Customer Reviews

Scarlet Empress [VHS]

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

After seeing this film On Turner Classic Movies, several months ago, I became a big fan of its grotesque imagery, and the mysterious, surreal, and almost comical, world it created for the viewer. I found it to be a strange and fascinating film. With that experience, I was more than anxious to get the DVD. So when I read the back of the case, where it said "Luminous transfer, with restored picture and sound", you can imagine how I was salivating, as I ripped the plastic off, and got it in my player. My wife and I prepared to see the magical results of digital technology.

Then I hit the PLAY button.

My disappointment was beyond words. What we saw was anything but "luminous". It was more like watching a colony of flesh-eating bacteria, wandering all round Marlene Dietrich's face, and a swarm of locusts chewing up the scenery. I kept waitng for everything to calm down, so we could really see the beauty of the film. Occasionally, that happened. But by and large, this was a big let-down.

I've seen excellent transfers before, and own them. "Grand Illusion" and "The Seven Samurai" are marvelous examples. But this was nowhere near those efforts. The specks and flecks were too distracting, to fully enjoy this masterpiece. And that's a shame, considering the other otherwise great reputation Criterion has had, in terms of image quality.

I'm a little confused about how one customer could say "...the print is stunning". (Maybe that person was "stunned" by how bad it looked.) I sympathize more with the reviewer who thought that Criterion should be held accountable for its mediocre duplication of this film, and the false advertising. You got it right! Five stars for the film, and the Robin Wood essay. One star for the transfer.

Of all the Sternberg/Dietrich films this is my favourite, a perverse and decadent vision of history with performances to match the stunningly bizarre art direction.

I could hardly wait to open this DVD after I was soundly impressed by Criterion's Third Man disc with it's great print and oodles of extras...

Unfortunately this disc has proved the most disappointing DVD I have ever purchased. Alleged to be "A luminous transfer, with restored picture and sound" this only is the case if the restorers were trying to reproduce the standard of a third generation VHS tape. With countless missing frames and splices, frequent audio drops and sizzles and a picture grain which looks like you're watching the film through sand, this is not what I expect from Criterion.

Considering the only other Dietrich movie on DVD - the so-so Garden of Allah - is a gorgeous transfer at a bargain price, this is a huge let down.

Considering most film collectors purchase Criterion DVD's on the strengh of the label alone this is an outrage that they can release such a low quality disc with such a little amount of extra features to compensate...which was the least they could have done.

In a previous review I remarked on what a terrible print of the film was used for this DVD - GREAT FILM, terrible print.

Anyone who disagrees, or feels this may now be the best quality print on offer should take a look at the Martin Scorsese/BFI series "A Personal Journey Through American Movies". There you'll find a some gorgeous clips of the Scarlet Empress with sharp audio and virtually perfect picture (no horrible "dupe print" grain or frame damage like this DVD). The film simply shimers. Presumably this was a BFI print, but it may have been from Paramount - either way, a far better print exists and therefore I'm sad to say that this is proof that Criterion have rather short-changed the buying public this time around.
Still, it's better than not having it on DVD at all, isn't it?

You'll hear no disagreement from me that The Scarlet Empress is Von Sternberg's masterpiece, abounding in stunning imagery. But I have to express my extreme disappointment with Criterion's transfer. Never have I seen a harsher (some call it sharp), grainier image or a black and white film so lacking in the subtle gradations of light and shade. No adjustment to my excellent TV could correct these deficiencies.

I have seen beautiful prints of this film recently on the big screen, and the VHS tape from MCA Home Video is also vastly superior to Criterion's release. The only improvement I can detect on the DVD is a brighter, cleaner soundtrack.

Based on my previous satisfaction with Criterion's quality, I have pre-ordered many items from the Criterion Collection in the past without waiting to read the reviews; I simply assumed the quality would be excellent. Now, I am greatly concerned about my outstanding pre-orders with Criterion.

To sum up, I believe the Criterion release of The Scarlet Empress compromises the reputation of the film itself and the company that released the DVD. I have contacted Criterion and recommended pulling this release from among their offerings and making every effort to correct its deficiencies if at all possible.

