A Royal Scandal (film)

A Royal Scandal
theatrical poster
Directed by	Otto Preminger Ernst Lubitsch
Screenplay by	Edwin Justus Mayer
Story by	Bruno Frank
Based on	Die Zarin by Lajos Bíró Melchior Lengyel
Produced by	Ernst Lubitsch
Starring	Tallulah Bankhead Charles Coburn Anne Baxter William Eythe
Cinematography	Arthur Miller
Edited by	Dorothy Spencer
Music by	Alfred Newman
Production company	Twentieth Century Fox
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release date	April 11, 1945 (1945-04-11)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,755,000
Box office	$1,500,000[1]

A Royal Scandal, also known as Czarina, is a 1945 film about the love life of Russian Empress (Czarina) Catherine the Great. It stars Tallulah Bankhead, Charles Coburn, Anne Baxter, and William Eythe. The film was based on the play Die Zarin (The Czarina) by Lajos Bíró and Melchior Lengyel.

Plot[]

The palace of the demanding and iron-fisted Russian Czarina Catherine the Great (Tallulah Bankhead) is full of intriguers. Devoted Chancellor Nicolai Ilyitch (Charles Coburn) conducts delicate negotiations for a treaty with France while surreptitiously stealing from the Imperial treasuries. General Michael Ronsky (Sig Ruman) schemes to overthrow Catherine in a military coup and install his oafish nephew Boris (Grady Sutton) as a figurehead. Countess Anna Jaschikoff (Anne Baxter) is the Czarina's confidante and lady-in-waiting, helping her navigate the social aspects of court life. When Catherine discards her latest lover, Variatinsky (Donald Douglas), commander of the palace guard, he responds by attempting to shoot himself (though he misses). Determined to conclude the Russo-French treaty by receiving the Marquis de Fleury, the French Ambassador (Vincent Price), Chancellor Nicolai orders that no one beyond the Ambassador and his self spend any time with the Czarina. However, a determined young Lieutenant, Alexei Chernoff (William Eythe), coincidentally Jaschikoff's fiancé, insists on an audience with Catherine, riding for three days and storming past palace security to speak to her.

Chernoff comes bearing news of Ronsky's nascent rebellion. It comes as no surprise to the Czarina or to Chancellor Nicolai, who has already made an "arrangement" with Ronsky, but Catherine takes a liking to the patriotic and handsome Lieutenant, promoting him to Captain and asking him to prepare policy recommendations on foreign and domestic issues. Later, she seduces him, ensuring his promotion to General and installing him as the new commander of the palace guard. Countess Jaschikoff is infuriated and takes her anger out on Catherine personally, who responds by banishing her from court. Chancellor Nicolai (who has become outraged at Chernoff's reformist proposals) attempts to resign, but is compelled to stay on by Catherine, who ensures him that she is not taking Chernoff seriously as an advisor.

Elsewhere, Chernoff is being courted by Ronsky and the rebellious generals; they wish to use his position to ensure that the palace guard does not put up any physical resistance to their forces. To drive a wedge between Chernoff and Catherine, Ronsky introduces Chernoff to Variatinsky, who informs Chernoff in private of his intimate knowledge of Catherine. Chernoff attacks Variatinsky and begs Catherine to say that Variatinsky was lying, but the Czarina candidly confirms his claims, describes Chernoff as a "nobody" who she "made" prominent, and accidentally lets it slip that she has been discarding Chernoff's policy plans unread. Chernoff returns to Ronsky and pledges his support. Later that night, he dismisses the palace guard and arrests the Czarina personally. Troops storm the palace, but they are loyal to Catherine; Chancellor Nicolai has leveraged his illicit control of Russia's finances for the allegiance of the rebels and then immediately betrayed them. The uprising is quelled.

Ronsky is made Chancellor Nicolai's servant, but a betrayed Catherine sentences Chernoff to death, a condemnation he accepts as a traitor. The lobbying of Chancellor Nicolai and Countess Jaschikoff (who has returned from exile) convinces the Czarina to pardon Chernoff. Finally, Catherine and the French Ambassador conduct their long-delayed meeting. The diplomat, himself a young and handsome nobleman, greets Catherine with such obsequious flattery that the Czarina takes up a romantic interest in him, and the film ends with Chancellor Nicolai leaving the two to flirt in privacy, confident that a relationship between the two will lead to the alliance for which he has long schemed.

Cast[]

• Tallulah Bankhead as Catherine the Great
• Charles Coburn as Chancellor Nicolai Ilyitch
• Anne Baxter as Countess Anna Jaschikoff
• William Eythe as Lieutenant/Captain/Major/Colonel/General/Private Alexei Chernoff
• Vincent Price as Marquis de Fleury, Ambassador-Plenipotentiary of France, Vicomte de Bayeux, Comte de Bayon Valez, Baron de Villau, and Keeper of the Seals
• Mischa Auer as Captain Sukov
• Sig Ruman as General Michael Nicolai Vladimirovich Ronsky
• Vladimir Sokoloff as Malakoff
• Mikhail Rasumny as Drunken General
• Donald Douglas as Variatinsky
• Grady Sutton as Boris Nikitin
• Michael Visaroff as Russian General (uncredited)

Production[]

Ernst Lubitsch was the initial director, but fell ill and had to be replaced by Otto Preminger.^[2] However, Lubitsch directed the rehearsals, and he worked with Edwin Justus Mayer in the scripting process. A Royal Scandal is a remake of Lubitsch's silent film Forbidden Paradise. All of the scenes were developed under Lubitsch. So, it is considered a "Lubitsch film".^{[citation needed]}

Notes[]

External links[]

• A Royal Scandal at IMDb
• A Royal Scandal at the TCM Movie Database
• A Royal Scandal at AllMovie
• A Royal Scandal at the American Film Institute Catalog

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