The Scarlet Empress - Criterion Collection

Starring:Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser, C. Aubrey Smith, Gavin Gordon, Olive Tell, Ruthelma Stevens, Davison Clark, Erville Alderson, Philip Sleeman, Marie Wells, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Gerald Fielding, Maria Riva, Petra McAllister, Eunice Murdock Moore, Agnes Steele, Richard Alexander, Blanche Rose
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

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

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.

Customer Reviews:

A movie for film historians and students.......2007-02-05

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.

Disturbing, Beautiful, Just Amazing.......2007-01-11

What an incredible film. It didn't do well when it was released in '34, and I can see why. There's no clear cut good guy or bad guy. The Count sleeps with Catherine 1 & 2, Peter is a sadistic halfwit, and Catherine, well she sleeps with the whole army and has her husband assinated.
However, it's that blend of darkness and triumph, humor and tragedy that makes this film incredible. John Lodge is fantastic and Marlene Dietrich's transformation from wide eyed Sofia into power hungery Catherine is amazing and chilling.
The print of the film isn't perfect, and the audio is in a depressing state (in fact I had to put the subtitles on half way through the film to understand what Catherine was purring to the Count, and in certain areas there is a loud background buzz) but Criterion puts its heart and soul into restoring these films. One can only imagine what the print was like before Criterion got their hands on it!
However, don't let this stop you from seeing The Scarlet Empress. It is a completely unique experience and its hold on you wont soon let go.
I definately reccomend this incredible film.

No evidence of the 'bad' print reviewers warned about.......2006-11-23

I asked for this DVD for my birthday, because I was afraid to purchase it due to so many negative reviews about the picture quality. I shouldn't have worried. As always, Criterion supplies a superior print. The film itself is one of those bizarre masterpieces a classic film fan can't live without, with Marlene as glamorous and fascinating as ever.

So cool.......2006-11-05

If you did not see it till now ... run for it . Fresh and cool in every aspect. Marlene Dietrich at her best.

Up Stairs, Down Stairs.......2006-09-02

A film I like because it doesn't stick to those much-cited utilitarian conventions of Hollywood's style of making films. It is a film not, as critics so often say, obsessed with Marlene Dietrich; it is rather a film inspired by a love of images as silenced yet highly structured regimes of organising space (namely, height) as a means of expressing power. This technique is not some self-indulgent kink on the part of its director, von Sternberg, but is actually far more disciplined than many films made in 1930s Hollywood. The style of this film is not some frippery of over-ornate set design and charioscuro lighting, quite the opposite; it is actually far more effective at distilling its chosen themes than in many films of the time. Moreover, as stated above, it does this a highly visual way... and cinema is, after all, a primarily visual medium.

The "Scarlet Empress" is a film about women; yes, about Dietrich's rise from a grand duchess to head of state of Russia, but also about her predecessor Empress Elizabeth's hold on power through romantic intrigue and the imposition of her will. It is curious that whereas a filmmaker such as Max Ophuls is much lauded for his use of visual metaphors -for instance, the handing of objects in a merry-go-round of rumour and assignation, and the repeated use of the subjective stairway shots in "Letter From and Unknown Woman"- people do not pick up, or do not choose to, on the use of height in Sternberg's film. It is in fact full of shots of women standing at the tops of stairs, making their way down stairs, watching from pulpits, rising to belltowers, and so on.

The issue of height, and the varying degrees as to which it is employed, is moreover highly structured in sequences which often show the camera tracking to follow the woman's progess down a flight of stairs and then back up. An example would be Dietrich's initial entrance into society as she greets the Russian ambassadors; the camera carefully tracks her movement downstairs, then the niceties of her greetings with the guests, and then back again, all in one take. Dietrich's ascent as Catherine the Great is confirmed in one of the last sequences of the film, where this time she ascends the belltower to give the signal to depose her imbecilic husband Grand Duke Peter. In this sequence she truly replaces Elizabeth as queen, taking over her privileged lofty viewing position; the reversal of her mute, staring passivity is complete, and most importantly, this is achieved by a solely visual metaphor -that of the ascent to position of being uppermost. This topmost position is not just a blind figurehead; it has the far wider effect of installing the sovereign as a fully seeing character who can fully take advantage of her ability to look at others. This very simple yet satisfying visual touch is something that many other films do not choose to employ, forgetting that cinema is primarily a visual medium, achieving its distinction from literature through its ability to use visual metaphors far more effectively.
A second point of interest is the clear influence on Eisenstein's "Ivan the Terrible", made some eight to twelve years later; from the lowering sets, preponderance of carved statues often dwarfing the human actors, and even the stylised acting of Sam Jaffe as Peter -for instance shying away to cover his face after Elizabeth strikes him- are all highly reminiscent of what the Soviet filmmaker was to do in his treatment of the sixteenth century tyrant.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

White Lightning

Shandra: The Jungle Girl

The Ultimate Fighting Championship 2 [1994]

DVD: The High and the Mighty (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Conan The Destroyer