AllMovie

Pierre Brasseur plays the "mad monk" Rasputin -- or "Raspoutine" -- in this French historical melodrama. Insinuating himself into the court of the Romanoffs in early-20th-century Russia, Rasputin is able to gain enormous power through his apparent ability to heal the hemophiliac son of the Czarina (Isa Miranda). Taking advantage of his clout, the unkempt, barely literate Rasputin embarks on a series of orgies and debaucheries. A group of Russian nobles conspire to murder Rasputin and save the monarchy -- but as history records, Rasputin was not so easily bumped off. Despite his monstrous behavior, Rasputin is depicted as a man who genuinely came to believe in his own "holiness," and who desperately strived to bring peace and stability to Russia before his assassination. With both eyes on the box office, director Georges Combret manages to slip a modicum of female nudity into the film's bacchanal scenes.