Katharina von Russland

Typically simplist historical and Italian dramatization of the empress Catherine the Great, this is a mediocre drama recreating the wars, turmoil, struggle for power and loves.¨Caterina di Russia¨ 1963 by Umberto Lenzi displays a decent cast , such as: Hildegard Knef, Sergio Fantoni, Giacomo Rossi Stewart . It begins in Saint Petersburg, the crowd attacks the carriage of the Grand Dukes, Catherine (Hildegard Knef) and Peter III (Raoul Grassilli) . The Duke orders to shoot the people but the captain of the Cossacks, Orlov (Sergio Fantoni), refuses and is deported to Siberia, although he manages to escape and return to Saint Petersburg. It is there where Catherine discovers that Pedro III has ordered his execution and she contacts Orlov to meet with the Cossacks on the outskirts of town. The marriage between Catherine and Peter III was a disaster and with the help of Gregory Orlov, Catherine eventually gets rid of Peter and is crowned Empress and Czarina of all the Russias as she struggles to drag her medieval empire into the modern world and she eventually leads the Cossacks army against rebel tartars .

Caterina di Russia (1963) deals with political intrigue, lovers, turmoil and war during ¨Catherine the Great¨ kingdom. Historical feature film of Italian production that recreates the story of Catherine, her fight for power and then she's crowned the only Queen and empress of Russia for 34 years from June 28, 1762 until her death at age 67. Catherine's life is divided into two parts approximately the same length. Between 1729 and 1762 , she went from being a German princess to a Russian grand duchess ; from 1762 until she died in 1796, she was Empress of Russia . The main source of information about her life is her Memoirs . She was the reigning Empress of Russia for 34 years, Catherine collected the legacy of Peter I of Russia, "a window to the West on the Baltic coast", and enlarged it, opening it on the Black Sea. Elizabeth had learnt her political lessons in the years of intrigue before she became Queen, she was a brilliant stateswoman, managing a to rule a great empire. Pedro I imported technology, government institutions and military organization and Catalina brought legal, political and moral philosophy from Europe, as well as medicine, art, culture and education. She was constantly besieged by court intrigue , political machinations and wars : Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) and Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792) and taking part of Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russo-Persian War. The film also focuses on society with its lavish aristocratic balls, as well as the politics and struggle for power and other events that marked an era in 18th century Russia. The mature Catherine-Hildegard Knef gives a mediocre acting in the title role of this Italian/French/Yugoslavian drama, costarred by Sergio fantoni as Orloff and the best acting goes to Raoul Grassilli as the nutty Czar Peter III showing perfectly his craziness, as well as his inappropriate and bloody proceeding.

Umberto Lenzi takes a so-so look at the turbulent life of famous Empress of all the Russias from her troublesome years and machinations surrounding her reign. Umberto Lenzi, at the beginning of his long career, headed towards historical/adventure films such as "Queen of the High Seas" , "The triumph of Robin Hood", "The Invincible Masked Rider", "The Last Gladiator", although later he would pigeonhole himself into the Poliziotteschi genre until moving on to more bloodthirsty horror, such as "Cannibal Ferox" and "Ghosthouse".

Other renditions about this known Queen are the following ones : "The Scarlet Empress" (1934) by Josef von Sternberg with Marlene Dietrich as Catherine II, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser . ¨Catherine the Great¨ 1943 by Paul Czinner with Elizabeth Bergner , Douglas Farirbanks Jr. , Flora Robson. ¨A Royal Scandal¨ 1945 by Otto Preminger, Ernst Lubitsch with Tallulah Bankhead , Charles Coburn, Anne Baxter, William Eythe . ¨Great Catherine¨ 1968 by Gordon Flemyng with Jeanne Moreau, Peter O'Toole, Zero Mostel, Jack Hawkins . ¨Catherine the Great¨ 1995 by Marvin J. Chomsky with Catherine Zeta Jones , Paul McGann, Ian Richardson. TV series "Catherine the Great" (2019) created by Nigel Williams with Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke, Gina McKee, Kevin McNally .

