The Scarlet Empress (1934)

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writers:

Catherine II (diary)
Manuel Komroff (diary arranger)
(more)

Release Date:

15 September 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

The Reigning Beauty of the Screen!

Plot:

Young Princess Sophia of Germany is taken to Russia to marry the half-wit Grand Duke Peter, son of the Empress...

Plot Keywords:

Empress | Russia | Catherine The Great | Duke | Germany

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Jan. 6

8:00 PM

TCM

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
Philip Sleeman	...	Count Lestoq (as Phillip Sleeman)
Marie Wells	...	Marie Tshoglokof
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski	...	Ivan Shuvolov (as Hans von Twardowski)
Gerald Fielding	...	Lt. Dmitri
Maria Riva	...	Sophia as a child (as Maria)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eric Alden	...	Lackey #5 (uncredited)
Richard Alexander	...	Count von Breummer (uncredited)
Nadine Beresford	...	Sophia's aunt (uncredited)
Thomas C. Blythe	...	Narcissus (uncredited)
Hal Boyer	...	Paul (lackey #1) (uncredited)
James Burke	...	Guard (uncredited)
Jane Darwell	...	Miss Cardell, Sophia's Nurse (uncredited)
Clyde David	...	Narcissus (uncredited)
John Davidson	...	Marquis de la Chetardie (uncredited)
George Davis	...	Jester (uncredited)
Anna Duncan	...	Catherine's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
Elinor Fair	...	Catherine's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
May Foster	...	Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
Julanne Johnston	...	Catherine's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
James A. Marcus	...	Innkeeper (uncredited)
Petra McAllister	...	Sophia's aunt (uncredited)
Eunice Murdock Moore	...	Sophia's aunt (uncredited)
Patricia Patrick	...	Catherine's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
Warner Richmond	...	Castle Guard (uncredited)
Blanche Rose	...	Sophia's aunt (uncredited)
Barbara Sabichi	...	Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
Katherine Sabichi	...	Catherine's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
Dina Smirnova	...	Catherine's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
Agnes Steele	...	Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
Minnie Steele	...	Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
Elaine St. Maur	...	Catherine's lady-in-waiting (uncredited)
Belle Stoddard	...	Sophia's aunt (uncredited)
Akim Tamiroff	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Kent Taylor	...	Paul (uncredited)
Jameson Thomas	...	Lt. Ovitsyn (uncredited)
Edward Van Sloan	...	Herr Wagner (uncredited)
Bruce Warren	...	Lackey (uncredited)
Leo White	...	Beautician curling Catherine's hair (uncredited)
Harry Woods	...	Doctor #1 (uncredited)

Directed by
Josef von Sternberg

Writing credits
Catherine II		(diary)
Manuel Komroff		(diary arranger)
Eleanor McGeary		(contributor to screenplay construction) uncredited

Produced by
Emanuel Cohen	....	executive producer (uncredited)
Josef von Sternberg	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Bert Glennon

Film Editing by
Josef von Sternberg		(uncredited)
Sam Winston		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Hans Dreier		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Travis Banton		(uncredited)

Art Department
Peter Ballbusch	....	sculptor: gargoyles and figures (uncredited)
Hans Dreier	....	set designer (uncredited)
Richard Kollorsz	....	paintings (uncredited)
Richard Kollorsz	....	set designer: icons (uncredited)

Sound Department
Harry D. Mills	....	sound recording engineer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Gordon Jennings	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Audrey Scott	....	riding double: Marlene Dietrich (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Josef von Sternberg	....	lighting technician (uncredited)
William Walling	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Music Department
W. Franke Harling	....	music adaptor
John Leipold	....	music adaptor (as John M. Leipold)
W. Franke Harling	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Bernhard Kaun	....	music adaptor (uncredited)
John Leipold	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Oscar Potoker	....	music adaptor (uncredited)
Milan Roder	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
Adolph Zukor	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1934) (USA) (theatrical)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures France (UPF) (2005) (France) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Indies Home Entertainment (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Marlene Dietrich Collection)

Also Known As:

Catherine the Great (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #16) | France:U (re-release)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Catherine stamps with her foot on the gold locket containing the portrait of Count Alexei, smashing it, she then flings it out of the window. The camera follows it as it falls slowly, glistening in the moonlight, through the branches of the tree outside her window, but it is completely undamaged.

