The Scarlet Empress
“The Reigning Beauty of the Screen!”
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Producer: Josef von Sternberg
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.
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Data source: JustWatch
Cast
Marlene Dietrich
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
Olive Tell
Princess Johanna Elizabeth
Ruthelma Stevens
Countess Elizabeth 'Lizzie'
Davison Clark
Archimandrite Simeon Todorsky / Arch-Episcope
Erville Alderson
Chancelor Alexei Bestuchef
Maria Riva
Sophia as a Child
Jane Darwell
Miss Cardell, Sophia's Nurse (uncredited)
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Reviews
8.0CinemaSerf
June 13, 2022
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…