Peter the Great

1986
Peter the Great

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1

EP1 Episode 1 Feb 02, 1986

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EP2 Episode 2 Feb 03, 1986

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EP3 Episode 3 Feb 04, 1986

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EP4 Episode 4 Feb 05, 1986

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7.8| 0h30m| en| More Info
Released: 02 February 1986 Ended
Producted By: NBC Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Peter the Great is a 1986 NBC television mini-series starring Maximilian Schell as Russian emperor Peter the Great, and based on the biography by Robert K. Massie. It won three Primetime Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Miniseries.

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NBC Productions

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Reviews

Samer Abdallah This is a hard-to-find NBC TV mini-series from the eighties. The film is a very well-made historical (true) period drama, in six hours, a super-production relating the life and times of czar Peter the Great of Russia, with a stellar ensemble cast including Laurence Olivier, Vanessa Redgrave, Omar Sharif, Mel Ferrer, Ursula Andress, and Elke Sommer, some of them in cameo roles, but they look great in period costumes. Peter the Great is powerfully portrayed by Jan Niklas (younger czar) and Maximillian Schell (adult czar) with Maximillian Schell giving the character epic proportions in the latter years. The series is unpretentiously directed by Marvin Chomsky, with attention to detail to the prevailing conditions and settings of the times: For instance one does not feel artificial light was used at any time, as all filming seems to have been done outdoors in natural light or indoors with chandeliers and candle lights. The Director of photography is Vittorio Storaro who is the cinematographer of such visual feasts as "The Last Emperor", "Apocalypse Now", and "The Sheltering Sky". This mini-series was filmed on location in the ex-USSR (Russia) when it was under Communism, with artistic and technical assistance of an extended Russian crew, which was, at the time, a remarkable example of cultural cooperation between East and West. I hope this film will be digitally remastered, it deserves it, and it would be advisable to affix a (12) rating on the DVD due to scenes of some violence and mild intimate encounters, and of course include side features perhaps by contributors to the original series at the time. This must be one of the best ever made-for-TV historical films, and a great entertainment with palace intrigues, power politics, passionate relationships, and men and women who changed the course of history.
jdouglas-16 I found this TV min-series to be absolutely superb. The acting by the international cast was excellent and the costumes seemed like they belonged to the time period. It is a great, sweeping story about one of the greatest monarchs of all time and this film does not disappoint. The filming in Russia I think made the movie all that much more convincing.It may be subject to the criticism that it is not completely historically accurate, but then the point of the mini-series is to entertain with a delightful story and I think it is understood that some freedom to re-write the history is acceptable. The main outline is correct and the characters look and act the part well.I do not make this rating lightly. I have it on a VHS tape I bought years ago and still watch it often. I highly recommend it. Find it on the Internet and buy it. That's my recommendation.
rwbyington I keep checking to see if this marvelous production has been transferred to DVD, but so far no luck. Vanessa Redgrave wonderfully portrays Sophie. Maximillian Schell (always good) is equally mesmerizing as Peter the Great. The production as a whole is faithful to Raymond Massie's book (same title) which I read twice many years ago. Having the smaller parts played by the likes of Omar Sharif, Laurence Olivier, and Trevor Howard is a real plus.Peter's struggles with the Streltsy and the Boyars is faithfully portrayed. There is a pedestal in Red Square where the executions supposedly occurred. Peter the Great single handedly dragged Russia from Asia into Europe. He established the Russian navy and his first ship building effort is housed in a museum outside Moscow. I've seen the ship, but could never verify whether it was the original or a copy.
rlgrubb I liked this series very much although it started to drag during part 4. I was vaguely familiar with Russian history and thought the series was accurate; that is until I read some of the comments from those truly knowledgeable of Russian history.But my main contribution to this forum is to recount what my wife (a Russian) said about the movie as we watched it. First of all, how would we Americans like it if a movie about Abraham Lincoln portrayed him as a man of average height? Peter the Great was about 6'8" or 6'9". She also wishes that they would have shown how Russians built boats in the North and had to carry them a long way over land (I think she meant when they attacked the Turks at Azov). The movie also neglected to show how Peter established Universities and sent students to study in Europe.And as one other person commented, I wish they would have shown more of St. Petersburg and how it was built.It seems that there is enough material here for a ten part series rather than four.