Katia, A Tzarina Sem Coroa

Maurice Tourneur was Jacques (Jack) Tourneur's father.

"Katia" pioneered,so to speak a genre that was to flourish in the second half of the fifties:the mushy maudlin "historical" movie ,the likes of "Sissi" .Danielle Darrieux's Katia with her irresistible smile and her pouty mouth is akin to Romy Schneider's Sissi.The "political" side shows Katia urging tzar Alexandre II to give power (that is to say a Constitution) to the people.Alas he will be slain before ...This is a pleasant movie,with nice settings and Darrieux's spontaneity -her partner is much less talented-

In 1960,there was a remake featuring Curd Jurgens (a much better tzar) and...Romy Schneider who had ditched Empress Sissi .The leftish critics were harsh at the time,calling the remake a politically committed movie,which seems laughable today:the main difference between the two movies is the more prominent part played by the Marxist(?) students in the 1960 work.