The Last Command

Plot synopsis:
The book is set a month after Dark Force Rising.
Now emboldened by his recent capture of the Katana fleet and staffing them with clone personnel, Grand Admiral Thrawn launches his offensive against the New Republic with great success. Through certain deception techniques (such as faking a turbolaser barrage using cloaked ships to fire underneath planetary shields), several planets quickly capitulate to the Empire. He ups the ante when the Imperial fleet deploys 22 cloaked asteroids over Coruscant and fakes the presence of over 260 asteroids to immobilize the planet and the Republic leadership. By this time, Mon Mothma finally reconciles with Sen Garm Bel Iblis, whom she lets lead Coruscant's defenses.
Elsewhere, Han Solo, Chewbacca and Talon Karrde work to form an alliance of smugglers to assist with the New Republic defense. Although the smugglers consider staying in the sidelines, an Imperial raid on their meeting place (set up by turncoat smuggler Niles Ferrier without Thrawn's permission) finally unites them against the Empire.
Mara Jade, who was knocked out in the climax of the previous novel, joins Princess Leia and Han in stopping an Imperial commando force sent to Coruscant to kidnap Leia's newborn twins for Joruus C'baoth. The Jedi Master wants to turn Leia, Luke and the twins to the Dark Side. The raid's sole survivor points to Mara as their mole and she is arrested, but she comes clean to Leia about the Wayland cloning facility. As they slip out of Coruscant, Republic security shuts down an Imperial eavesdropping system located in the former Imperial Palace.
Mara, Luke, Han, Lando, Chewie, the droids, and Karrde travel to Wayland. They slip past Imperial forces in the area with help from the Noghri and two local alien races. Han, Lando, and Chewie rig the base to explode. Mara, Luke, Karrde and Leia face C'baoth, who produced his own Skywalker clone named Luuke (using Luke's hand that was lost at Bespin during the events of The Empire Strikes Back, intact with Anakin Skywalker's own lightsaber) to attack them. After a fierce battle, Mara kills C'baoth and fulfills the Emperor's orders - by killing Luuke.
Having learned of Thrawn's deception strategy, the Republic fleet organizes an assault on the Imperial shipyards at Bilbringi to capture a device that can find the cloaked asteroids over Coruscant. A feint operation at Tangrene will draw Imperial forces away from Bilbringi. However, Thrawn sees through the deception and marshals his forces at the shipyards. When the Republic fleet and the smugglers attack, the Imperial forces severely maul them. Things nearly go the Empire's way - until Capt. Gilad Pellaeon receives word of the attack on Wayland. When he reads that Noghri were among the attackers, Thrawn's own Noghri bodyguard Rukh stuns him and kills the admiral himself before disappearing. With all hopes of victory now dashed by Thrawn's death, Pellaeon orders all Imperial forces to retreat.
Back in Coruscant, Luke gives Mara Jade his father's lightsaber and invites her to train as a Jedi.

Tags: revenge, flashback

Review:
He was given a small part in the film and I am told he can be observed as a thick-set, middle-aged man with short hair.Now we have the seeds of the story, a Russian General once a cousin to the Czar ends up a mere extra in a movie about a Russian General – irony.
The Last Command was his 57th film silent and later his first talkie, THE BLUE ANGEL also directed by Josef von Sternberg was a huge international hit and made a star out of Marlene Dietrich.When I recently re-watched this film I was amazed to see this old, feeble and broken man shaking beneath the weight of his memories juxtaposed against him as he was young, virile handsome commanding an entire army as well as every room he entered.Notice the tenderness the director pulls out of this gentleman when he explains why he shakes, because he had a great shock once and then we look with him into a mirror that leads us back to the story of a once great man.
On a trivia note her husband's name was Harry Fox for whom the foxtrot dance was named for.William Powell was one of the most popular leading men in Hollywood for over four decades but I bet you didn't know he started in silent films mostly playing heavies and bad guys!
He's best remembered today for his work with the charming Myrna Loy in six THIN MAN pictures.The very first Academy Award ever presented was given to Emil Jannings (he received his award early due to the fact that he was going home to Europe before the ceremony) for his performances Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Last Command (1928) and for The Way of All Flesh (1927).
