A Royal Scandal (film)

A Royal Scandal
theatrical poster
Directed by Otto Preminger
Ernst Lubitsch
Produced by Ernst Lubitsch
Written by Bruno Frank (adaptation)
Screenplay by Edwin Justus Mayer
Based on Die zarin
1912 play
by Lajos Bíró and Melchior Lengyel
Starring Tallulah Bankhead
Charles Coburn
Anne Baxter
William Eythe
Music by Alfred Newman
Cinematography Arthur Miller
Edited by Dorothy Spencer
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

Catherine (Tallulah Bankhead) discards her latest lover, Variatinsky (Donald Douglas), the commander of the palace guard. General Ronsky (Sig Ruman) schemes to have his oafish nephew Boris (Grady Sutton) be his replacement, so he and his cabal can stage an uprising and dethrone the Czarina. Catherine's chancellor, Nicolai Ilyitch (Charles Coburn), is determined to see to it that nothing disturbs his delicate negotiations for a treaty with France, so he tells his underling Malakoff (Vladimir Sokoloff) he does not want anybody new to see her majesty. However, a determined young officer, Alexei Chernoff (William Eythe), insists on an audience with her for the sake of Russia.

Cast

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".

Notes

  1. ↑ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 p 220
  2. ↑ "A Royal Scandal Plot Synopsis". Allmovie. Retrieved 2008-04-24.


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