The Scarlet Empress

Josef von Sternberg · 1934 CE · Film · Modern / American · Modernist

A naive German princess is shipped to St Petersburg to marry the halfwit heir to the Russian throne, and learns amid the court's grotesque icons and intrigues to take power for herself as Catherine the Great. The penultimate film of Sternberg's Dietrich cycle, its delirious décor and near-wordless visual storytelling make it the extreme case of Hollywood expressionism.

Open The Scarlet Empress in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Attributes

Closest analogues

• King John
  William Shakespeare · c. 1596 CE · Play

  57% · 8 shared
  HistoricalPower & CorruptionRuler / KingInnocentChronicleThe Crownvs PersonIronic
• Explosion in a Cathedral
  Alejo Carpentier · 1962 CE · Novel

  57% · 8 shared
  HistoricalPower & CorruptionLoss of InnocenceInnocentChroniclevs Personvs SocietyIronic
• Caesar and Cleopatra
  George Bernard Shaw · 1901 CE · Play

  55% · 9 shared
  HistoricalPower & CorruptionModernistRuler / KingChronicleThe Crownvs Personvs SocietyIronic
• Viva Zapata!
  Elia Kazan · 1952 CE · Film

  53% · 9 shared
  FilmHistoricalPower & CorruptionRuler / KingChronicleThe Crownvs Personvs SocietyModern / American
• Henry VI, Part 2
  William Shakespeare · c. 1591 CE · Play

  53% · 8 shared
  HistoricalPower & CorruptionRuler / KingChronicleThe Crownvs Personvs SocietyIronic
• Billy Bathgate
  E. L. Doctorow · 1989 CE · Novel

  53% · 8 shared
  HistoricalPower & CorruptionLoss of InnocenceInnocentvs Personvs SocietyIronicModern / American