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31-485: Knight Without Armour (styled as Knight Without Armor in some releases) is a 1937 British historical drama film starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat . It was directed by Jacques Feyder and produced by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Lajos Bíró adapted by Frances Marion from the 1933 novel by James Hilton . The novel was published in the United States as Without Armour . The music score

62-403: A better story. On the long journey, the trio become good friends. At one point, they tell him they "understand" (that he is in love with Alexandra), and Alexandra says that meeting him was the greatest luck they have had. Deeply moved, he breaks down, weeping and kissing her hand, and they both console him. At a stop, he obliquely suggests a means of escape and steps away. Peter wonders, "What about

93-454: A break for it. At the station, a Red Cross doctor, a Scot who believes his story, dresses his wounded arm while a nurse reads aloud the passenger list of the train departing for Bucharest . When he hears Alexandra's name, Peter crashes through the door and runs for the departing train, calling her name. He clings to the outside of the cars. She hears him, tears the shade away from the window beside her bed, and reaches out to him, crying "Here!" as

124-449: A brilliant career ahead of him, including a knighthood. In a 2016 article for Criterion , critic Michael Sragow notes, "Between 1935 and 1940, when [Graham] Greene was the movie critic for The Spectator and the short-lived weekly Night and Day , no spy film won higher praise from him than ... Knight Without Armour . Greene described the film as "melodrama of the most engaging kind, the heroic wish-fulfillment dream of adolescence all

155-545: A genre directed towards women. Historical dramas have also been described as a conservative genre, glorifying an imagined past that never existed. Historical drama may include mostly fictionalized narratives based on actual people or historical events, such as the history plays of Shakespeare , Apollo 13 , The Tudors , Braveheart , Chernobyl , Enemy at the Gates , Les Misérables , and Titanic . Works may include references to real-life people or events from

186-515: A photograph of the Countess. A young and sensitive Commissar Poushkoff, entranced by Alexandra's beauty, brings in an old gardener from her father's estate who, tipped off by Poushkoff, swears that she is not the Countess. They must go to Samara for confirmation of her identity, and Poushkoff arranges to escort them. On the train, on the first night, his suspicions are confirmed when he sees Peter tenderly kiss her hand. He advises them to come up with

217-590: A serious deterioration of maintenance conditions, it closed to passengers in 1933, continuing with a basic goods and mineral service. During World War II , the line was taken over by the War Department in 1941, and extensively reconstructed to serve Central Ammunition Depot Nesscliffe . It was finally closed in 1960. Richard Samuel France was the proprietor of important limestone quarries at Nantmawr and elsewhere in Powys, then Montgomeryshire. He needed to get

248-500: A terminus, the train from Kinnerley propelled a single coach on the outward trip. All passenger operation, except for occasional excursions, was discontinued on 6 November 1933. The Criggion quarry train ran weekly, and occasional ordinary goods traffic served the intermediate stations. It appears that the Shropshire Railways Company continued in existence as owner of the former Potts system, suggesting that

279-523: The War Department and established as an ammunition store. Extensive track renewal took place. Army steam engines were brought in to service numerous storage depots that were set up. A new exchange location with the main line was established at Hookagate. From 1 June 1941, the War Department operated all trains on the line, military and civilian. However the Criggion branch remained outside

310-448: The westerns and sword and sandal films that dominated North American cinema in the 1950s. The costume drama is often separated as a genre of historical dramas. Early critics defined them as films focusing on romance and relationships in sumptuous surroundings, contrasting them with other historical dramas believed to have more serious themes. Other critics have defended costume dramas, and argued that they are disparaged because they are

341-845: The S&;MLR was a tenant. The Shropshire Railways received the rental for the Nantmawr branch from the Cambrian Railways , and later from the Great Western Railway . Neither the Shropshire Railways nor the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway were subject to the "Grouping" process in 1923 (following the Railways Act 1921 ). In 1941, the entire line except the Criggion branch was requisitioned by

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372-531: The Shropshire Company, and it took possession of the dormant assets on 19 September 1890, but it too failed to achieve anything; an official receiver was appointed in 1891, and no further railway activity took place. The Potts network other than the Nantmawr branch had been dormant since 1880. In 1907 Holman Fred Stephens , later Colonel Stephens, already had several light railways in his control. All of them were only marginally profitable, and that by

403-529: The War Department and worked on the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway as WD221 and WD212. During their war service, both were involved in incidents and returned to Stratford in 1944 and were subsequently scrapped. The sets were designed by Lazare Meerson the renowned Franco-Russian. The New York Times critic Frank Nugent praised the film, approving the title change from the book (from Without Armour to Knight Without Armour ), "placing it in

434-611: The attempt fails, the would-be assassin is shot, but manages to reach Peter's apartment, where he dies. For his inadvertent involvement, Peter is sent to Siberia . World War I makes Alexandra a widow and brings the Bolsheviks to power, freeing Peter and Axelstein. When the Russian Civil War breaks out, Alexandra is arrested for being an aristocrat, and Peter is assigned by now-Commissar Axelstein to take her to Petrograd to stand trial. However, Peter instead takes her to

465-543: The boy?" who might suffer if they do run. A shot rings out: Poushkoff has committed suicide to provide a diversion. The lovers board a barge travelling down the Volga River . Alexandra becomes seriously ill. When Peter goes for a doctor, he is arrested by the Whites for not having papers. Meanwhile, a doctor from an international Red Cross team finds Alexandra and takes her for treatment. About to be executed, Peter makes

496-525: The early 1920s Stephens introduced two back to back railcar sets, a Ford pair and a Wolseley-Siddeley pair, reducing costs considerably. However they were not successful, and they were withdrawn after a short period in service. Passenger operation beyond Melverley ceased in October 1932, due to the unsafe state of the bridge over the River Severn . As there was no run-round facility at Melverley, now

