From the get go, it is apparent that Hammer had no intention of making a film about Rasputin within the full scope of his historical context. In other words, they were not about to shell out the coin to depict crowd scenes, royal processions, military parades or peasant insurrections, though it is possible to imagine the modest Bray studio stretching to the occasion had the will been there.
The word "Bolshevik" is never uttered and we never once catch a fleeting glimpse of Tsar Nicholas much less his daughters.
This, then, in keeping with Hammer's decision to use standing sets, (slightly revamped) from "Dracula, Prince of Darkness" is a backstairs, tabloid account of Rasputin the dissolute diablos.
After all, you don't need crowd scenes to depict Rasputin raping a girl in a barn.
Notwithstanding, art director Bernard Robinson, does what he can. But make no mistake, this is not top flight Bernard Robinson, nor top flight Hammer. We aren't even given an establishing shot, (of the picture postcard variety) of St. Petersburg, and it is only in a bedroom scene with Rasputin curing the Tsarvarich Alexei, (all cream and gold with some magnificent candelabrum) that the visuals recall the peak Hammer of the late 50's-early 60's.
Worse, Hammer cribs a scene from another film, "Anastasia" to use as an establishing shot for the palace ball sequence. This shameless pilfer, would only appear to have been legal, inasmuch as "Anastasia"s producer, Twentieth Century Fox, was also the distributer of Hammer's "Rasputin," thus showing the extent to which the distributer contributed fiscally to the Hammer product, even during a film's production.
Christoper Lee is excellent as the mad monk, particularly in a tavern scene where he hypnotizes Barbara Shelley. It is Miss Shelley, however, who walks off with the film, yet again, showing that she was capable of so much more than she was ever offered.
The rest of the cast is serviceable, though cute as a pearl button, Suzan Farmer is given very little to do except look fetching, an assignment at which she excelled naturally.
For Hammer enthusiasts rather than students of Russian history.
The word "Bolshevik" is never uttered and we never once catch a fleeting glimpse of Tsar Nicholas much less his daughters.
This, then, in keeping with Hammer's decision to use standing sets, (slightly revamped) from "Dracula, Prince of Darkness" is a backstairs, tabloid account of Rasputin the dissolute diablos.
After all, you don't need crowd scenes to depict Rasputin raping a girl in a barn.
Notwithstanding, art director Bernard Robinson, does what he can. But make no mistake, this is not top flight Bernard Robinson, nor top flight Hammer. We aren't even given an establishing shot, (of the picture postcard variety) of St. Petersburg, and it is only in a bedroom scene with Rasputin curing the Tsarvarich Alexei, (all cream and gold with some magnificent candelabrum) that the visuals recall the peak Hammer of the late 50's-early 60's.
Worse, Hammer cribs a scene from another film, "Anastasia" to use as an establishing shot for the palace ball sequence. This shameless pilfer, would only appear to have been legal, inasmuch as "Anastasia"s producer, Twentieth Century Fox, was also the distributer of Hammer's "Rasputin," thus showing the extent to which the distributer contributed fiscally to the Hammer product, even during a film's production.
Christoper Lee is excellent as the mad monk, particularly in a tavern scene where he hypnotizes Barbara Shelley. It is Miss Shelley, however, who walks off with the film, yet again, showing that she was capable of so much more than she was ever offered.
The rest of the cast is serviceable, though cute as a pearl button, Suzan Farmer is given very little to do except look fetching, an assignment at which she excelled naturally.
For Hammer enthusiasts rather than students of Russian history.