The Scarlet Empress

Plot[edit]

Princess Sophia Frederica is the daughter of a minor East Prussian prince. She is brought to Russia by Count Alexei at the behest of Empress Elizabeth to marry her nephew Grand Duke Peter. Elizabeth renames her Catherine and repeatedly demands that the new bride produce a male heir to the throne, which is impossible because Peter never comes near her after their wedding night. He spends all of his time with his mistress, his toy soldiers or his real soldiers. Alexei pursues Catherine without success. At dinner, he tries to pass a note to Catherine asking her to meet him later, but Elizabeth intercepts it. She warns Catherine that Alexei is a womanizer.


That night, Elizabeth sends Catherine down a secret stairway to open the door for a lover, warning her to not let him see her. Catherine sees that the man is Alexei and, shaken and angry, hurls a miniature that he had given her out the window. She enters the garden to retrieve it and is stopped by Lieutenant Dmitri, who is on guard duty for the first time. When Catherine tells him whom she is, he initially does not believe her and begins to flirt with her. The two eventually have sex. Months later, all of Russia, with the exception of Peter, celebrates as Catherine gives birth to a son. Elizabeth takes charge of the boy's care and sends Catherine a necklace.


Elizabeth is in failing health. Peter plans to remove Catherine from court, perhaps by killing her. However, Catherine has become self-assured, sensual and cynical. She has devoted herself to learning how things work in Russia and is unwilling to be preempted. The archimandrite is worried by the thought of Peter on the throne and offers Catherine his help, but she demurs, saying she has "weapons that are far more powerful than any political machine" he can mobilize. Although the nation has been commanded to be in deep prayer for the dying Elizabeth, Catherine plays blind man's bluff with her ladies in waiting; she is lavishing kisses on the assembled soldiers when the bells toll for Elizabeth's passing. Peter taunts Elizabeth's corpse as she lies in state, saying that it is now his turn to rule.


An intertitle reads: "And while his Imperial Majesty Peter the III terrorized Russia, Catherine coolly added the army to her list of conquests." Catherine inspects the officers of Alexei's pet regiment, singling out Lieutenant Dmitri by borrowing one of Alexei's decorations to reward him for bravery. Orlov, Dmitri's captain, also attracts her attention. That evening, Catherine, who had refused to see Alexi privately since she admitted him to Elizabeth's quarters, permits him to visit her. When they are alone in her bedroom, she toys with him before sending him down the secret stairway to open the door for the man waiting there. He sees Captain Orlov and understands that his chance for a relationship with Catherine has passed.


At dinner, the archimandrite collects alms for the poor. Catherine strips her arm of bracelets, Orlov donates some gems, Alexei gives a purse full of coins, the chancellor adds a single coin and Peter's mistress puts a scrap of food on the plate. Peter slaps the archimandrite's face and then proposes a toast to his mistress, but Catherine refuses to participate. Peter calls her a fool and she leaves with Orlov. Peter strips Orlov of his rank and dismisses him from military service to the throne. He then places Catherine under house arrest, obscuring it by issuing a public proclamation that she is dying.


In the middle of the night Orlov sneaks into Catherine's room and wakes her. In uniform, she flees the palace with her loyal troops. Alexei sees her depart and murmurs: "Exit Peter the Third, enter Catherine the Second." She rides through the night, gathering men to her cause. In the cathedral, the archimandrite blesses Catherine and she rings the bell that signals the start of the coup. Peter awakens and opens his door, finding Orlov standing guard. Orlov says "There is no emperor. There is only an empress" and kills him. Catherine and her troops ride up the stairs in the palace, thundering into the throne room as pealing bells are joined by the 1812 Overture. Her rule is secure.