Well, it's good to find someone else who liked this movie! I was reading some IMDb reviews on it a while back, and a lot of people were complaining about the flawed history as well as the acting being overdone and such. But I enjoyed it!

I didn't know this was the film that started the "all persons fictitious" diclaimer, but that's an interesting bit of trivia as well.

One of the reviewer on IMDb claimed that (from information read in a book called The House of Barrymore) MGM was dealing with a lot from the movie's three leading players, such as John's drinking, and this being Ethel's first sound picture, but they also said that Lionel was on all sorts of painkiller drugs, and I can only imagine that it would be due to the accident[s] that later caused him to be in a wheelchair. But I think that's in error, because this movie was made in 1932, and the first accident did not occur until late in 1936. (I've read Lionel's autobiography, We Barrymores, and found it very informative, as well as an amusing, enjoyable read).

Indeed, this is a good movie and an obvious prestige production.

I've always been very interested in the Romanovs and in Russian Imperial history in general, but especially in the story of the final Romanovs - thus also, by automatic association, Gregori Rasputin. Incidentally, a couple Russian Silent films of the mid 1910s (specifically 1915 and 1917) that I have the DVD and am a fan of, I was very surprised to learn, the other year, that Vera Karalli, the star actress in them, was complicit in the taking down of Rasputin. https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1004604-vera-karalli/discuss/5901cc08c3a36810d700987b?language=en-US It's fascinating seeing her in the 1917-released latter film and realizing that Rasputin's killing took place just days (on December 30) before the mid-January release of it, therefore that clearly she had filmed that movie just weeks or probably no more than a couple or so months before the infamous death.

I didn't know that Lionel was supposedly already started on painkillers when this movie was shot. Back in those times, no doubt Hollywood doctors (especially ones on the payrolls of the big studios) liberally prescribed whatever it would take to keep actors and actresses comfortable and contented enough to perform. Sadly, painkillers, as we know so well in our current times with the rampant opioids epidemic, can much too readily ensnare, if not taken with extreme caution.

It's a shame Ethel Barrymore wasn't in all that many films. I mainly remember seeing her in this and in None But the Lonely Heart (1944) and Kind Lady (1951).

Wow, that's really interesting! I had no idea a Russian actress was so closely involved with Rasputin's death. That is very fascinating.

I'm not really sure if it's true or not, about Lionel already being on painkillers, since the dates just don't seem to fit. But, you're absolutely right: it can be very dangerous, and people must be cautious about these things today.

Yes, I like Ethel quite a bit too (well, I like all three of them) and have yet to see None But the Lonely Heart, but I will eventually, also being a Cary Grant fan (on a smaller scale). I've seen the original 1935 version of Kind Lady, with Basil Rathbone and Aline MacMahon. I've also seen two other really good Ethel Barrymore movies that I highly recommend. 1946's The Spiral Staircase https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/27452-the-spiral-staircase?language=en-US and 1949's Pinky https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/62727-pinky?language=en-US

I think I've seen The Spiral Staircase, but not since decades ago. I saw Pinky roughly 8-10 years ago and remember it being good, but unfortunately now have forgotten all the particulars.

I years back read, in a bio of I'm not sure whether the Barrymores collectively or perhaps just Ethel, that Ethel was considered one of the leading beauties and fashion trendsetters of her time, when she was young (I suppose upper teens to mid 20s or so). Here's a picture of her from back then: Early Ethel Barrymore photographic portrait

We'll always mentally picture the three Barrymores as being other than young (meaning under age 35 or so) as they were each already into middle age when talkie films began, which is when most people remember them from. I've seen John looking definitely young in Silent films though. For example 1924's Beau Brummel this, that co-stars a very young (I believe 17 years old at the time) Mary Astor.

Yes, I've seen them both pretty recently, and enjoyed them both very much. Pinky did get on my nerves at some points due to the theme of the story being racism, and how unfair things were for black people in the old south.

Wow, I can see why Ethel was so popular! She was really beautiful back then. I've heard of Beau Brummel, I think, and my, that was an early one! I've seen Mary Astor in a few things, notably The Palm Beach Story, The Maltese Falcon, and The Prisoner of Zenda, but never in anything where she was even close to that young.

I believe that when I saw Pinky was during an Ethel Waters birthday marathon on TCM; I remember at least another two or three of Miss Waters' movies airing in succession that day.

I think you'd enjoy Beau Brummel; it's very good. Here's a thread I created about it, that also serves as more or less a review: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/144613-beau-brummel/discuss/58e18b7992514127e8005540?language=en-US.

To add some cross-pollination to this thread, here are existing threads, on the boards for Lionel and John Barrymore, that others reading this thread may be interested in checking out:

Lionel Barrymore

John Barrymore

Interesting; Pinky is the only thing I've seen with Ethel Waters so far.

Beau Brummel does sound very good! I'll have to see if I can find that...