Product Description

Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Ernst Lubitsch was the original director for A Royal Scandal, but illness forced him to bow out; his replacement was Otto Preminger, who did his utmost to retain the "Lubitsch touch." Based on a play by Lajos Biro and Melchior Lengyel, the film dwells upon a fictional incident in the life of Russia's Catherine the Great, here played with blue-blooded bawdiness by Tallulah Bankhead. Catherine falls in love with a handsome young army officer (William Eythe), who turns out to be an insurrectionist planning her downfall. At the last moment, Catherine relents, allowing the officer to escape with his true love, lady-in-waiting Anne Baxter. A bit too cute for its own good, Royal Scandal has some choice moments: Most notable are Tallulah Bankhead's pained reaction upon being hailed as "The Mother of All Russias," and supporting actor Grady Sutton's southern-accented reference to the "U-ral Mountains".;

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #195222 in DVD
• Formats: Import, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Features

• THIS DVD WILL NOT WORK ON STANDARD US DVD PLAYER

Customer Reviews

OTTO PREMINGER, OPUS 8
**** 1945. Directed by Otto Preminger. St.-Petersburg, Russia. XVIIIth century. Catherine the Great has just fired her last lover when she meets the naive Alexei Chernoff who wants to warn her against a possible revolution. This film was meant to be directed by Ernst Lubitsch who chose the script before falling ill. Nonetheless, ROYAL SCANDAL remains a sophisticated comedy à la Lubitsch with witty and energetic dialogues. Tallulah Bankhead, Charles Coburn, Anne Baxter, William Eythe, Vincent Price and Sig Ruman are all given the opportunity to present a one (wo-) man show worth remembering. Highly recommended.

In addition to the present edition, you can find a zone 2 DVD released by the BFI (British Film Institute) at amazon.co.uk or another zone 2 DVD released by Columbia Classics at amazon.fr.