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.
