Director Ernst Lubitsch told screenwriter Lajos Biro about a former Russian Tsar general he met who was an owner of a New York City restaurant after he fled from his country during the 1917 Revolution. The former general, Theodore Lodigensky, later crossed paths with Lubitsch in Hollywood working as a movie extra for $7.50 a day. He would show up at the film studio in his old Russian officer's uniform. Lubitsch saw a riches-to-rags story here and passed the ex-general's story to scriptwriter Biro.
Biro submitted his script to Paramount Pictures. The studio loved his screenplay and assigned its director, Josef von Sternberg, the story that ran along similar lines Lubitsch had told Biro, with some embellishments. The resulting film, January 1928's "The Last Command," became a much critically-acclaimed motion picture for the studio.
When the new Academy of Motion Pictures nominated its first awards for Best Actor, German actor Emil Jannings, who played General Dolgorucki, was one of three actors considered (Charlie Chaplin and Richard Barthelmess were the other two.). His body of work for that year in "The Last Command" and 'The Way of All Flesh,' (a lost film), won him the Academy Awards' first Best Actor. Biro was nominated for Best Original Story, only to be edged out by Ben Hecht's script for Sternberg's "Underworld."
Biro's script, with some input from Sternberg, stars actor William Powell as a Hollywood film director who spots Dolgorucki's picture in the extras' contact sheets. He has a plan in mind to give him the role as a leader of front line Russian troops who rebel at his commands. "The Last Command" then flashes back to World War One Russia where Powell's character, Leo Andreyev, a stage director in charge of putting on shows to entertain the troops, has been rumored to be aligned with the Bolsheviks. Leo and actress friend Natalie (Evelyn Brent) are brought before Dolgorucki. Leo's a bit too mouthy to the commanding officer, who whips him in the face, then sends him to jail. As for the actress, the officer takes Natalie along with him.
Actor Powell, whose later screen persona was playing witty, carefree characters, was the ultra-heavy in "The Last Command." His Andreyev is a bitter man who sees a golden and unexpected opportunity to seek revenge for the general's actions against him. In real life, Powell and Sternberg argued so much on and off the set that the actor went to studio executives to have them re-write his contract stating he would never be assigned to the director ever again.
Jannings found out he won Best Actor three months before the Academy's May 1929 awards' ceremony. He was schedule to be in Germany at that time to film another movie and couldn't be in Los Angeles to accept his award. Handing him the statuette just before he left California, the Academy made Jannings the first person to receive an Academy Award in its history as well as the first no-show winner for the ceremonies.
"The Last Command" began Sternberg's most prolific period in his film career. Although his movies during this time firmly set him as one of 'the greatest filmmakers of the late silent era," his pictures generally weren't huge money makers for Paramount. Meanwhile, the real former Russian general, Theodore Lodigensky, shortening his name to Lodi, continued to receive screen time in Hollywood up until the mid-1930s. He's especially visible in his role as a hotel doorman in 1932's 'Down to Earth.'
Biro submitted his script to Paramount Pictures. The studio loved his screenplay and assigned its director, Josef von Sternberg, the story that ran along similar lines Lubitsch had told Biro, with some embellishments. The resulting film, January 1928's "The Last Command," became a much critically-acclaimed motion picture for the studio.
When the new Academy of Motion Pictures nominated its first awards for Best Actor, German actor Emil Jannings, who played General Dolgorucki, was one of three actors considered (Charlie Chaplin and Richard Barthelmess were the other two.). His body of work for that year in "The Last Command" and 'The Way of All Flesh,' (a lost film), won him the Academy Awards' first Best Actor. Biro was nominated for Best Original Story, only to be edged out by Ben Hecht's script for Sternberg's "Underworld."
Biro's script, with some input from Sternberg, stars actor William Powell as a Hollywood film director who spots Dolgorucki's picture in the extras' contact sheets. He has a plan in mind to give him the role as a leader of front line Russian troops who rebel at his commands. "The Last Command" then flashes back to World War One Russia where Powell's character, Leo Andreyev, a stage director in charge of putting on shows to entertain the troops, has been rumored to be aligned with the Bolsheviks. Leo and actress friend Natalie (Evelyn Brent) are brought before Dolgorucki. Leo's a bit too mouthy to the commanding officer, who whips him in the face, then sends him to jail. As for the actress, the officer takes Natalie along with him.
Actor Powell, whose later screen persona was playing witty, carefree characters, was the ultra-heavy in "The Last Command." His Andreyev is a bitter man who sees a golden and unexpected opportunity to seek revenge for the general's actions against him. In real life, Powell and Sternberg argued so much on and off the set that the actor went to studio executives to have them re-write his contract stating he would never be assigned to the director ever again.
Jannings found out he won Best Actor three months before the Academy's May 1929 awards' ceremony. He was schedule to be in Germany at that time to film another movie and couldn't be in Los Angeles to accept his award. Handing him the statuette just before he left California, the Academy made Jannings the first person to receive an Academy Award in its history as well as the first no-show winner for the ceremonies.
"The Last Command" began Sternberg's most prolific period in his film career. Although his movies during this time firmly set him as one of 'the greatest filmmakers of the late silent era," his pictures generally weren't huge money makers for Paramount. Meanwhile, the real former Russian general, Theodore Lodigensky, shortening his name to Lodi, continued to receive screen time in Hollywood up until the mid-1930s. He's especially visible in his role as a hotel doorman in 1932's 'Down to Earth.'