"The Scarlet Empress" may be the most over-the-top spectacle ever filmed, and at the time, it was certainly the costliest. Dietrich plays Prussian princess Sophia Frederika, who is plucked from obscurity to marry the Grand Duke of Russia. This fairy-tale scenario sours when the Duke turns out to be a cruel degenerate, and Sophia (re-named Catherine) learns that her only purpose in the Imperial household is to supply heirs to the throne. Her girlish dreams shattered, she becomes a lusty libertine and ruthless political mover, eventually staging a coup against her husband and becoming the notorious Empress, Catherine the Great.

Director von Sternberg throws "historical accuracy" to the winds in order to produce a baroque fantasia filmed in the most stylized manner imaginable, and laced with doses of perversion so bold one wonders how they got past the censors. The film races along in a succession of deliriously stylized set-pieces: hordes of galloping Cossacks; the incredible wedding and drunken banquet that follows; and the apocalyptic coup, led by Catherine in a man's white dress uniform, while "Ride of the Valkeries" blasts on the soundtrack. Von Sternberg's peerless visual style is given free reign, and the results are extraordinary. The lighting and photography are gorgeous, especially in the stunningly beautiful wedding sequence, and Travis Banton's costumes lovingly recreate the decadent grandeur of 18th Century fashion. Most incredible of all are the sets representing the palace at Moscow. These cavernous, candle-lit rooms are stuffed with glittering icons and grotesque statues. So imposing and detailed are these settings that the palace's occupants, in their elaborate costumes and makeup, are sometimes indistinguishable from the décor.

"The Scarlet Empress" is energized by a campy sense of humor. Dietrich's journey from wide-eyed nymphet to savvy politician is portrayed with delicious irony. She sashays through the palace, enormous skirts swishing, and wins over the army with an arched eyebrow, a suggestive bon mot, and a bribe or four. John Lodge obviously relishes in his role as Count Alexei, a square-jawed stud who services both the Empress and the Duchess. Of young Catherine's reluctance to commit adultery, he scoffs: "Those ideas are old fashioned, this is the 18th Century!" Louise Dresser gives a wonderful performance as the ill-mannered old Empress, who harangues her half-wit nephew and his reluctant bride with a fishwife's bray. Less humorous, though weirdly fascinating, is Sam Jaffe's portrayal of the repulsive, rodent-like Duke - playing with toy soldiers, marching his real ones through the palace halls, and shooting peasants like pheasants from his bedroom window.

Beneath these antics are interesting implications about the link between sexuality and tyranny, and the corrupting influence of power. The film opens with young Sophia (played by Dietrich's daughter) being regaled with tales of the czars, and a montage of rape, pillage and torture illustrates the moppet's fantasy. The film ends with Catherine's triumphant ascension to the throne, but only hints at the depravity and corruption in which she later engaged (though she was also an able and progressive monarch). In all, "The Scarlet Empress" is a unique film, a magnificent product of the studio system, but guided by von Sternberg's keen intelligence and stylish visual flair. A treat.

Long-awaited DVD release is another disappointment from CRITERION. What's going on with the CRITERION COLLECTION? They have found an okay print with barely acceptable audio - and claim that the entire thing is 'digitally remastered'.

CRITERION - formerly, and deservedly, the benchmark of classic DVD releases, and a name one could count on for quality - clearly has become just one more quick-profit distributor misrepresenting its products. They should be seriously questioned and held responsible for their marketing.

Sadly - don't waste your money on this one.

Two gnarled statues of grotesque beasts make love in the garden, a perverse cuckoo clock exposes female bodily organs, a skeletal figure shot through with arrows twists its face in a silent wail towards heaven. This is the decor of "The Scarlet Empress," furnishings which speak more of the film's themes and ideas than the plot could ever be allowed to. The actors remain intentionally wooden; it's as if the world around them was an expression of their suppressed emotions. Shame takes the guise of chairs, but chairs in the shape of gargantuan, deformed old men hiding their stricken faces in hideous fingers. Masochism is occasionally a clock, lust a decorative food display, but all perverse, leering. And death... Everywhere is a ghastly preoccupation with death, icons proudly display decapitation, skeletons stretch themselves over boiling cauldrons, while ghastly statues of tortured corpses lurk in every shadowy corner. Together this creates a world of painful decadence, a disgusting, yet fascinating dreamscape of visual pleasure.

