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Too much of everything

The Worst Film Ever

Excellent but underrated film

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There's a case to be made that the Dietrich/Sternberg films may actually have been better as silent films, as a lot of the time the talkiness is the weakest, creakiest part, especially when compared to the images, which are so immaculate. Almost every frame of this film would look great blown up and mounted on a wall, and Dietrich looks like a religious icon most of the time, especially lit by candlelight during the wedding scene.The excesses of this film are second to none, and for sheer lurid spectacle, you can only really compare it to Cecil B DeMille, though this is a far more beautiful and well-told tale than anything DeMille ever made. There's nudity and adultery and torture and all that good pre-code stuff that would disappear from Hollywood screens for decades only a year later. This was the last gasp of freedom and it's a gasp everyone should share at least once.

The historical drama about the life of Catherine the Great. Director and screenwriter were certain to follow historical facts. Historical freedoms in this case is not pure fiction. Pronounced humor and love life at the court confirmed this fact. I am afraid that this film sort of response from Marlene Dietrich to film Queen Christina.THE SCARLET EMPRESS is a bit bizarre and extravagant movie with highlighted specific humor and a touch of sexual intrigue. At the heart of the story is that Catherine II very well played by the ravishing Marlene Dietrich. I'm not too thrilled with the story, but I think that the atmosphere and the scenery are great. I liked this wacko world who like to live a nightmare in grotesque environment full of menacing shadows, a bunch of candles and skeleton. Costumes really leaves an impression. Maybe I'm too long looking at Marlene. Von Sternberg me at times sympathetic, because all lots of attention paid to the lead actress. I understand that the film is about "her" character. It is hard to understand anything, if in a scene missing Dietrich.Marlene Dietrich (Catherine II – The Great) behaves as if it does not affect overall madness. It is a world that is untouchable for other characters. She's beautiful and erotic to the limits of madness. Sex games and erotic expressions are fields in which Marlene Dietrich dominates.John Davis Lodge (Alexei), Sam Jaffe (Peter III) and Louise Dresser (Empress Elizaveta) are observed and presented their roles very good. I believe that this is in addition to Marlene was difficult.The Scarlet Empress is open and suggestive film in which Marlene Dietrich picked all the attention through his portrayal of Queen Catherine the Great a beautiful and innocent girl with large eyes in the beginning, and later the great seductress who comes across her bed to the throne.

Gorgeous B&W photography of lavish palace interiors, a background score of classical music used effectively, and an interesting tale of royal intrigue all combine to make THE SCARLET EMPRESS a visually impressive showcase for the photogenic beauty of Marlene Dietrich under the direction of Josef von Sternberg. Indeed, it's probably near the top of all the films she did with one of her favorite directors.MARLENE DIETRICH goes convincingly from a naive and timid girl to a woman fully aware of her powers of seduction, making the transition very persuasively with little nuances of characterization that ring true. JOHN LODGE makes a dashing Count Alexei, who has the tables turned on him toward the end after she finds out he's been making midnight visits to the chamber of Empress Petrovna (Louise Dresser) and finds a way to retaliate. LOUISE DRESSER makes a formidable Empress although her voice lacks the commanding style of her acting. SAM JAFFEE is excellent in an almost thankless role as the mentally challenged Grand Duke Peter.Sumptuous to look at, it owes a great deal to the fluid photography and direction, as well as the forceful and constant use of classical background music, unusual for a film made in '34, which adds to the film's atmosphere and mood.Well worth seeing with Marlene Dietrich at her most alluring, exquisitely photographed by Bert Glennon with stunning art direction by Hans Dreier.

The Scarlet Empress (1934)Pageantry is not everyone's idea of excitement, but at least director Josef von Sternberg knows how to make a great movie. The pacing and filming, as conservative as it is (compared to its contemporaries, from Scarface to Dinner at Eight, take your pick, or more inventive European films), is superbly intelligent, and superbly visual. Man, the lush sets are framed to excess in a rich, beautiful way, and when I mean excess, it's impossible to imagine a more stylized, packed, overripe set of scenes, one after another in very fast succession. Of course, part of these sets and scenes is the incomparable Marlene Dietrich, by now a von Sternberg mainstay. (He practically worshipped her, and this was their seventh film together.) For my money she is not her best in this one, but she is the main spark of life in all the pomp and layered decorations and astonishing lighting. She is also sculpturally vivid, if that's the right word. Take the close-ups through a veil about 32 minutes in. Simple, moving stuff, with a flickering candle and her eyes catching the light. But that's one of hundreds (literally) great short clips and moments.The story is of course limited by history--it's based (loosely, for sure) on the life of Catherine the Great. Too bad the real horror of a ghastly arranged marriage is dampened by all the cinematic fineness--it's to be understood and spoken of more than emotionally felt. Too bad it's generally more interested in its effect than in accuracy. Or I should say, good thing. Who needs an accurate story of Catherine the Great, anyway? What we have is a glorious bit of European-influences Hollywood in the vigorous early 1930s, a high point for sure in our movie history. Watch for the scenes of Catherine as a child--they are played by Dietrich's daughter. I think if you aren not into Dietrich (she doesn't really have to act here, just pose), or into period movies in general, or visual effects over plot, you'll find this wearying, or even unbearable. The pastiche of endless bits of Russian classical music alone might be overbearing. But still, it might all surprise you. It's a kind of masterpiece, like all of their collaborations one way or another. It's mind-blowing and unique, a victory of style of substance, but such style!