Quotes:

Grand Duke Peter: I want to play with my toys!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

1812 Overture in E Flat, Op.49

Garishly Ornate, Complex Vision of Surreal Decadence!

Two gnarled statues of grotesque beasts make love in the garden, a perverse cuckoo clock exposes female bodily organs, a skeletal figure shot through with arrows twists its face in a silent wail towards heaven. This is the decor of "The Scarlet Empress," furnishings which speak more of the film's themes and ideas than the plot could ever be allowed to. The actors remain intentionally wooden; it's as if the world around them was an expression of their suppressed emotions. Shame takes the guise of chairs, but chairs in the shape of gargantuan, deformed old men hiding their stricken faces in hideous fingers. Masochism is occasionally a clock, lust a decorative food display, but all perverse, leering. And death... Everywhere is a ghastly preoccupation with death, icons proudly display decapitation, skeletons stretch themselves over boiling cauldrons, while ghastly statues of tortured corpses lurk in every shadowy corner. Together this creates a world of painful decadence, a disgusting, yet fascinating dreamscape of visual pleasure.

All this takes form and depth, is sculpted by director Sternberg's haunting lighting. It is "his" light, he lords over it, and with it anything is possible. He can make a face beautiful or ugly, innocent or evil. He can accentuate a certain side of a person's nature, or how a specific set piece relates to it, all with the proper illumination.

If his lighting is astounding, equally so is Sternberg's use of the visual motifs in his mise en scene (bells, veils, figures, specific set pieces, etc...) to transport the viewer back and forth through the film. For instance, the binding of Catherine and Peter's hands at their marriage is later echoed by an unquestionably similar knot Catherine ties in a napkin she is fondling, and then tosses onto the table of she and Peter's last meal together. The initiation of their marriage and the initiation of its end are in this way linked, and the audience is forced to take into account the changes in both their characters. Not only does the rhythm of these motifs remain figurative. The movement of the film takes on a distinct rhythm as well. A swinging motif is evident throughout, the bells, the incense burners, Catherine's swing, the hoopskirts, a baby's basket, and so on. In this the film takes the feel of a frenzied, but excellently choreographed dance.

But in all this there is one thing more noteworthy. Marlene Dietrich radiates! Quite possibly the most beautiful woman who ever lived, she begins innocent and virginal (seemingly intentionally melodramatically), standing out in a world of amorality. She is both the happiest and saddest point of the film. Her wedding to the vulgar Peter in an immense, yet claustrophobic cathedral is the most emotional part of the film. As it is filmed entirely in a series of close-ups of individuals, and long shots that blur their faces, there is no discernible eye connection between any of the characters. She is completely alone. As a voyeuristic camera cuts closer and closer to her trembling, veiled face, we suddenly feel the need to turn away. We know now that this last thread of decency is about to be crippled. Soon enough her innocence begins to fade before her sexuality, and the surroundings that once nearly suppressed her, she lords over, a queen of immorality.

"The Scarlet Empress" expresses the essence of film, and why it succeeds as an art form. It creates the possibility of a world almost wholly artificial, divorced from anything that ever was. It retains only fragmentary reproductions of something that existed in a pre-filmed state, combining and distorting them to effect something 90% fake. What's more that seems all it is interested in. No other artistic medium (aside from painting) is viewed worthy of its visuals, and all theatrical, literary, or other requirements are given little attention. They are flippantly thrown in only to please a narrow minded audience, and occasionally (but very, very rarely) to accentuate the films themes. Yet painting, ah yes, painting. That was a medium worthy of a brilliant visionary like Sternberg, and one he transferred to the screen with gusto. "The Scarlet Empress" is to Dali in its obsession with the bizarre, da Vinci in its detail, Picasso in its complexity of associations, but entirely Sternberg in its conception.