All this takes form and depth, is sculpted by director Sternberg's haunting lighting. It is "his" light, he lords over it, and with it anything is possible. He can make a face beautiful or ugly, innocent or evil. He can accentuate a certain side of a person's nature, or how a specific set piece relates to it, all with the proper illumination.

If his lighting is astounding, equally so is Sternberg's use of the visual motifs in his mise en scene (bells, veils, figures, specific set pieces, etc...) to transport the viewer back and forth through the film. For instance, the binding of Catherine and Peter's hands at their marriage is later echoed by an unquestionably similar knot Catherine ties in a napkin she is fondling, and then tosses onto the table of she and Peter's last meal together. The initiation of their marriage and the initiation of its end are in this way linked, and the audience is forced to take into account the changes in both their characters. Not only does the rhythm of these motifs remain figurative. The movement of the film takes on a distinct rhythm as well. A swinging motif is evident throughout, the bells, the incense burners, Catherine's swing, the hoopskirts, a baby's basket, and so on. In this the film takes the feel of a frenzied, but excellently choreographed dance.

But in all this there is one thing more noteworthy. Marlene Dietrich radiates! Quite possibly the most beautiful woman who ever lived, she begins innocent and virginal (seemingly intentionally melodramatically), standing out in a world of amorality. She is both the happiest and saddest point of the film. Her wedding to the vulgar Peter in an immense, yet claustrophobic cathedral is the most emotional part of the film. As it is filmed entirely in a series of close-ups of individuals, and long shots that blur their faces, there is no discernible eye connection between any of the characters. She is completely alone. As a voyeuristic camera cuts closer and closer to her trembling, veiled face, we suddenly feel the need to turn away. We know now that this last thread of decency is about to be crippled. Soon enough her innocence begins to fade before her sexuality, and the surroundings that once nearly suppressed her, she lords over, a queen of immorality.

"The Scarlet Empress" expresses the essence of film, and why it succeeds as an art form. It creates the possibility of a world almost wholly artificial, divorced from anything that ever was. It retains only fragmentary reproductions of something that existed in a pre-filmed state, combining and distorting them to effect something 90% fake. What's more that seems all it is interested in. No other artistic medium (aside from painting) is viewed worthy of its visuals, and all theatrical, literary, or other requirements are given little attention. They are flippantly thrown in only to please a narrow minded audience, and occasionally (but very, very rarely) to accentuate the films themes. Yet painting, ah yes, painting. That was a medium worthy of a brilliant visionary like Sternberg, and one he transferred to the screen with gusto. "The Scarlet Empress" is to Dali in its obsession with the bizarre, da Vinci in its detail, Picasso in its complexity of associations, but entirely Sternberg in its conception.

This is a decent enough transfer--- and most importantly the best one that you'll come across today.
The story itself is heavy handed and plodding but what is absolutly riveting is the beauty and artistry of each individual shot in this over the top costume drama. The steamy sensuality that Marlene Dietrich exuded in front of a camera is almost frightening but definitly fun to watch. "The Scarlet Empress" perfectly illustrates why Ms. Dietrich was such a hit in her day.

This movie is justly famous for it's bizarre visual style; it's a fascinating excursion into the life of one of history's most notorious women. As a child, Catherine is played by Dietrich's own daughter, Maria Sieber; Dietrich is innocent and naive at the beginning and she slowly becomes a powerful and lusty ruler. Louise Dresser is strangely folksy as the illiterate Empress Elizabeth (who in real life could speak many languages, but her manners were atrocious). John Lodge, who later had a successful career in politics (Governor of Massachusetts) has a very commanding presence and he's astonishingly modern in his playing of Count Alexei. Sam Jaffe is brilliantly eccentric in his playing of Peter the Mad; his performance lingers in the memory. Opulent and beautifully lighted, THE SCARLETT EMPRESS wasn't exactly box-office in it's day (it was ahead of it's time); today it's a visual orgy, fascinating to observe!

Von Sternberg's masterpiece is a visual feast, but this DVD seems to have been made from a grainy sixteen millimeter print. It is a disgraceful disk. I have seen archival prints of this film and I KNOW this is not even close to the best print they could have gotten. Sadly, this is the first of the seven Sternberg/Dietrich films to make it to DVD, and I hope this release doesn't set a bad precedent.