Product Description

Filmmaker-svengali Josef von Sternberg escalates his obsession with screen legend Marlene Dietrich in this lavish depiction of sex and deceit in the 18th-century Russian court. A self-proclaimed "relentless excursion into style," the pair's sixth collaboration follows the exploits of Princess Sophia (Dietrich) as she evolves from trembling innocent to cunning sexual libertine Catherine the Great. With operatic melodrama, flamboyant visuals, and a cast of thousands, this ornate spectacle represents the apex of cinematic pageantry by Hollywood's master of artifice.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49062 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-05-08
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
The radiant Princess Sophia Frederica (Marlene Dietrich) gets taken to Russia, renamed Catherine, and married off to the Grand Duke Peter. Peter is "a royal half-wit" with all the physical (and intellectual) appeal of a halibut. Luckily, even before the wedding Sophia-Catherine-Marlene has already fallen in lust with the handsome, womanizing emissary Count Alexei, the first of many uniformed conquests. Melodrama doesn't come any more melo than this, and Dietrich doesn't really do much, except swivel those enormous searchlight eyes from one man to another, but this is one of her sexiest and most memorable roles. It culminates with her escaping from the Palace--and stealing the throne of Russia from the halibut (who by now is Peter III)--all dressed in Cossack uniform. The Empress, Peter's aunt, is played--somehow appropriately--with the accent and social grace of a New Jersey chambermaid. Great music, great lighting, and great camera work, all directed with an odd mixture of campy humor and glaring bombast by Josef von Sternberg. Scarlet Empress has (to quote the titles) "a supporting cast of 1,000 players"; at least 950 of them look exactly like Rasputin. They don't make movies like this anymore; what a pity. --Richard Farr

Customer Reviews

very good and strange sternberg/dietrich collaboration
Sternberg's love affair with dietrich is probably at its zenith with this strange and delightfully over the top version of the story of Catherine the great.. It is a fine piece of direction with a very interesting set featuring gargoyles and secret passages all with the very best sternberg lighting scheme... Dietrich's performance is delightful and funny and as suggestive as ever..

A note on the print of the film... I will probably sound a bit spoiled when I say it was a little hard to watch.. I guess after seeing the great criterion transfers of early films like M, Pandora's Box, or even Kino's excellent transfer of Sternberg's the Blue Angel I had expected something a little bit better... Maybe the film just didn't sit well over time but criterion normally seems to perform miracles on such films.. oh well.. it is still a very nice dvd for your collection..

Forget the plot, just watch!
The booklet that accompanies this Criterion DVD contains a short essay on Sternberg by the late avant-garde filmmaker Jack Smith, to the effect that Sternberg wasn't very interested in the stories he filmed, and we shouldn't be either. I can't say what Sternberg thought--personally I think the stories are more interesting than he is given credit for--but I have found that the most satisfying approach to all his films is to treat them as silents. Turn the soundtrack off, maybe put on some music you like, and focus on the images. So many are arresting in their beauty, and some are simply astonishing, like those at the climax of Scarlet Empress, when the hussars gallop up the palace staircase and Dietrich stands before the doors to the throne, breathing heavily and incandescent with the eros of power.

A movie for film historians and students
Sternberg/Dietrich is a match made in heaven. The cinematography, the set designs, the innuendo, the costumes, the supporting cast. This is a movie of the ages. The slow simmer between Dietrich & Lodge are the stuff legends are made of. Oh and the utter contempt Dietrich has for Jaffe that slowly grows and then boils over. They don't make movies like this anymore! True, the acting is abit over board, kinda like watching an old Douglas Fairbanks movie. But the atmosphere is awesome.

True, there are no extras or subtitles, but I have found the older the movie the more difficult to find the missing film.