Sadly THE WAY OF ALL FLESH is a lost film so we have nothing to compare it with.Sternberg is best remembered today for his amazing lighting and cinematography of Dietrich but I saw watch the actors eyes in this film and you'll see he was also a director of great performances in amazing stories I do you seek out and enjoy THE LAST COMMAND!.
Josef Von Sternberg directs this magnificent silent film about silent Hollywood and the former Imperial General to the Czar of Russia who has found himself there.
It would re-emerge from these notions in the time of the New Wave; this is New Wave of thirty years before.The story is so interesting in itself, you should know a rough outline; an exiled Russian general winds up - is karmically reborn - on a Hollywood set as a movie extra to play a Russian general, reliving the past.
So we have within the flashback, which takes up most of the film; the general acting autocratic from the power of a uniform; troops acting in front of the Czar who inspects them; the revolutionary girl acting coy and in love; then while truly in love - this is a plot point you will just have to swallow - acting like a revolutionary; finally the general acting out his part in the cataclysmic turn of events.There is more, once we reach out of the film; so we have a European actor coming to America to act in a film about the same, the only surviving film from his time in America; acting again a part he had played in The Last Laugh some years before.
With the great Josef von Sternberg directing and Oscar winning performance by Emil Jannings, I knew I could expect something memorable and I was richly rewarded in experience when I viewed it.
Compare this to the following scenes between Jannings and Evelyn Brent, which are a complex medley of point-of-view shots and intense close-ups, thrusting us right into the midst of their interaction.As a personality on set, it would seem that Sternberg was much like the cold and callous director played on the screen by William Powell, and in fact Powell's portrayal is probably something of a deliberate parody that even Sternberg himself would have been in on.
It's a little odd to see the normally amiable star of The Thin Man and The Great Ziegfeld playing a figure so stern and humourless, like a male Ninotchka, but he does a good job, revealing a smouldering emotional intensity beneath the hard-hearted exterior.The Last Command could easily have ruffled a few feathers in studio offices, as tends to happen with any disparaging commentary on the film-making process, even a relatively tame example like this.
Last Command, The (1928) **** (out of 4) Marvelous drama about a former Russian General (Emil Jannings) who after the war fled the country and ended up in America where ten years later he's working as an extra in Hollywood.
A director (William Powell) is making a movie about that Russian war when he comes across a picture of the former General and recognizes him as the man who threw him in prison years earlier.
"The Last Command" is a beautiful and extraordinary film in the best tradition of classic story-telling, with German actor Emil Jannings giving an outstanding performance for which he won the first Oscar for "Best Actor" ever.
Based on the life of Russian official Theodore Lodijensky, who ran from the Soviet revolution and worked in Hollywood as an extra in silent films, Jannings plays a general who is chosen for a big historical production by a fellow countryman, a theater director who he once persecuted in Russia, for his subversive activities, and who is now in charge of the film's direction.
From the first scenes when the military is selected, when he arrives in the studio, dons his costume and makes up, to the scene he impressively plays in the film-within-the-film (containing one of the most eloquent critics to cinema when turned into a cold industry that makes either films as sausages or limousines), "The Last Command" consists of a long flashback of the general's life in Russia, when he incarcerated the theater director and fell in love with a revolutionary actress.
Director Leo Andreyev (William Powell) picks the picture of an elderly Sergius Alexander (Emil Jannings) from a stack of nobodies to be an extra.
In the movie, Hollywood director Lev Andreyev (William Powell) casts the ex-aristocrat as a general in creating a movie about the revolution of ten years earlier.A lengthy flashback, which occupies at least one-half of the film, shows the Grand Duke's high status as it was in 1917.
The Last Command (1928) is a silent film directed by Josef von Sternberg.It shows us Czarist General, Grand Duke Sergius Alexander (Emil Jannings) in his days of glory.In 1917 he had all the power but after the revolution and the collapse of Imperial Russia he has nothing.He also had the love of a woman, Natalie Dabrova (Evelyn Brent).About ten years later he applies for a small part in a film about the revolution.His old enemy Lev Andreyev (William Powell) is the director who gets to choose whether to hire him as a film extra or not.The Last Command is very good silent drama.Emil Jannings does memorable role work in the lead.Evelyn Brent is wonderful playing the woman lead.William Powell is great as always.There are plenty of scenes to remember in this movie.Like many scenes with Jannings and Brent.And then there is the ending with Powell and Jannings.This is a movie that touches in many parts..
