The Rise of Catherine the Great
![The Rise of Catherine the Great](https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/db4b0658b462dab4c656c1733822252c/sbintTYaK6jy93GAcfuS5PqBGywpvM_large.jpg)
A quick-witted and compelling dramatization of the troubled marriage of Catherine II (played by German actress Elisabeth Bergner, in her English-language debut) to Peter III (a randy Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) and her subsequent ascension to the throne as Empress of Russia. With its luxurious renderings of the eighteenth-century St. Petersburg royal court and its nearly screwball evocation of Catherine and Peter’s teasing relationship, The Rise of Catherine the Great was a wise and worthy follow-up to Henry VIII.
Available In
![The Rise of Catherine the Great](https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/db4b0658b462dab4c656c1733822252c/sbintTYaK6jy93GAcfuS5PqBGywpvM_large.jpg)
Cast
- Elisabeth Bergner
- Catherine
- Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
- Grand Duke Peter
- Flora Robson
- Empress Elisabeth
- Gerald du Maurier
- Lecocq
- Irene Vanbrugh
- Princess Anhalt-Zerbst
- Joan Gardner
- Katushienka
- Diana Napier
- Countess Vorontzova
Credits
- Director
- Paul Czinner
- Story, dialogue, and continuity
- Lajos Biro
- Story, dialogue, and continuity
- Arthur Wimperis
- Story, dialogue, and continuity
- Melchior Lengyel
- Cinematography
- Georges Périnal
- Supervising editor
- Harold Young
- Editing
- Stephen Harrison
- Settings designed by
- Vincent Korda
- Musical direction
- Muir Matheson
- Costumes
- John Armstrong
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