The Scarlet Empress

1934

Action / Drama / History / Romance / War

9
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 86% · 29 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 7751 7.8K

russia based on novel or book royal family biography empress royalty

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Plot summary

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.

Director

Josef von Sternberg Photo
Josef von Sternberg

Top cast

Sam Jaffe Photo
Sam Jaffe as Grand Duke Peter
Edward Van Sloan Photo
Edward Van Sloan as Herr Wagner
Marlene Dietrich Photo
Marlene Dietrich as Princess Sophia Frederica / Catherine II
Richard Alexander Photo
Richard Alexander as Count von Breummer
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
858.05 MB
988*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 44 min
Seeds ...
1.64 GB
1472*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 44 min
Seeds 11

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by gbill-74877 7 / 10

Watch it for Dietrich and those fantastic sets

Marlene Dietrich is always a treat, and in this film, the 6th of her 7 collaborations with director Josef von Sternberg, she plays Catherine the Great. The film held my interest, but I have to say, it fell a little short for both Dietrich and von Sternberg. The ornate sets are fabulous, and include Expressionist versions of icons and garish carvings, but von Sternberg relies on them too much. He gives us dramatic action and an overly loud soundtrack, but works from a weak script, and loses the human element in the process. Dietrich flips from being too wide-eyed and open-mouthed in the first half of the film, overplaying innocence, to using her feminine charms to win over support against her husband, Peter III. The film is far from historically accurate, and we also don't see anything of Catherine's astonishing reign, including her love of the arts and her advancement of Russia. What we do see are here responding to "You know that the grand duke isn't exactly pleased with the present state of affairs" by quipping "State of affairs? What affairs? I haven't had an affair for some time" with a sly look in her eyes. It's made clear that she's sleeping around, and in one scene romps happily between two men. Aside from the disservice to Catherine the Great, which I suppose you can ignore because this is Marlene Dietrich after all, even in the context of a vehicle to highlight her eroticism, there is something cold and detached about it, and she's better elsewhere. Worth watching for Dietrich and the wild sets, but temper your expectations.
Reviewed by Philipp_Flersheim 8 / 10

Over the top, delirious and very good

I intensely dislike films that play fast and loose with the past (for some outstanding examples see my 'Horrible Histories'-list) but 'The Scarlet Empress' does not fall in this category. It is so over the top and so absolutely delirious that you keep wondering what director Josef von Sternberg was smoking while filming it. That is the joy of it. The design of the sets is so bizarre that despite being losely based on actual 18th-century events, any relation to history is lost. 'The Scarlet Empress' has about as much to do with Russia as the kingdom of Rohan has with Anglo-Saxon England. It is a fantasy film, and if you see it as such it is great. Every scene contains new surprises, beginning with the bizzare and very much pre-code torture scene at the start and ending with Catherine's (Marlene Dietrich's) coup d'etat, where she and her soldiers ride into the throne room to music inspired by Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries (more music is based on Tchaikovsky's 1812-Overture (!) and on the tsarist Russian national anthem). That takes me to the quality of the acting. None of the characters is really likeable. For the first half of the film Dietrich plays a naive young girl; once her son is born, she becomes a devious plotter. The transition is not made particularly clear, but her acting is still impressive. Her lantern-jawed love interest is played by John Lodge - not much nuance here, but he is doing well, too. Sam Jaffe did not convince me as Peter III: He looks ridiculous rather than dangerous. Louise Dresser is a good ill-tempered Empress Elizabeth. The upshot is: if you want a dramatization that attempts to stay close to history, watch 'Young Catherine' (1991) with Julia Ordmond and Vanessa Redgrave. If you just want some over the top entertainment, 'The Scarlet Empress' works perfectly.
Reviewed by christopher-underwood 6 / 10

like a joke

Obviously this is an amazing thing to produce with massive sets, hundred if not even thousands of people and the number of horses galloping up and down the stairs. The wonderful look of Dietrich all the time especially at the end with the white buttoned down tunic although the simpleton is like a joke and his mother as well like a crazy one and playing as if a comedy. There is nothing really in the historical story but it's a fairy tale and all kitsch. Although Dietrich still looks lovely and smiles and kisses all the time.
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