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Video, 1982 |
Movie, 1983 |
Audio-Visuals
Compiled by Christel Ludewig McCanless
Narrations are in English unless otherwise stated.
*Indicates no copy available in the McCanless Fabergé Library
Nicholas and Alexandra. Burbank (CA): Video distributed by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video, 1971. Video.
The book by Robert K. Massie (New York: Atheneum, 1967) was made into a movie of the same name in 1971 in Great Britain. The plot is an intimate account of the reign of the last Romanov Tsar and the fall of Imperial Russia. Fabergé and his objects of vertu reflect this historic era. (Editor’s note: The film does not include Fabergé, but the book mentions Fabergé.)
Reviews of the movie:
Life, January 14, 1972, 14.
Time, January 3, 1972, 66.
Forbes, Timothy. Lost to the Revolution. New York: Forbes Magazine, 1981. Video.
*Silberman, Syrl. Fabergé and the Masterpiece Theatre. Boston (MA): Television Station WGBH, 1978. Weekly television segments.
Fabergé objects mainly from The Forbes Magazine Collection and A La Vieille Russie were shown in weekly three-minute segments on the non-profit Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television network beginning on Sunday, October 22, 1978, and continuing for 14 weeks. The Fabergé clips, narrated by TV personality Kitty Carlisle, followed the regular programming of the Masterpiece Theatre series, “The Duchess of Duke Street.”
Weguelin, David. Carl Fabergé. London: WEG Video, Ltd., 1982. Video.
Narrated by A. Kenneth Snowman, Fabergé expert and chairman of the British jewelry firm Wartski, the video discusses Fabergé’s life and background, and examines in detail more than 60 individual pieces in important private collections in Europe and America. Specific collections covered are The Forbes Magazine Collection, Josiane Woolf Collection, Wartski, and objects from the Collection of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The cover of the video box shows a previously unpublished watercolor signed by Fabergé of what was possibly intended to be an Imperial Easter Egg, but never delivered or perhaps never made.
Albert R. Broccoli for Eon Productions, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists. Octopussy. Santa Monica (CA), 1983. Movie, issued as a video in 2003.
In 1983 a film, entitled Octopussy, was made in Great Britain. The major part of the plot is a theft of state jewelry from the Kremlin Art Depository (fictional), replaced with forgeries, and the originals then smuggled into Western Europe to be sold.
A Fabergé egg modeled after the original Coronation Egg is found with a murdered British agent. It puts Agent 007 James Bond, played by Roger Moore, on the trail that leads to a devastating military plot to destroy détente and weaken NATO defenses in Europe. The movie is based on three short stories, Octopussy, The Living Daylights, and The Property of a Lady written by novelist/journalist Ian Fleming (1908-1965). In 2005 the Bond egg was displayed at the Arizona Science Center in BOND. James Bond. The Exhibition. Additional information about the movie and short stories are in James Benson, The James Bond Bedside Companion. (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1984).
Fabergé-related background information: In 1963 Sotheby’s London commissioned a short story written by Ian Fleming, author of the 007 James Bond series, to be published in the Ivory Hammer: the Year at Sotheby’s (London: Longmans Green, 1963).
The story, Property of a Lady, was later published in Playboy and as part of James Bond short story collection entitled, Octopussy (various publishers: Jonathan Cape, 1966; New American Library, 1967; Triad/Panther Books, 1978).
A. Kenneth Snowman and his jewelry business Wartski are prominently featured in the short story – but not the movie – about a fictional Fabergé auction at Sotheby’s. The objects sold at auction include the fictional Fabergé egg called the Terrestrial Globe.
Reviews of the movie:
The New Yorker, Vol. LIX, June 27, 1983, 93.
Time, Vol. CXXI, June 27, 1893, 71.
Magill’s Cinema Annual, 1984. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1984.
*Christie’s Auction House. Silver Rhinoceros Automaton. New York, 1984. Video.
The October 23, 1984, sale included a silver rhinoceros automaton with a sapphire horn which sold for $120,000, a new U.S. auction record. The video showing the rhinoceros walking forward and wagging his rear end was shown to the audience prior to the bidding.
The Art of Fabergé. Moscow: The Kremlin, 1989. Video.
Byron McKinney Associates. Hillwood Museum: The Collection of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Washington (DC), 1989. Video.
Dina Merrill (Editor’s note: née Nedenia Hutton), daughter of Marjorie Merriweather Post and E. F. Hutton, introduces her mother’s former home, Hillwood, in this video. Hillwood Museum has a collection of 18th and 19th century French and Russian decorative arts including over 90 Fabergé pieces. A selection of Fabergé is shown including the Twelve Monogram and Catherine the Great eggs.
Christie’s Auction House. Pine Cone Egg. Geneva, 1989. Video.
Oy Ettan TV-Production. Carl Fabergé: Court Jeweler of the Tsars. Helsinki, Finland, 1989/90. Video in English with some subtitles for Finnish and Russian commentary.
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Interactive CD, 1995 - 96 |
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1990–1999
McClean, Peter. Living Dangerously – Malcolm Forbes: Grand Sportsman. (?): Thomas A. Horton Associates Video, 1991. Television series.
