The Rise of Catherine the Great is a bit of a dusty relic

If you have a soft spot for black-and-white period pieces that look like they were filmed inside a very expensive, very crowded living room, you might find something to like here. If you prefer your history with a bit of grit or actual momentum, you’re going to be checking your watch by the thirty-minute mark.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) through its definitive frames.

This isn't a movie that’s going to change your life. It’s a movie that exists to remind you that 1930s costume dramas were very, very polite.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) through its definitive frames.

The Setup

We’re in Russia, but it’s the kind of Russia that feels like a studio backlot where nobody ever actually walks through the mud. Elisabeth Bergner is tasked with playing Catherine, and she does this thing where she looks constantly startled by the sheer size of her own wigs. It works for the early scenes, I guess. She’s wide-eyed and terrified of her husband, Peter, who is played by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. with enough manic energy to make you wonder if he’s trying to jump out of his own skin.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) through its definitive frames.

Their marriage is a disaster from minute one, which is the only part of the movie that feels remotely grounded. Nobody is happy. Everyone is wearing too much velvet.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) through its definitive frames.

The Good, The Bad, and The Stiff

• Flora Robson as the Empress? She’s the only one in the room who seems to know what year it is. She commands the screen with a look that says, "I am surrounded by idiots, but at least the food is good."
• The pacing is... well, it’s not really pacing. It’s more like a slow crawl across a very large, expensive carpet.
• There’s a scene involving a wedding feast that goes on for an eternity. I’m pretty sure the extras were actually eating their dinner while the camera rolled.

It’s funny, watching this makes me think of The Road to Mandalay in terms of how much they rely on the lead to carry every single frame. When the lead is interesting, it’s fine. When they’re just reciting lines about thrones and duties, it’s a slog.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) through its definitive frames.

Look, it’s a historical artifact. It feels closer to something like Modern Marriage in its approach to domestic friction than any grand, sweeping epic you’d see today. It’s got a weird, stagey rhythm where people stop, pose, deliver a monologue, and then exit left. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s definitely not for anyone who gets impatient when a movie stops moving for ten minutes to let a character look mournfully out a window.

Honestly, the best moments are just watching the background actors try to pretend they aren't wearing wool in the middle of a Russian summer. 🙄

It’s fine for a rainy Sunday if you like your drama stiff and your royalty very, very dramatic. Just don’t expect a history lesson. Expect a play that accidentally got a film crew.