This film is a fascinating piece of cultural history, since it is one of the first American films to depict the October revolution, and its affect on Russia. It's also a very amusing film to watch, since very little effort has been made in order for things to actually look like the October revolution, or Russia. The film is directed by Frank Lloyd, who would go on to direct the most famous version of "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935). Our leading lady is Geraldine Farrar, a famous opera singer who enjoyed a brief career as a moviestar from 1915 to 1920, which included the title roles in "Carmen" (1915) and "Joan the Woman" (1916), the latter being about Jeanne d'Arc. Her then-husband Lou Tellegen stars opposite her as the royal love interest.
Young Marcia Warren is an American who grows up in Tsarist Russia, because of her father's work. Already as a young girl (played by Mae Giraci) she meets the young prince Michael, and forms a plan to marry him. Michael claims this impossible, since he is a royal, and she is not, but Marcia explains that "Americans can do anything". So cute. They grow up into Farrar and Tellegen, and life leads them through different paths. "Prince Mike" would like to have Marcia on the side, but Marcia is too good of a person to mess around with a married man. Of course Mike's wife is treacherous, and we are led to root for them to end up together. An hour into the film, the revolution begins, and our characters begin their battle for survival, and try to escape to United States.
Like I said, this was an interesting watch, because of the unique perspective on Russian history. Though the film shows us violent acts done by the rebels, there are also positive sides to this revolution: because of it, Prince Mike is no longer a prince, and can marry a common girl like Marcia. That made me giggle. The filmmakers seem to have had very poor knowledge about the Russian revolution of reality, and the political context is left unexplored. As a consequence, this American production is one of the most romantic "October 1917 films" you can find.
The production quality is not very high. The locations used for Russian countryside look nothing like Russia. They look like California. The mansions of the rich Russians are furnished in a European manner, and the cities, of which we see very little, also did not resemble the real Russia. It would not have been hard for the movie to steal a few establishing shots from documents about Moscow or St. Petersburgh. There are limits to the willing suspension of disbelief, and those limits come across quickly in "The World and Its Woman", which, by the way, is a terrible title.
The story-line is funny, though it's meant as a drama. The narrative isn't told very well, but the film is an interesting curiosity. Farrar is good as the lead, but husband-Lou as Prince Mike was another aspect so not-Russian, that his presence made the film worse. All in all, this is interesting and worth checking out with a bunch of friends who like history, and can thus appreciate the historical errors of the film. If you want to see a better romance set during the Russian revolution, I would recommend Jacques Feyder's British film "Knight Without Armour" (1937), starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat.
