystic with genuine religious beliefs, and his healings appear miraculous even by today's standards. All are glossed over in the film, with Rasputin's pacifism and debauchery emphasized instead.

'Rasputin' adds up to a portrait of demimonde Petrograd at a time when catastrophe appeared on the horizon. One cannot help but wonder how well this fits early 1930s Berlin, when even the most jaded eyes could foresee disaster- ushered in by a charismatic figure of an entirely different sort.