The Scarlet Empress

Title:

The Scarlet Empress

Genres:

Drama , History , Romance

Companies:

Paramount

Countries:

United States of America

Release Date:

1934-05-09

Runtime:

104

Languages:

English

Status:

Released

Tagline:

The Reigning Beauty of the Screen!

Budget:

$900000

Overview

During the 18th century, German noblewoman Sophia Frederica, who would later become Catherine the Great, travels to Moscow to marry the dimwitted Grand Duke Peter, the heir to the Russian throne. Their arranged marriage proves to be loveless, and Catherine takes many lovers, including the handsome Count Alexei, and bears a son. When the unstable Peter eventually ascends to the throne, Catherine plots to oust him from power.

CastView All Credits

Marlene Dietric

Princess Sophia Frederica / Catherine II

John Lodge

Count Alexei

Sam Jaffe

Grand Duke Peter

Louise Dresser

Empress Elizabeth Petrovna

C. Aubrey Smith

Prince August

Gavin Gordon

Capt. Gregori Orloff

Videos

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Movie Reviews

CinemaSerf

If anyone was to have actually filmed aspects of the life of the Princess at the time, then they could hardly have come up with anything more authentic than this fabulous Von Sternberg dramatisation of the rise, and rise of Catherine the Great. Marlene Dietrich is superb as the schemed against who becomes the scheming Grand Duchess married off to the imbecilic nephew (played by a superb Sam Jaffe) of the Empress Elizabeth (an imperious Louise Dresser). Through her series of lovers and strategic alliances, she deposes her idiot husband and accedes to the throne. The (lingering) intimacy of the filming of the star - almost bordering on adulation by the camera (and the director!?); the use of light and shadow - particularly the use of candles; and the marvellous Tchaikovsky score all more than compensate for some of the "train set" model scenery and make this a scintillating story of power. Great stuff.