Dörr, Ulricke et al. Carl Fabergé: The Man with the Golden Hands. Cologne, Germany: Deutsche Welle TV, 1992. Video in German, later edition in English. Also published as part of the series, Images of Germany.
Reviews:
School Library Journal, Vol. 46, No. 5, May 2000, 70-71.
Booklist (student edition), Vol. 96, No. 21, July 2000, 2049.
Library Journal, Vol. 125, No. 15, September 15, 2000, 127.
State Museums Moscow Kremlin. Fabergé Easter Eggs. Moscow: Kremlin and COMINFO, 1992. Interactive Computer Diskette.
CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System)/Universal Studies Home Video. Murder, She Wrote – An Egg to Die For. New York, 1994. Television series.
An episode of the long-running American television series, Murder, She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury as detective Jessica Fletcher, solves a Fabergé egg mystery. At a book fair in Miami Beach she helps a Russian police officer capture the elusive mastermind behind the theft of a golden egg stolen from the Hermitage Museum. First shown on December 11, 1994.
Christie’s Auction House. Winter Egg. Geneva, 1994. Video.
Staatliches Museum des Moskauer Kreml. Die Weltberűhmten Fabergé-Ostereier. COMINFO and Markt & Technik Interactive, 1995-1997. Interactive CD in German, later edition in Russian with the title, Paskhal’nye laitsa Faberzhe.
ABC (American Broadcasting Company) Network. Good Morning America. New York, 1996. Video.
Arvo Tuominen for the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Fabergé and Finland (Fabergé ja Suomi). Helsinki, 1996. Video, predominantly in English, with subtitles for Finnish and Russian narratives.
Grayson Family Productions in cooperation with the Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange. The Palaces of St. Petersburg: An Imperial Adventure. Jackson (MS), 1996. Video.
Morais, Lee. Fabergé: Jeweler to the Tsar. New Orleans (LA): New Orleans Museum of Art, 1996. Video and audio guide.
Robb Weller and Gary H. Grossman Productions for Arts & Entertainment Television Networks. Fabergé: Imperial Jeweler. New York, 1996. Video, also later issued with a new title, Fabulous World of Fabergé.
TvW 7 in Association with the Bromley Management Group. Secret Treasures of the Kremlin. Australia, 1996. Video published in 1998 by Zia Home Entertainment.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Lillian Thomas Pratt’s Fabergé: Shopping, Collecting, Remembering. Richmond, 1996. Video.
Christie’s New York. Pine Cone Egg Auction. New York, 1997. Video, in English with some Russian.
Greystone Communications for Arts & Entertainment Home Video. Treasure! The Czar’s Fabergé Eggs. New York, 1998. Video.
Karl Fabergé, Jeweler of the Russian Empire. St. Petersburg: The Hermitage Museum, 1999. Video in Russian.
Public Broadcasting Corporation with Stoner Productions, Inc. Treasures of the World. Alexandria (VA): PBS Video, 1999. Video.
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Munich, 2003 |
Movie, 2004 |
2000-
Noey, Christopher. A Visit to Hillwood Museum and Gardens. Washington (DC): Hillwood, 2000. Video.
Arts & Entertainment Television Network. Modern Marvels: Million Dollar Tech. New York, 2000/2001. Video.
HGTV (Home and Garden Television). Collectible Treasures. Knoxville (TN), 2001. Video.
The Royals & Their Pets. London: Imagicians Television, 2003. Video.
Manfred Ahrens with the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. Fabergé/Cartier – Rivalen am Zarenhof. Munich: Kunsthalle, 2003. Video, multi-lingual, predominantly in German.
Seventeen years ago in 1986-87 two cousins, Dr. Géza von Habsburg and Dr. Johann Georg Prinz von Hohenzollern, assembled the first Fabergé exhibition in Munich. The show had 250,000 visitors. In this video for the 2003-04 exhibition they worked together again to show how the Russian jeweler Fabergé and his French contemporary Cartier competed in St. Petersburg. The first part of the videotape is a behind-the-scenes look during a 17-day countdown before opening day, and is followed by a review of the finished exhibition and then concludes with scenes from of the opening events.
The missing 1917 Karelian Birch Egg, recently found complete with receipts, is unveiled for this exhibition and is shown with a look inside. The 1,000 objects borrowed include pictures, paintings, Fabergé and Cartier objects, and a wide range of clothing worn by members of the Romanov family.
(Editor’s note: On May 4, 2004, Dr. Géza von Habsburg gave a lecture on this same topic at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in connection with an exhibition entitled, Gifts to the Tsars, 1500-1700. A video entitled, Cartier & Fabergé: Rivals to the Tsars, was made.)
Warner Brothers. Ocean’s Twelve. Hollywood (CA), 2004. Video.
The plot of the movie revolves around the feud between Ocean and Terry Benedict and is a follow-up to a 2001 movie entitled Ocean’s 11 with the same cast including among others, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon. A heist in Rome includes a modern-style Fabergé Coronation Egg made by the firm of Vivian Alexander, Maurice (LA). An egg from the numbered series was shown at the Gadsden (AL) Cultural Arts Center in November 2004.
