The Scarlet Empress

Combine 1) Marlene Dietrich essaying the role of Catherine the Great, 2) the visually flamboyant style of wacked out director Josef von Sternberg, and 3) dialogue like "don't be old-fashioned, this is the 18th century" and--at the very least--you've got a tolerable evening's entertainment. Princess Sophia Frederica (Dietrich), whisked off to St. Petersburg to marry the Grand Duke Peter (the wonderful Sam Jaffe)--a cretin who likes to play with toy soldiers and drill his troops (inside the house)--is rather disappointed in her man (who wants her dead anyway). But the newly christened Catherine is no rustic rube, and before long she begins sleeping her way to a political coup (consummated with an amazing sequence of an equestrian-bound Catherine followed by a lengthy retinue galloping up the palace steps). Unfortunately, watching the "luminous new digital transfer" (according to the DVD sleeve) is like looking at pointillist master Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" from six inches away: we're talking grainy. Decent extras, including documentaries featuring the brilliant/cracked von Sternberg, can't compensate for the terrible look of this so-so to begin with 1934 effort. Not recommended. (R. Pitman)