Product Details

• Actors: Artist Not Provided
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid
• DVD Release Date: April 24, 2007
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000MQ58Y0
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,913 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #50 in	Movies & TV > Documentary > Series & Studios > National Geographic > As Seen on National Geographic Channel
  #60 in	Movies & TV > Documentary > Series & Studios > National Geographic > History & Culture

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Join Icons of Power as we venture into the court of the Empress Catherine the Great and bear witness to epic history and scandals of truly royal proportions. With sweeping cinematography and rich, dramatic reenactments soaked in 18th Century detail, we'll trace Catherine's journey from a humble, impoverished home in Germany to the throne of an empire that spanned two- thirds of the globe. We'll follow the empress to war, to court, and even to bed. From the scorched battlefields of the Crimea to the gilded palaces of St. Petersburg, we'll venture deep into the world of the Empress Catherine - a world of secret trysts and cunning deception, of conquest and glory - and bring to life the characters and events that shaped her reign.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Russian Empress, June 24, 2007

By	Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

National Geographic uses a lot of filming techniques that Vince McMahon planned to employ in his XFL. I think this is meant to get fickle viewers into caring about history. The company's historical reenactments aren't as cheesy as History Channel's. Perhaps this is caused by NG using film while HC uses video. The actress playing young Catherine looks like Ashley Judd. Sometimes I stop watching fictional films about 2/3 into them because I get the gist of what's being portrayed. Here, I had to watch the whole thing because I was genuinely curious why Catherine is remembered in history as "Great." The drama surrounding her rise to power was very similar to Cleopatra's. The documentary sometimes uses the term "class warfare." Though Lenin's success 150 years after Catherine is not mentioned, one could see how the class schisms in Russia, even then, would fuel the Communist rise in the 1910s. This program is too long to be seen in an American public school's history class. Besides, little focus is given to Russia in American schools until discussions of the Cold War. Still, if you have an interest in historical women of power, then you should see this.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars zar, August 30, 2008

By	Ronald D. Largent "rdlargent. Texas" (Fort Worth, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have been a fan of Russian history even before Ivan the terrible. He was a case. While serftom was wrong. At the top of the sceme was life ever good. It amaze's me that with Peter the Great and Elizabeth then Catherine the Great. Scemeing and politics was something else. She truly carried Russia to its top.