7.5/10
Senior Film Conservator

A definitive 7.5/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Scarlet Empress remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a thing for black-and-white cinema that looks like it was shot inside a jewelry box, yes. Watch it. If you need your movies to have a coherent, logical pace or if you find 1930s acting a bit too much to handle, skip it. You will probably find it exhausting.
Honestly, watching The Scarlet Empress feels less like watching a movie and more like staring into a very expensive, very haunted snow globe. Marlene Dietrich is just everywhere. She occupies the frame with this strange, heavy energy that makes everyone else look like cardboard cutouts.
The sets are ridiculous. There are statues in every corner, giant candles that never seem to melt, and shadows that feel like they’re trying to swallow the actors whole. Sometimes it’s too much. Like, do we really need a gargoyle in every single transition shot? Maybe not. But the movie doesn't care.
Sam Jaffe as the Grand Duke Peter is… well, he’s deeply, profoundly irritating. You’re supposed to hate him, I guess, but I mostly just wanted him to stop twitching. He plays the unstable heir with this manic intensity that makes the scenes between him and Dietrich feel like they’re happening in two different movies.
There’s this one sequence where she’s walking through the palace, and the camera just follows her forever. It’s not moving the plot forward. It’s just showing us how many creepy dolls and metal sculptures they could pack into one hallway. It’s hypnotic, but also kind of funny in a weird way.
People usually talk about this one as a masterpiece, but it’s honestly just a bit bizarre. It’s not trying to be real. It’s trying to be a mood. If you don’t buy into the mood, the whole thing just feels like a collection of pretty postcards stitched together with a very thin thread of a story.
Still, you haven't seen anything until you've seen Dietrich stare down a room full of Russian aristocrats like she’s already figured out how to kill them all. It’s a vibe. 🥂

IMDb —
1926
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