The Scarlet Empress (1934)

A young Prussian princess (Marlene Dietrich) is summoned to Russia by the Empress Elizabeth (Louise Dresser) to marry her half witted nephew (Sam Jaffe), the Grand Duke Peter and the heir to the Russian throne. Directed by Josef von Sternberg, this isn't so much about Russian history (accuracy is sacrificed for grandeur) as an exercise in style. The film is as cuckoo as the dimwitted Peter! Of course, it's not a serious overview of the woman who would become known to the world as Catherine The Great. It's an opportunity for von Sternberg and his cinematographer Bert Clennon (HOUSE OF WAX) to play with light and shadow and fawn over Dietrich as a camera subject. Dietrich isn't very good in the early portions of the film as the wide eyed, gaping mouth virgin. She comes into to her own later in the film as the ambitious and sexual Tsarina. Louise Dresser as the coarse hard as nails dowager Empress gives the best performance in the film even if she comes across as more Hoosier than Russian. It may not be "Art" but it's one of a kind and grandly entertaining. The film got out right before the Hays Code crackdown so it's still pretty racy. With John Davis Lodge, C. Aubrey Smith, Gavin Gordon and Ruthelma Stevens.