I still consider WINGS to be a superior film, but this one is excellent despite a little bit of overacting by the lead, Emil Jannings.Jannings is a general from Czarist Russia who is living out his final days making a few bucks in the 1920s by being a Hollywood extra.
Russian emigrant director in Hollywood in 1928 (William Powell) is casting his epic about the Russian revolution, and hires an old ex-general from the Czarist regime (Emil Jannings) to play the general of the film, and the two relive the drama and the memory of the woman they shared (Evelyn Brent), of 11 years before.Try as I might, I feel it hard to warm to 'The Last Command' for all its virtues.
The premise is fascinating, but the treatment does really make the script come to life, except in the sequences set in Hollywood, depicting the breadline of employable extras and the machinations of a big movie production with state-of-the-art technology.Emil Jannings is, predictably, a marvelous Russian general, distinguishing wonderfully between the traumatized and decrepit old ex-general, transfixed in his misery, and the vigorous, hearty officer of yore.The ending is great and worth the wait, but in order to get there you must prepared to be slightly bored at times..
Emil Jannings delivers a powerful performance while Josef Von Sternberg sums up the Bolshie's past and present a decade after the Russian Revolution in The Last Command.
Far fetched at times it is filled with the rich imagery that informed the work of Von Sternberg in his prime while at Paramount.Former Imperialist Russian general under the czar Dolgorucki (Jannings) finds himself living in Hollywood making some meager money as an extra.
THE LAST COMMAND (1928) tells the story of Sergius Alexander (Emil Jannings), a former general in Czarist Russia, who now works as a Hollywood movie extra.
Directed by Josef von Sternberg.The movie basically sets up it premise within the first 10-15 minutes and then proceeds to an extended flashback which shows the general's life in Czarist Russia.
I found it a bit lengthy, but it does pay off in the end, and the final sequences of the movie have considerable dramatic power.Emil Jannings gives a haunting, excellent performance as Sergius Alexander.
Later he would lead "White" Russian armies against Lenin and Trotsky's forces, but would die in battle.I suspect that when Josef von Sternberg's script writers created the character of Grand Duke Sergius Alexander in THE LAST COMMAND, they had several of these men in mind.
But the film ends with Sergius, goaded into a final fury by a malicious enemy now a director (William Powell), gets the chance to show on the Hollywood set what he might have done.
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.This is a great film, due largely to Emil Jannings.
"The Last Command" is a story about a Russian general's reversal of fortune, who in ten years goes from leading the Czar's army in World War One to being picked to play the role of an extra in a movie directed by former "revolutionist" Lev Andreyev (William Powell), who now rules a Hollywood sound stage.
While Emil Jannings got the Academy Award for playing the general, it is my opinion that Powell's performance as Andreyev is what drives this movie forward.
Emil Jannings won the first Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as a once-powerful Russian general who finds himself spit out at the bottom of the Hollywood factory in this late-era silent film by Josef von Sternberg.Jannings certainly has a lot of meat to work with as his character evolves from icy villain to doddery old man to raving lunatic.
The film's dual setting – the 1917 Russian Revolution and Silent-era Hollywood – ranks it as one of the most devastating portrayals of either: the pageantry and crowd scenes of the former are comparable to the contemporaneous work done by the great Soviet directorswhile the latter's cynical (i.e. beyond mere satire) viewpoint comes as something of a surprise, as if Sternberg was unapologetically biting the hand that fed him (but then his arrogance has been well-documented over the years)!
The film is noted for winning Jannings the first ever Best Actor Oscar (which he actually shared with his performance in the presumably lost THE WAY OF ALL FLESH [1927]): he is extraordinary as both the supercilious aristocratic General (described as being the true power behind the Czar) and the pathetic, broken shadow of his former self scrounging for a living as an extra in a film studio.His come-uppance had occurred when a train he and his troops had been traveling on was captured by the revolutionaries and, brutally beaten up (he would thereafter suffer from a permanent twitch of the head!), he was then forced to shove coal into the train's engine.
