Saw The Scarlet Empress, a film starring Marlene Dietrich about the ascent of Catherine the Great to power. This film is a riot. Catherine of course is known for her legendary (and no doubt maliciously exaggerated) sex life. In this film Dietrich plays the Empress-to-be as a wide-eyed girl sent to a den of vipers. As she leaves her home, she exits out through a large archway, literally swallowed up by darkness. The black and white film is chiaroscuro-ed to within an inch of its life. At court, she's still doing the little miss bow-peep routine, acting unconvincingly shocked at the notion of "lovers." She then is betrayed in some minor way by a man and transforms instantly into a calculating, insouciant jade and the film really begins.
This film is just such fun. The wooden palace she lives in has grotesque statues everywhere. Her husband is a grinning idiot who bores holes in the walls with an enormous corkscrew (~3 feet long) so that he can peer at her. The film is German expressionism to the hilt. Deep shadows swallow people up, mirroring their dubious intentions and shady morality. I feel it's supposed to be kind of a morality play but of course Dietrich winks and smiles her ice-cold smile and makes this court drama look sexy and fun.
The film is a delight. It's full of insane visuals. The story is a bit perfunctory, but the performances are melodramatic and weird. Peering counselors and bellowing duchesses. Just great, great fun. It's not particularly true to history, or even to planet Earth. I wonder how Russians of the time reacted? But it is a romp.
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