• Rating:
• Genre: Historical Film
• Movie Type: Period Film, Biography
• Themes: Rise To Power, Political Unrest, Crowned Heads
• Director: Paul Czinner
• Main Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Elisabeth Bergner, Flora Robson, Gerald du Maurier, Irene Vanbrugh, Diana Napier
• Release Year: 1934
• Country: US/UK
• Run Time: 88 minutes

Plot

This historical drama recounts the events that led up to the rule of Russia's 18th-century Catherine the Great. Arriving from Germany as a young woman who is to wed Grand Duke Peter, she soon becomes caught up in the court intrigue and marries the lit-fuse duke. As the Grand Duke's mother lays dying, she relates her fears about her son's mental states, leaving Catherine to contend with his irrational and cruel behavior. When he goes too far with his antics, he is overthrown and put to death, though not by her wishes. Soon, however, Catherine is made the new Czaritza and restores order to her country. Elisabeth Bergner stars with Douglas Fairbanks in this British production. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Review

As biopic, Catherine the Great is uneven and certainly plays loose with the truth (and certainly with the legend) surrounding one of Russia's most famous imperial rulers. Excusing the empress' supposed sexual insatiability by claiming it was all part of a plan to make her wandering husband jealous is but one of the liberties the screenwriters have taken with history (as is telescoping the time between Catherine and Peter's marriage and her assumption of the throne from seventeen years to two or three), but this wouldn't matter so much if the script had a dramatic life and vibrancy. Unfortunately, much of it is disjointed, with sections where it feels as if whole scenes have been cut. Catherine's transformation from shy waif to a towering ruler is totally missing, making the sudden appearance of a woman who wears military clothing and jokes and flirts with her soldiers seem odd, to say the least. Fortunately, Catherine has a trio of fascinating performers to help smooth over these bumps. Elizabeth Bergner, all saucer eyes and seemingly fragile as a bird, perfectly captures the young Catherine's vulnerability. More impressively, she is entirely believable as Catherine the supremely powerful ruler, summoning forth stores of anger and strength that one would not expect could come from such a small figure. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. has less to work with, but he handles the character's madness with aplomb, and Flora Robson is a delight as the elder empress, leavening her regal bearing with a sneer and a love of the commonplace. Though Paul Czinner cannot pull the disparate threads of the screenplay together, he handles the actors well and has a fair visual flair (helped immensely by the lavish sets and cos ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - Grand Duke Peter
• Elisabeth Bergner - Catherine II the Great
• Flora Robson - Empress Elizabeth
• Gerald du Maurier - Lecocq
• Irene Vanbrugh - Princess Anhalt-Zerbst
• Diana Napier - Countess Vorontzova

Griffith Jones - Gregory Orlov; Joan Gardner - Katuschenka; Dorothy Hale - Countess Olga; Gibb McLaughlin - Bestujhev; Clifford Heatherley - Ogarev; Lawrence Hanray - Goudovitch; Allan Jeayes - Col. Karnilov

Credit

John Armstrong - Costume Designer; Paul Czinner - Director; Marjorie Deans - Screenwriter; Stephen Harrison - Editor; Alexander Korda - Producer; Vincent Korda - Production Designer; Muir Mathieson - Musical Direction/Supervision; Georges Périnal - Cinematographer; Ernst Toch - Composer (Music Score); Arthur Wimperis - Screenwriter; Harold Young - Editor; Lajos Biro - Play Author; A.W. Watkins - Sound/Sound Designer; Robert Lapresle - Camera Operator; David B. Cunyngehame - Production Manager; Melchior Lengyel - Play Author

Similar Movies

Anastasia; The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex; The Scarlet Empress; Forbidden Paradise

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