
#123movies #fmovies #putlocker #gomovies #solarmovie #soap2day Watch Full Movie Online Free – Young Princess Sophia of Germany is taken to Russia to marry the half-wit Grand Duke Peter, son of the Empress. The domineering Empress hopes to improve the royal blood line. Sophia doesn’t like her husband, but she likes Russia, and is very fond of Russian soldiers. She dutifully produces a son — of questionable fatherhood, but no one seems to mind that. After the old empress dies, Sophia engineers a coup d’etat with the aid of the military, does away with Peter, and becomes Catherine the Great.
Plot: 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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Those set! Wow!
This is a film of insane excess. Every church has a dozen priests, every royal has two dozen servants who trail after them in a cloud. The costumes are wild, and the sets must have been a high point of the set designers life, since they were apparently told to just fill every room with crazily grotesque Russian icons. You like the sword throne on Game of Thrones. It’s nothing compared to what they’ve got in this movie.Dietrich is fun as, in the first half, a wide-eyed naïf, and in the second half a a jaded schemer. Sam Jaffe is wonderfully entertaining as the malicious half-witted Peter. Louise Dresser is miscast as the empress; as she comes across more as the imperious owner of a bed and breakfast.
While the film has some wonderful direction and amazing sets, the story falls apart as it goes along. In the miniseries The Great the screenwriter said he made Peter more forceful than the historical loser because Catherine needed a strong opponent. Scarlet Empress is the proof; there’s little dramatic tension because it’s clear Catherine is ultimately unstoppable. The ending is also a bit muddled in the politics, and the whole thing kind of drizzles to a forgettable conclusion.
So as drama, not very good. As expressionist drama and high style direction, quite good. As unchecked, insane set design, amazing. It should be seen for that alone.
Original Language en
Runtime 1 hr 44 min (104 min)
Budget 900000
Revenue 0
Status Released
Rated Passed
Genre Drama, History, Romance
Director Josef von Sternberg
Writer Manuel Komroff, Eleanor McGeary
Actors Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe
Country United States
Awards 1 win.
Production Company N/A
Website N/A
Sound Mix Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)
Aspect Ratio 1.37 : 1
Camera N/A
Laboratory N/A
Film Length 2,695.85 m (10 reels) (UK), 2,708 m (Netherlands)
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Spherical
Printed Film Format 35 mm