Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Homevision
• VHS Release Date: June 6, 2000
• Run Time: 55 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303154530
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #394,906 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This last installment of Rod McLeish's three-part series on the history of the Hermitage is in some ways the most fascinating. The economic, political, and social pressures of a dissatisfied peasant class (descendants of serfs emancipated only 80 years before), World War I, and a disintegrating imperial power structure lead to the abdication of Nicholas II. His family was arrested and moved out of the Hermitage where they had lived in St. Petersburg, replaced by the ministers of the provisional government. Soon thereafter, the Bolsheviks stormed the Hermitage and arrested the provisional government--and the Soviet Union was born. McLeish offers an interesting contradiction in Communist attitudes toward art: Lenin felt that art should play a role in a socialist society; Stalin "could not have cared less" about art, says McLeish, even selling off valuable items for a fraction of their worth to buy farming equipment and food. Equally as dangerous to the Hermitage's priceless collections was World War II itself--the entire contents of the museum were packed in crates and sent by train--two of the three trains managed to leave the city before the Germans lay siege--to secret locations in the Urals. This six-day evacuation of thousands of paintings, sculptures, and jewels was one of the largest art-preservation actions in history. McLeish uses the Hermitage as a stage to present Russia's 20th-century history--more specifically the history of St. Petersburg, turned Petrograd, turned Leningrad--alternating impressive paintings and architecture with video and photography from the area. Students of both history and art will indeed find McLeish's documentary informative and enthralling. --Erik Macki

Product Description

In this moving final program, vintage film footage illustrating the horrors of revolution and war plays counterpoint to the breathtaking works of Matisse, Renoir, and Picasso. When Nicholas II succumbed to the people's revolution, and Lenin rose to power, the Hermitage became the world's largest museum, increased by thousands of works previously held in private collections. Its status was then greatly diminished when Stalin succeeded Lenin and sold many of the museum's irreplaceable treasures for cash. Yet, the museum survived Stalin, as well as World War II, when two-thirds of its collection was transported safely out of Leningrad before the Nazi siege. From Czars to Commissars eloquently chronicles this incredible institution's triumphs over cataclysmic world events, even the dramatic fall of communism.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling and informative, October 1, 2001

By 

George Zee (www.frzee.org, Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hermitage: Russian [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Please read the informative editorial reviews given for the separate single tapes. I just wish to endorse this set of 3 tapes which are very worth watching. You not only get exposure to so many diverse and exquisite treasures of the collections, a feel for the whole museum, but also a pictorial and enthralling account of the Russian history as the background to the development and crisis of the museum. There is no analysis of any individual masterpiece. It is an excellent introduction to anyone interested in St. Petersburg and the Hermitage Museum.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Impressive Accomplishment, March 25, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hermitage: Russian [VHS] (VHS Tape)

These three tapes do a fine job of placing the development of the Hermitage within the context of Russian history. Having viewed "The Face of Russia" 3-tape series just a few weeks before, I found this series to be substantially better, although more limited in its scope.

Since writing the foegoing, Russian Ark: The Masterworks Edition has come out, a wonderful film cetered in the Hermitage. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best documentary of the Hermitage Museum, June 22, 2008

By 

Todd Nolan (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hermitage: Russian [VHS] (VHS Tape)

After viewing every video/DVD about the Hermitage that I could get my hands on since Christmas, I can say this one is the best. While others had some facet that detracted from the whole, such as over-analysis of individual works of art, inappropriate background music, bad camera work, unbalanced history examples, etc., this production excelled on every level. MacLeish's narration is heads above the other academics chosen for their respective docs, the soundtrack is pitch perfect with selection for the corresponding pieces or art, architecture of the museum itself, other parts of St.Petersburg or just the still photos as they help to explain Russian history, not only the museum's history. And the mix of it all, done so well, makes this the perfect documentary for students of Russian history, whether one has any interest in art or the Hermitage museum or not. I sought it out for the museum, but its presentation of the country's history is reason alone to purchase it, if you can't borrow it from your local library.

While the other videos/DVDs, most listed here on the amazon site, were disappointing in one way or another, a book about the museum "The Hermitage: The Biography of a Great Museum" by Geraldine Norman, is the next best thing for a companion piece. I'd leave the other documentaries alone, grab this wonderful 3-volume video set ($3.75 !) and try your local library for the Norman book. Both highly recommended.