527-509: The land. The formal re-opening of the line took place on 13 April 1911, this time with invited guests. Opening to the general public took place the following day. In the first six months of operation, an operating profit of £404 was made, but after payment of debenture holders a net surplus of less than £1 remained. The Criggion branch opened for goods and mineral traffic on 21 February 1912, and for passengers in August 1912. In

558-616: The most stringent economy. Stephens decided that the Potteries Line could be revived as a light railway. He obtained the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway Order 1909 on 17 January 1908, authorising the operation of all the Shropshire Railways system except the Nantmawr branch as a light railway. The new company was to be called the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway. Several local authorities (the county and some rural district councils) made 40-year loans. The Shropshire Railways company continued in existence as owner of

589-457: The quarry output to a railway terminal for onward transit, and he promoted a railway to achieve this. The idea developed and became a public concern, the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway. The title indicated the far-reaching ambitions of the company, but in fact it only stretched from Shrewsbury to Llanymynech, Nantmawr and Criggion, a network of 28 miles. The line opened in 1866. It

620-489: The realm of chivalry and high adventure". He described the production as "a perfect fusion of several remarkable talents, so serene a blend that we cannot be sure which division is entitled to the most credit... It is a soundly narrated picture—colorful, romantic, melodramatic, and a first rate entertainment". Nugent singled out "relative newcomer" John Clements's "moving and poignant" portrayal of Poushkoff, predicting that "we shall probably hear more of him". In fact, Clements had

651-603: The relevant time period or contain factually accurate representations of the time period. Works that focus on accurately portraying specific historical events or persons are instead known as docudrama , such as The Report . Where a person's life is central to the story, such a work is known as biographical drama , with notable examples being films such as Alexander , Frida , House of Saddam , Lincoln , Lust for Life , Raging Bull , Stalin , and Oppenheimer . Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway The Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway

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682-614: The rest if Korda hired Josef von Sternberg to direct I, Claudius . Historical film Historical drama can be differentiated from historical fiction , which generally present fictional characters and events against a backdrop of historical events. A period piece may be set in a vague or general era such as the Middle Ages , or a specific period such as the Roaring Twenties , or the recent past. In different eras different subgenres have risen to popularity, such as

713-599: The safety of the White Army . Their relief is short-lived; the Red Army defeats the Whites the next day, and Alexandra is taken captive once more. Peter steals a commission as a commissar of prisons from a drunken official and uses the document to free her. The two, now deeply in love, flee into the forest on Alexandra's estate, where they enjoy a brief idyll. Later, they catch a train. At a railway station, they pretend to be brother and sister, but one communist official has

744-569: The scope of War Department control; there was a daily train conveying granite from the Breidden quarries. In 1945 Melverley viaduct showed obvious signs of weakness and imminent collapse. At first the wagons were pushed up to and over the bridge by the quarry company's vertical-boilered Sentinel locomotive, to be collected on the Kinnerley side by the S&MLR engine. Later the Sentinel engine

775-631: The train speeds them to safety. According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies , Donat suffered a severe, week-long bout of his chronic asthma during production, causing Alexander Korda to consider replacing him. Dietrich persuaded him to wait until Donat recovered. In September 1936, two LNER Class J15 locomotives (numbers 7541 and 7835) were withdrawn by the LNER and sold to London Film Productions for use in this film. The locomotives were moved to Denham studios, where they underwent cosmetic modification to look more Russian. They were later sold to

806-403: The whole are good, though Dietrich restricts herself to just looking glamorous in any setting or costume." Dietrich had been promised $ 250,000 plus 10% of the gross profits for her efforts. Korda's usual extravagance resulted in a budget of $ 350,000, much of it spent on authentic sets and costumes, and the film did not make a profit. Korda was unable to pay Dietrich fully, but she agreed to forego

837-543: The world over". But he loved it all the same. Using one of the highest terms of praise in his critical lexicon, Greene called it "a first-class thriller". Greene's complete review appears at the end of the piece. The Variety review was somewhat unfavourable: "A labored effort to keep this picture neutral on the subject of the Russian Revolution finally completely overshadows the simple love story intertwining Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat. ... Performances on

868-484: Was a railway running from Shrewsbury , England to Llanymynech , Wales, with a branch to Criggion . It was promoted by Holman Fred Stephens , better known as Colonel Stephens, proprietor of several ultra-low budget light railways. It adopted the track network of the defunct Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway that had closed in 1880; the S&MLR opened in 1911. Running through sparsely inhabited terrain, it struggled to achieve financial stability, and following

899-460: Was allowed to cross the bridge at walking pace and take the train all the way to Kinnerley. In 1947, the line was returned to civilian status, and the company was nationalised in 1948. The War Department usage continued, until in 1959 that came to an end, and in December 1959 the Criggion stone traffic ceased to operate as well. The final scheduled train ran on 26 February 1960 and on 29 February

930-465: Was by Miklós Rózsa , his first for a motion picture , using additional music by Tchaikovsky . Englishman A. J. Fothergill is recruited by Colonel Forrester to spy on Russia for the British government because he can speak the language fluently. As "Peter Ouranoff", he infiltrates a revolutionary group led by Axelstein. The radicals try to blow up General Gregor Vladinoff, the father of Alexandra. When

961-544: Was informally known as the Potts Line. The line never attracted enough business to make a profit, and basic maintenance was cut back due to the lack of cash. The system became dangerous and was closed down in 1880 on safety grounds. An attempt at financial reconstruction was made in 1888, and a new company titled The Shropshire Railways was created. Shareholders in the Potts Company transferred their holding into

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