SimonJack By the mid-1930s, the Poles and Russians had been feuding bitterly for nearly 1,000 years. The first two decades of the 20th century had been tumultuous for much of the world, culminating with WWI – the war to end all wars. Near the end of that war, France executed Mata Hari, an exotic dancer from the Netherlands. She was convicted of spying for Germany against the Allies. Espionage was now commonly known to exist between rival countries, especially the Soviet Union and Western Europe. All of this provided a solid background for the plot in "The Emperor's Candlesticks." It is based on a novel by the same name written by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. The Hungarian-born British author was one of the early female writers of mystery and intrigue. Her best works were in historical fiction. The most famous of these were "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and its sequels. Two excellent adaptations of the Pimpernel have been made into movies – in 1934, and 1982 for TV.While Orczy's book was published in 1899, the 19th century had much of the same political turmoil as the early 20th century. Orczy moved several times throughout Europe with her family before settling in London. No doubt, she had read or heard about suspected espionage between nations in that time. So, she wove a very nice tale of secrecy and intrigue into this story with a subdued but blooming romance.For its part, Hollywood's MGM team added some wit and glamor to the story and made it an all around appealing movie with top stars. Some other reviewers before the time of this writing (Oct. 2013) didn't see much in the plot, or thought it very silly. Certainly, the background for the plot was spot on for the time and geography of the film. As to the story – well, it's fiction, and romance, and entertainment – what many movies are meant to be. I found this an overall interesting and most enjoyable movie. It has just the right amount of intrigue with a light touch of wit and humor. And, in the hands of William Powell, Luise Rainer, Robert Young and supporting cast, it's a very good movie. There's one piece of trivia that might be of interest to viewers. A scene toward the end of the film has the Russian Czar in it, but we never see the actor's face. At the time of this movie, and well into the 1950s, Hollywood would not show on film the faces of actors in roles of key world figures – such as the U.S. President, or kings, queens or other prominent rulers. Today, of course, it would seem awkward not to show the faces of actors in any roles. Perhaps, in times past those offices were held in higher regard and public esteem than they are today?

MartinHafer The handsome Prince (Robert Young) has been kidnapped and will be killed unless a Polish secret agent (William Powell) is able to sneak a ransom note to the Czar. Unfortunately, he chose a rather silly place to hide the note (inside a specially created candlestick) and it is lost. At the same time, a Russian spy (Luise Rainer) is trying to sneak in letters incriminating Powell as a spy--and also hides them inside the matching candlestick--which also is lost. Lots of intrigue follows--as well as some MGM style romance.This film should have been better. After all, it starred the wonderful William Powell and had such supporting stars as Maureen O'Sullivan, Robert Young, Frank Morgan and Henry Stephenson--all fine actors. However, despite a decent script idea and such talent, the film was only okay. Much of this is because the script was rather tepid and talky--with too many scenes listening to the characters play verbal chess--trying to outfox each other. There was little 'zip' or excitement.In addition, some of the blame probably resides with co-star Luise Rainer. While Ms. Rainer only made a small number of Hollywood films, she had the distinction of winning two straight Best Actress Oscars. However, when you see these two performances as well as her subsequent films you wonder why she received such accolades. The performances just didn't age well. In the last week or so I have seen six of her more famous films, I can't help but think that she was a terribly over-rated star. I'm sure she's a nice person and is still thriving today at 98 years-old. But her style of acting usually included staring wide-eyed into space and often reciting her lines in an over-eager fashion--more like a girl in a high school play than someone trying to play a realistic performance. While Ms. Rainer was better in THE EMPEROR'S CANDLESTICKS than in some of her other films (particularly DRAMATIC SCHOOL and BIG CITY), she still was not up to starring against Powell.Now all this is NOT to say that this is a bad film--it's enjoyable enough. But there just isn't much spark or energy and could have been a lot more interesting. A decent time-passer and that's about it.

Michael Morrison Perhaps because I was not very familiar with Luise Rainier performances (beyond "The Good Earth," which movie I didn't like), I was impressed by her in "The Emperor's Candlesticks." I use the conditional because of comments by others here.Nevertheless, I found her charming, even entrancing.William Powell gave his usual masterful best and all the other players were intriguing.There were lots of "other players," too, and that each managed to be individualistic speaks of their own talents and of that of the director and script writer.The movie was well directed, generally, and the script presented a view of a world long gone that we might otherwise never get to see.It's a good yarn, with meshing stories of intrigue, and an adventure of an international race against the clock.I recommend this as a must-see movie on many levels.

bkoganbing I've seen The Emperor's Candlesticks twice now and I'm still trying to figure it out. Why are the Russian secret police so intent on getting their Grand Duke killed is beyond me?Polish patriots kidnap a Romanov Grand Duke while he's on a holiday in Vienna. The Grand Duke is played by Robert Young and he's with Frank Morgan as his protector. That alone should tell you Romanov security stinks big time. Young's seduced and led to his kidnappers by the lovely Maureen O'Sullivan. She's got a good reason for doing it, her father's in a Czarist prison awaiting a death sentence. The idea is to swap Young for dad. But for some reason I absolutely can't fathom, the Poles are afraid their note explaining their demands to the Czar won't reach him.The Poles get William Powell to deliver the message and the Russians have their own agent Luise Rainer. The note is to be delivered in one of a pair of Louis XV candlesticks and Powell and Rainer run all over Europe, Vienna, Paris, London and finally St. Petersburg. Naturally of course the opposing spies are falling for each other.The same plot gambit was used by MGM in Operator 13 with Gary Cooper and Marion Davies in the American Civil War and also in The Firefly with Allan Jones and Jeanette MacDonald. Those were pretty good films, but MGM came up short with this one. The Emperor's Candlesticks wastes a pretty good cast in a very trite and incoherent story that Powell and Rainer can't save no matter how much they turn on the charm.