CZARINA
US, 1945, 94 minutes, Black and white.
Tallulah Bankhead, Charles Coburn, Anne Baxter, William Eythe, Vincent Price, Mischa Auer, Sig Rumann.
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch and Otto Preminger.
Czarina was something of a surprise in the mid-1940s. There had been several films about Catherine the Great including Elizabeth Bergner as Catherine the Great in the 1930s and Marlene Dietrich as The Scarlet Empress. Jeanne Moreau was to portray her in Great Catherine in the 1960s.
However, this is a farcical presentation of Catherine the Great and her court. Stage actress Tallulah Bankhead obviously enjoys herself in this role. The film is fast-paced, witty, elegant – and self-mocking.
There is a strong cast including Charles Coburn as the chancellor, Anne Baxter as the countess who sees her fiancé, played by William Eythe, being stalked by the empress. Vincent Price is the French ambassador.
The film was prepared by Ernst Lubitsch who had treated the material previously in a silent film, A Royal Scandal. The film was directed also by Otto Preminger – not noted for the Lubitsch touch (though he did complete That Lady in Ermine in 1948 after Lubitsch’s death). The film was made just after Preminger made Laura and before Forever Amber – and he was at the beginning of a very successful career.
1. What kind of film was this? For a forties audience? For what kind of audience? Popular, specialized? Its impact now with later developments of parody and historical parody?
2. The credentials of the making of the film: the old world quality of its producer, the Germanic style of directing of the director, Tallulah Bankhead and her stage reputation? The stars?
3. The importance of style, black and white photography, the suggestions of 18th century Russia and its court? The domestic melodrama and satiric comedy in this setting?
4. Was it evident that the film was based on a play? Staging, restriction of scenes to interiors, the dialogue and its quality? The ironic dialogue and the value of punch lines? Contemporary jargon and wording for 18th century Russian style?
5. Audience interest in and response to Catherine the Great and her reputation? Her serious place on the throne in Russia and the age of despotism and the enlightenment? An a subject for satire and send-up? Tallulah Bankhead's reputation on stage? Her casting in a rare film for Catherine the Great? Her presence as a Queen, appearance, passion, foibles? Romantic attitudes, feminine touches? Political know-how, diplomatic skill, shrewdness in assessing people and using wiles? The strengths and weaknesses of the framework of this kind of film?
6. The portrait of the Chancellor - old, dishonest, likable, his humorous way of talking, his shrewdness? His sentimental attitude towards Anna? His reliance on the French and the formalities of his meeting with the French Ambassador and their sharing notes, for instance about Polish dances? His diplomacy, manoeuvring Catherine? His reaction to the Captain's intrusion? His knowing about the revolt and his using the situation for his own purposes? His making a slave of the leading General? His getting his way in the end? A comic performance, a comic presentation of a chancellor with his power, capacity for good and evil?
7. The Captain and his impetuosity, the efforts that he made to get in, the trouble he caused, the man in charge of the East Gate, the Chancellor, the Empress herself? As the hero of the film, the dashing forties appearance, the Empress's stress on his looking good in white uniform, his being Anna’s fiance? His loyalty, naivety? His story from the front, impressing the Empress? Her decision to have him about, seduce him? His response to her interest, the champagne? His reports on Russia? His work for the peasants and the ironic comedy dialogue about peasants? his being idle in his job looking after the palace guards? Anna’s challenge and his ignoring of it? His status with the generals, his fighting and wounding the General for the Empress’s reputation? His disillusionment with her? His passion for her, calling her by her name, intrusions into her presence? His reaction against her? His being tried? The appropriate happy ending? What did he represent in terms of satire and parody on the romantic hero?
8. Anna as the romantic heroine? Her appearance, work at the Court, her service of the Empress, her worry about the Captain, the importance of the fight verbally and physically with the Empress? The manoeuvring about her holiday with her mother? Her coming to plead and her attacking the Empress? The happy ending? A strong kind of heroine for this kind of parody?
9. How successful was the interplay of attitudes, types, power manipulation, parody of behaviour in the 20th and the 18th century?
10. The satiric portrait of the generals, their planning, their lack of military awareness?
11. The diplomacy of the French and the satire on the French manner and its place in the Russian Court? The French Ambassador winning the day with the Empress - and her using her technique on him?
12. The parody of the Revolution and its coming to nothing, the Empress on her knees and the Chancellor fixing everything?
13. The effect of the flippant dialogue, the dead-pan comedy, the Empress saying ‘Shut up’? A campy send-up of history? What does this kind of comedy achieve for its audience?
