jamesboy5555
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2011
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Reviews
Knight Without Armour (1937)
A Knight Without......?
Coffee? Well that's probably what you will need to keep yourself awake for this old melodrama. Actually, I'm quite a fan of melodrama, especially old film melodramas. However, this picture has the histrionic theatrics, but not the drama.
I suppose this film is trying to say something like; even against a background of revolution and savage mass hysteria (there are some masterful scenes of crowd spectacle in this movie) that love and compassion can still manage to bloom and thrive. Well, maybe it has more to say than this, or perhaps less. The problem is, the film is so slowly paced, you just don't care.
Possible Spoilers!
The plot, like the characters, is fairly incidental. The film is set up rather slowly, Russian Countess Alexandra (Dietrich) and A. J. Fotheringill (Robert Donat) keep passing each other unnoticed, at the races, on a train, on a train again.....etc... The viewer isn't surprised to discover then are destined to meet again. There is also a subplot about Fotheringill becoming a secret agent for England, to help spy on Russia. But a little like Donat's character, the plot point isn't really relevant. Fast forward a little and Fotheringill is exiled in Siberia (the viewer is sure to relate) and the spoiled Countess Alexandria is about to get up close and personal with the people of the Russian revolution. The scene where a frightened but ultimately defiant Dietrich faces a murderous mob of revolutionaries is perhaps the most effective. But it's also an example why the picture doesn't really work. Dietrich express though her character more masculinity than Donat ever manages to project on the screen. Dietrich is supposed to be scared out of her mind, but in this guise she is fairly unconvincing and if any emotion is represented here it's one of boredom.
Fotheringill (Donat) at this point rescues Dietrich from execution and smitten with her charms assists her escape. Well you would think the action has began and the film might finally be interesting? Afraid not, no it's at this point the characters start quoting poetry at each other. "Mind your step, don't tread on that corpse, have you heard Browings latest Sonnet?" It's all downhill from this point, gaudy gowns, Dietrich in a bath tub, Dietrich swimming in a forest lake, Dietrich and Donat in funny hats. What the film really needed was some editorial discipline. Cut 20 or so unnecessary minutes and you might have had a more enjoyable film. Or not, there is little character development and growth, but it is worth seeing for Dietrich in her prime.
I suppose this film is trying to say something like; even against a background of revolution and savage mass hysteria (there are some masterful scenes of crowd spectacle in this movie) that love and compassion can still manage to bloom and thrive. Well, maybe it has more to say than this, or perhaps less. The problem is, the film is so slowly paced, you just don't care.
Possible Spoilers!
The plot, like the characters, is fairly incidental. The film is set up rather slowly, Russian Countess Alexandra (Dietrich) and A. J. Fotheringill (Robert Donat) keep passing each other unnoticed, at the races, on a train, on a train again.....etc... The viewer isn't surprised to discover then are destined to meet again. There is also a subplot about Fotheringill becoming a secret agent for England, to help spy on Russia. But a little like Donat's character, the plot point isn't really relevant. Fast forward a little and Fotheringill is exiled in Siberia (the viewer is sure to relate) and the spoiled Countess Alexandria is about to get up close and personal with the people of the Russian revolution. The scene where a frightened but ultimately defiant Dietrich faces a murderous mob of revolutionaries is perhaps the most effective. But it's also an example why the picture doesn't really work. Dietrich express though her character more masculinity than Donat ever manages to project on the screen. Dietrich is supposed to be scared out of her mind, but in this guise she is fairly unconvincing and if any emotion is represented here it's one of boredom.
Fotheringill (Donat) at this point rescues Dietrich from execution and smitten with her charms assists her escape. Well you would think the action has began and the film might finally be interesting? Afraid not, no it's at this point the characters start quoting poetry at each other. "Mind your step, don't tread on that corpse, have you heard Browings latest Sonnet?" It's all downhill from this point, gaudy gowns, Dietrich in a bath tub, Dietrich swimming in a forest lake, Dietrich and Donat in funny hats. What the film really needed was some editorial discipline. Cut 20 or so unnecessary minutes and you might have had a more enjoyable film. Or not, there is little character development and growth, but it is worth seeing for Dietrich in her prime.