Having seen Patton a few weeks ago and thought it was very good I was not expecting the director's follow up to be in the same league but after watching this compelling film I actually think this was better. It's not as grand or showy a film but it has a bigger more interesting story to tell and at three hours I was never bored only completely engrossed by it from the start to it's tragic end.
I actually have the ranked the same (7/10)... Both are well worth watching and are good movies, but both come up a little short from being great...
shareI agree though I have a personal preference for Nicholas and Alexandra. I liked how much attention they placed on even the smaller details. But in the end, two very different films but yes I think of the same quality and merit.
shareBut then again, there was a third feature after both, Papillon, a masterpiece in its own right that deserved much more praise than it actually got.
share"Papillon" is a great popcorn-churner, but considering that the story was almost certainly complete fiction being passed off as a true story-- by Papillon himself-- I have a bit of a hard time thinking of it as a "masterpiece" in the same league as this film, let alone the amazing "Patton."
"I don't deduce, I observe."
I don't necessarily give a lot of weight to the Oscars, but for heavens sake Patton won best picture and best actor.
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In N&A the actors are not given much chance to do anything other than talk a lot; only Baker as the magnetically manic Rasputin--who steals the show from everybody else--can match Scott's and McQueen's powerful presence as, respectively, Patton and Papillon.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)
Please. N&A doesn't hold a candle to Patton.
shareVery true: PATTON actually has action, something that N&A painfully needs, and lacks. My impression is that Schaffner did not like the plot of N&A as much as he liked the plots of PATTON and PAPILLON; compared to the latter, Schaffner's direction of N&A is blatantly apathetic.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)