Hildegard Knef gives us one of the best interpretations for the Empress of Russia. But Elisabeth Bergner with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in "Catherine the Great (1935)" and Louise Dresser with Rudolph Valentino (!) as The Black Eagle in "The Eagle (1925)" are good as well. Sergio Fantoni is not a super-star as Fairbanks or Valentino but he is a good cast as Orloff. The ball-room scenes, the costumes and the uniforms are good (Walter Patriarca was the costume-designer). Umberto Lenzi, the director, and the script-writer Malatesta deliver us a fine historical movie with passion and adventure.

A German on the Tsar's throne: Hildegard Knef as Catherine the Great

This historical film by Umberto Lenzi was released in West German cinemas on October 24, 1963. Produced by Fortunato Misiano, the script was written by Guido Malatesta and filmed in Zagreb.

The Russian royal court in 1761: Tsarina Elisabeth (Tina Lattanzi) is approaching her end. Her nephew Peter III, who grew up in Kiel, will be his successor. (Raoul Grassilli), who is very unpopular at court and stands out for his mental derangement. His wife (Hildegard Knef), who later became Catherine the Great, overthrows the despot with the help of Captain Orlow (Sergio Fantoni). She is supported by Count Poniatowski (Giacomo Rossi Stuart), who is in love with the lovely noblewoman.

Unfortunately, not much is historically correct in this film. Tsar Peter III was more committed to the Enlightenment and maintained a correspondence with Frederick the Great for several years. This willingness to reform did not sit well with many at court. Tsarina Katharina was able to use this to her advantage with the help of her lovers (she is also said to have had a child by Orlov). The film portrays Katharina as a positive heroine, while her husband is portrayed as a despotic monster. A star role for the actor Raoul Grassilli! Hildegard Knef shows a very reserved performance in her exquisitely beautiful costumes. From her autobiography "DER GESCHENKTE GAUL / The Gift Horse" (1970) we know that she and her second husband David Cameron repeatedly had to demand the promised film fee from the producer. Maybe that's why Knef seems so unmotivated.

Otherwise, this is a magnificently crafted film that puts some effort into the details. In addition, Hildegard Knef cannot often be admired in color and in widescreen format in her younger years. In West German cinemas, 730,000 viewers wanted to see Hilde as Tsarina.

Yes - it's Fun to SEE this movie. Costumes, Art Direction, Cinematography are really wonderful.

But historically it's a disaster. The Bad German Czar and his sad wife (the author seems to forgotten, she was a German too). The bad Czar was in real life an reformer. Intrigous were Catharine and Orloff - here they are shown as victims. But it's nothing new. Often in history the Kingslayer at the end shown as the heroes. But it makes nothing better.

The acting is all in all good, only the leading actress (she really looks bad here) is only cold and colorless. Mostly Raul Grassilli as Peter III. is really good.

This movie is only an anti-German history-fake. Sad, but true.

The story of Catherine the Great has been tampered with many times in films, and this is one of the most objectionable attempts to bring the story alive as unrealistically as possible. Hildegard Knef is a disaster as Catherine, stale like a doll and totally expressionless, while it's easier for any actor to make something interesting out of the mentally unstable Petter III, her husband, whom she had overturned and killed as a genuine failure of a tzar. Sergio Fantoni is good enough as Orloff although much romanticised, as he always is on the screen. The only other actor of the film making a good performance is Ennio Balbo as count Panin. The colours and costumes are all perfect and overwhelming in actual realistic beauty, while the best part of the film is the music by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. Here Peter III is even allowed to keep his violin as an insurance of his one sympathetic trait. Although Josef von Sternberg's film "The Scarlet Empress" with Marlene Dietrich in the 30s was much more stylized and aestheticised, it was psychologically much more interesting in describing and following Catherine's fascinating development from a spoiled pricess to a responsible empress, after many ordeals on the way. The empress Elizabeth is also given a favourable chapter here like in Sternberg's film, while we shall probably never know the whole truth about these intrigues of the Russian court, as Catherine herself probably from the start was well motivated and eager to keep most of it under censure - all Russian history writing is notorious for falsifications in constant desperate efforts to make history seem better than it was. This is an Italian version and very dashing as such, but the Russian censure of history is still here.