The Scarlet Empress

1934
PG
1h 44m

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

7.5K

YOUR RATING

A German noblewoman enters into a loveless marriage with the dim-witted, unstable heir to the Russian throne, then plots to oust him from power.

Play trailer2:18

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48 Photos

Period Drama Drama History Romance War

A German noblewoman enters into a loveless marriage with the dim-witted, unstable heir to the Russian throne, then plots to oust him from power.A German noblewoman enters into a loveless marriage with the dim-witted, unstable heir to the Russian throne, then plots to oust him from power.A German noblewoman enters into a loveless marriage with the dim-witted, unstable heir to the Russian throne, then plots to oust him from power.

Director
- Josef von Sternberg
Writers
- Manuel Komroff
- Eleanor McGeary
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

7.5K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Josef von Sternberg
Writers
- Manuel Komroff
- Eleanor McGeary
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

Videos1

Trailer 2:18

Official Trailer

Photos48

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9:57

Storyline

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Trivia
Marlene Dietrich's own daughter Maria Riva portrayed young Sophia at the beginning of the film and it was her debut in movies.

Goofs
Most of the action takes place at The Kremlin in Moscow. The historical Empress Elizabeth, Grand Duke Peter and later Catherine spent most of their reigns in St. Petersburg, which during the 18th Century was a modern, Europeanized city.

Quotes
Grand Duke Peter: Why are those bells ringing?
[He opens the bedroom door and addresses a man in the hall]
Grand Duke Peter: Why are those bells ringing?
Capt. Gregori Orloff: I don't know, Peter.
Grand Duke Peter: How dare you address me like that! Who are you?
Capt. Gregori Orloff: My name is Orloff, and I'm on duty as guard.
Grand Duke Peter: I'll have your head for this insolence! You're addressing the emperor!
Capt. Gregori Orloff: There is no emperor. There is only an empress.

Connections
Edited from The Patriot (1928)

Soundtracks
Symphony No.4 in F Minor, Op.36
Written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Excerpts played during the opening credits and incorporated into the score often

User reviews64

Featured review

9/10

Wow

The equine theme running through this bizarre, campy, creepy, cynical, disturbingly beautiful bio-pic is quite significant, given the facts of the life and death of Catherine the Great, culminating in the wildly over-the-top final shot. This movie just drips with European social and sexual decadence, and also with incredibly lavish and languid imagery throughout. Dietrich and von Sternberg seem determined to prove that they could make the transformation of a naive romantic girl into a lascivious power-mad monarch somehow heroic, and also that American audiences would lap it up while denying the depth of the depravity they were embracing. This movie succeeds on every level, especially the subversive one...