Among those on board were two people who had exchanged loyalties towards him: his valet begins to scorn him and appropriate his expensive clothes and cigarettes, while a female member of the revolution (Evelyn Brent, from Sternberg's own UNDERWORLD [1927]) he had virtually made his concubine discovers she has feelings for him and is actually the one to co-ordinate his escape (still, her about-face comes off as both abrupt and unconvincing – especially since she had earlier been touted as the opposition's most dangerous element)!A theater director and former comrade of hers (William Powell), who had been whipped in the face by Jannings but was eventually freed from prison, would become a successful Hollywood director; the film actually begins with him despairing of finding the right face to play the General in a new production about the Russian Revolution until he happens upon a photo of his old nemesis.
Predictably, the protagonist's perception of reality becomes blurred when he is thrown back into his true métier, and his fervent 'performance' – goading his men to save Russia and the monarchy from the Revolution – brings on a heart attack and he expires on the spot, ironically in Powell's hands (typically, though he saw it coming, the director kept the action going and the cameras rolling)!Another quibble I have with the film makes it a prime example of Sternberg's pre-occupation with the visual aspect over narrative content: one would have expected Jannings and Powell to mention Brent when they come face to face once more: since the latter had no knowledge of her ultimate change of heart, it would be understandable if he were to seek revenge for the woman's deathbut would it not have been extra ironic (thus still pack an emotional wallop) had Jannings told him what really happened and Powell subsequently decided to let him go?
On a movie set in 1927 there is a call for an extra to play a Russian general in a war scene.
As he pins a medal on his costume, he tells the story of how the Czar had given it to him and we flash back to 1917.Jannings in a general in the Russian army and a cousin to the czar, He recalls dealing with two revolutionaries: a theatre director (Powell) and a beautiful actress (Evelyn Brent).
As the director yells for lights, camera the old man, who has now totally lost his hold on reality, engages in a ferocious scene of war action, raising the flag of old Russia in one last burst of glory, his last command.Emil Jannings is just superb in this film and won the first Best Actor Oscar for it; the finale is an emotional tour de force.
The story starts in 1928 showing William Powell as Lev Andreyev, Hollywood mogul casting a film about the revolution.
He picks an actor based on the actor's head shot; the actor is former Grand Duke Sergius Alexander (played by Emil Jannings), formerly the most powerful man in Russia, head of the Russian forces fighting against the insurrectionists.
The story then goes to flashback, where we see the Grand Duke inspecting his troops, watched secretly by Andreyev and Natalie Dabrova (played by Evelyn Brent) as they plot his overthrow and assassination.Mr. Jannings won the first Best Actor Oscar for this role.
The Mankiewicz family has a glorious history in Hollywood, and I recommend reading up on them.I note that Jack Raymond as the cigar-chomping assistant director to Andreyev is a dead ringer for Josef von Sternberg.In the movie being made by Andreyev, we see extras being assigned costumes and doing make up to play Russian army troops.
Monday February 6, 7pm The Paramount, Seattle "From now on you are my prisoner of war -" "- and my prisoner of love."As the Russian revolution runs wild, a General in the Czar's army, Sergius Alexander (Emil Jannings) escapes execution with the help of a beautiful spy.
Years later, a former revolutionist turned Hollywood movie director (William Powell) recognizes a head shot of the general, now a decrepit old man working as an extra, and plans his revenge.Directed by Josef von Sternberg, The Last Command (1928) was the highlight of Jannings' brief Hollywood career.
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.This early film by Joseph Von Sternberg is fascinating for several reasons, most of which unfortunately are not to do with its dramatic quality.It's a time-capsule of a very specific point in the twentieth century and speaks with the voice of a whole class who felt a little uneasy at recent events, namely, the long reverberations of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the political repercussions throughout Europe.
90 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Former Russian general is reduced to working as an extra in Hollywood.NOTES: Academy Award, Best Actor, Emil Jannings (for this picture and The Way of All Flesh).
It stars the magnificent Emil Jannings in the lead role for which he would be awarded the first Best Actor Academy Award for his work on this film and "The Way of All Flesh" a year earlier.The film opens in 1928 Hollywood where Russian director Lev Andreyev (William Powell) is making a film about a General in the 1917 Russian Revolution.
He turns out to be the former Grand Duke Sergius Alexander (Jannings) who has been reduced to playing an extra in Hollywood following his flight from his war torn homeland.The old General is a broken man with a tremor caused by a great shock years earlier.