The Last Command

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The Last Command
Review added by
Stuart McLean

Certificate: PG
Running Time: 88 mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date: 16/05/2016
Content Type: Movie

Synopsis:
Eureka Entertainment to release Josef von Sternberg’s brilliantly realized silent melodrama THE LAST COMMAND on Blu-ray for the first time in the world in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition as part of the Masters of Cinema series on 16 May 2016.

Emil Jannings stars in the film which won the first ever Academy Award for best Actor for his role in this stunning early masterpiece from director Josef von Sternberg (The Blue Angel).

An exiled Russian general turned Hollywood extra (Emil Jannings, in an incredibly passionate performance) is chosen by a former adversary (William Powell) to play a role that resembles his former self and gradually loses his grip on reality. Equally a sharp witted satire of the Hollywood machine and a heartbreaking drama about one man’s emotional downfall, Josef von Sternberg’s The Last Command (his second major Hollywood picture) is one of the finest and most significant films of its era.

Featuring exemplary cinematography, beautifully designed sets, and rousing Revolution sequences, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the worldwide Blu-ray debut of this wonderfully composed masterpiece.

Special Features:
• Original organ score by Gaylord Carter (uncompressed on the Blu-ray)
• New video interview with critic Tony Rayns
• Sternberg Till ‘29, a video essay by scholar Tag Gallagher
• A 32-page booklet featuring an excerpt from von Sternberg’s autobiography Fun in a Chinese Laundry, two original reviews from 1928, a 1929 profile of Jannings, and archival images