Die Kosaken

Based (very loosely) on Leo Tolstoy's short novel "The Cossacks" (1863), this film is essentially about a love triangle between a local Circassian man (John Gilbert), a woman with a certain flair about her (Renée Adorée), and a visiting Moscow nobleman tasked by the Tsar with finding a Cossack bride (Nils Asther). Gilbert is the son of the Ataman (Ernest Torrence), the Cossack chieftain, but is lackadaisical and prefers riding his horse to going off and killing Turks, like a 'real man'. Adorée looks down on him as a result, that is, until Gilbert 'sees the light' after a violent confrontation with his father, in which they both whip each other. He then goes off and kills 10 Turks, but while doing that, Adorée has fallen under Asther's spell.

This is probably the best I've ever seen Gilbert, who was at the peak of his powers in 1928. He's dashing, energetic, and carries a devil-may-care attitude throughout the film. (Side note, it's tragic and hard to believe he would die just seven years later at just 36.) Asther is quite suave as well, so there are two handsome leading men here, and they both turn in strong performances. Torrence is also great, and gives us a lot of emotion with his eyes. Unfortunately, Adorée is pretty average. She certainly doesn't look the part, and is in pretty vanilla in a lot of her scenes, though she does play 'hurt' pretty well as the film goes on.

What really makes the film good, though, is how much attention to detail went into the production. It's a Hollywood film for sure, with action and fighting and drama and all of that, but it also has an air of authenticity about it. MGM built the Cossack village from a model, and brought in a large number of actual Cossack extras. The wardrobes, hairstyles, horsemanship, and crowd scenes are all fantastic. In one, Gilbert dances and flirts with a young (unfortunately uncredited) Gypsy girl to get Adorée's goat. It's a natural, spontaneous, and sexy. The chase sequences are exciting, as are the scenes in the Turkish village when Gilbert and Torrence are taken there. If you're less than thrilled early on, stick with this one; I was a little surprised I ended up liking it as much as I did.

After the phenomenal success of The Big Parade and maybe to get John Gilbert away from Greta Garbo where they were becoming a serious item off as well as on screen, Louis B. Mayer brought the stars Gilbert and Renee Adoree back to the screen for an epic costume drama set in old mother Russia, The Cossacks.

Gilbert plays a young Cossack son of the village Hetman Ernest Torrance who just can't get into the Cossack spirit. He rides well enough, but only well enough to show off to one particular village girl Adoree. She likes him well enough inside, but makes a big show of saying she wants a he man type Cossack who slays non-Christians with abandon. Gilbert would rather make love than fight, a sensible idea, but you don't get the women that way.

But he has competition soon enough when a prince from Moscow played by Nils Asther and that man's looks, riches, and charm is enough to turn any girl's head. Gilbert and Asther are soon rivals for Adoree.

Then there are those Turks looming on the horizon. All these elements come together in a spectacular climax.

The Cossacks is an exciting film and a bit frightening at times. I have to marvel at some of the riding that Gilbert's character was doing. I'm wondering whether it was Yakima Canutt doubling for Gilbert in those scenes.

Not as good as The Big Parade, but solid entertainment still today and a great introduction to John Gilbert.

The Cossacks are warriors and farmers living under the Tsars of Muscovy and fighting fiercely against the Turks. Lukashka (John Gilbert) is the peace-loving only son of a fearsome chief and has no interest in fighting. He pursues village beauty Maryana. Everybody calls him a woman-man. He is a big disappointment to his father. After getting ridiculed by the villagers and a fight with his father, he turns into a heroic warrior. While the men are away to war, Prince Olenin Stieshneff visits the village and sets his sight on Maryana.

I find this a little funny. I find this world fascinating. It is unlike the modern world. I don't like many of the choices by these characters, but I do understand them. The torture scene gets to be a bit too much. All in all, it's a good action adventure with thrills and romancing.

In 19th century Russia, attractive John Gilbert (as Lukashka) is teased and called a "woman man" because he does not live the warrior lifestyle of other Cossacks. Even pretty maiden Renee Adoree (as Maryana) doesn't like Mr. Gilbert, who girlishly picks flowers and chews sunflower seeds. To make matters worse, Gilbert's father is macho chieftain Ernest Torrence (as Ivan). Everyone thinks he's a coward, but Gilbert (or, rather, his stuntman) is nevertheless a daredevil horseback rider. Eventually, as you probably suspect, Gilbert becomes a fierce warrior. "The smell of blood," he discovers, "is not so bad." Ms. Adoree takes notice. As a rival for her interests, princely and amorous Nils Asther (as Olenin) adds almost too much handsomeness to the cast...

This production reportedly went through continuous revisions as the studio, director and star were dissatisfied. The story never really impresses, but MGM spent a lot of money on "The Cossacks" and the film is beautiful and well-preserved. Great production values don't always make a mediocre story better, but they do here. Practically every scene can be enjoyed for one reason or another; everything and everyone looks absolutely fantastic. Art/set direction by Cedric Gibbons and Alexander Toluboff is outstanding. David Cox' costumes look great. Majestically photographed by Percy Hilburn, the film qualifies as an epic, with the MGM production team doing their "silent era" best to make it thrilling...

Oddly, this film's original soundtrack appears to be missing. When it aired June 1, 2014 on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), host Ben Mankiewicz stated the film had an original "orchestral" soundtrack, but showed "The Cossacks" with a new score by Robert Israel. Presumably, the standard "synchronized sound effects" score was made for the original release. A 1928 production of this quality would be unlikely to have no sound effects soundtrack. At times, sound is lost while film is preserved. It would have been nice to have the original soundtrack restored, if possible. TCM did not reveal whether or not Mr. Israel's score followed the orchestral score likely conducted live in New York by William Axt. In any case, Israel's score is fine and so is the film.

******* The Cossacks (6/23/28) George W. Hill, Clarence Brown ~ John Gilbert, Renee Adoree, Ernest Torrence, Nils Asther

This film held up extraordinarily well, and the picture is better than a majority of films made in the following decade. I would expect nothing less from an MGM film, of course.

I really loved the costumes in this film. The acting was good, of course, especially with a very attractive John Gilbert as the lead. There are some moments where the story gets overly-complicated, but the writing process had to undergo several changes (at one point even the director was switched), but despite that, I think this was a great movie. It survived a myriad of drama off-screen to become an excellent adventure romance on screen anyway.