The Rise of Catherine the Great

The Rise of Catherine the Great

The more he hated her, the more she loved him...this girl of MANY loves who rose to rule a hundred million souls but could not govern her own heart.

NR 1934 · 95 min · ★ 5.8 · Drama, History

The woman who will become Catherine the Great marries into the Russian royal family when she weds Grand Duke Peter, the nephew of Empress Elizabeth. Although the couple has moments of contentment, Peter's cruel and erratic behavior causes a rift between him and Catherine. Mere months after Peter succeeds his aunt as the ruler of Russia, a revolt is brewing, and Catherine is poised to ascend to the throne as the country's new empress.

Directed by Paul Czinner · Written by Melchior Lengyel

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Cast

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Grand Duke Peter
Elisabeth Bergner Catherine
Flora Robson Empress Elisabeth
Gerald du Maurier Lecocq
Irene Vanbrugh Princess Anhalt-Zerbst
Joan Gardner Katushienka
Dorothy Hale Countess Olga
Diana Napier Countess Vorontzova
Griffith Jones Grigory Orlov
Gibb McLaughlin Bestujhev
Clifford Heatherley Ogarev
Laurence Hanray Goudovitch

Make it a double feature

3h 9m together

The Rise of Catherine the Great

Dreaming Lips

Both from Paul Czinner.

More from Paul CzinnerSee all →

The Woman He Scorned

The Woman He Scorned · 1929

The Woman He Scorned

A lighthouse keeper's wife shelters her fugitive lover.

Lady Juan

Lady Juan · 1928

A Spanish nobleman raises his only daughter as a boy, similarly to Greta Garbo in Queen Christina (1933). In adulthood, Juana's upbringing causes complications in her love life. Possibly an early example of genderqueer representation.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet · 1966

Romeo and Juliet

MovieDramaMusic

Classic ballet by Kenneth MacMillan to the music of Prokofiev.

Love

Based on Honore de Balzac’s story of Madame de Langeais. Costume drama about the infamous loves of the countess.

Dreaming Lips

Dreaming Lips · 1932

MovieDramaRomance

The young Gaby is happily married to the musician Peter but cannot ignore the impression that his friend Michael, a violin virtuoso, makes on her. Even when Peter falls seriously ill, she cannot forget her love for Michael. Torn between the two men, Gaby sees only one way out...

Der Rosenkavalier

Der Rosenkavalier · 1962

Der Rosenkavalier

The legendary soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf stars in this acclaimed film of Richard Strauss' delightful opera, Der Rosenkavalier. This Salzburg Festival production of Strauss' great work toured the world, and this filmed version was hailed by The New York Times as "Superb." Schwarzkopf performs her signature role as Princess von Werdenberg, an aging beauty involved with a younger man, Octavian. But when Octavian agrees to assist Baron Ochs by delivering the Baron's proposal of marriage to the beautiful young Sophie, the messenger and bride-to-be fall in love with each other!

The Bolshoi Ballet

The Bolshoi Ballet · 1957

The Bolshoi Ballet

Paul Czinner recorded, using a multiple cameras technique, the performance of prima ballerina Galina Ulanova of the Russian Bolshoi, doing "Giselle, " while the troupe was on tour in England in 1956.

Dreaming Lips

Dreaming Lips · 1937

Dreaming Lips was lovingly assembled by filmmaker Paul Czinner as an "ideal" vehicle for his popular actress wife Elizabeth Bergner. The star plays Gabrielle, the glamorous, spoiled wife of world-famous orchestra leader Peter (Romney Brent). Left alone by her constantly touring husband, she inaugurates a romance with brilliant but reclusive violinist Miguel de Vaye (Raymond Massey).

Fräulein Else

Fräulein Else · 1929

While staying with her aunt at a fashionable spa, Else receives an unexpected telegram from her mother, begging her to save her father from debtor’s jail. The only way out, it seems, is to approach an elderly acquaintance in order to borrow money from him. Through this telegram, Else is forced into the reality of a world entirely at odds with her romantic imagination – with horrific consequences.

Impetuous Youth

Impetuous Youth · 1926

Impetuous Youth

MovieComedyDrama

Girl dressed up as a boy falls in love with a painter.

Stolen Life

Stolen Life · 1939

Adapted from the best-selling novel by K. J. Benes, A Stolen Life serves as a tour de force for German actress Elizabeth Bergner, whose husband Paul Czinner directed the film. Bergner stars as identical twins Sylvina and Martina, whose mild sibling rivalry intensifies when one of the girls tricks the other's sweetheart Alan McKenzie (Michael Redgrave) into proposing to the wrong twin.

Jealousy

Jealousy · 1925

MovieDramaComedy

A couple are at the theatre with a playwright friend. At the end of the play the jealous husband strangles his wife to death. When the play ends, the man talks to his friend about such a nonsensical finale, telling the author that no man with any sense ever gets jealous enough to choke his wife in these modern times. The playwright decides to test this supposedly perfect couple about their happy feelings for each other.

Escape Me Never

Escape Me Never · 1935

Escape Me Never

Romantic quadrangle involving two brothers, one a burgeoning ballet composer; a willful heiress; and a waif.

Ariane

MovieComedyRomance

Ariane was Hungarian director Paul Czinner's first talking picture. Starring in the title role is Czinner's charming wife, Elizabeth Bergner, likewise making her talkie debut. Young, naive Ariane sets herself for an emotional fall when she falls in love with Konstantin (Rudolf Forster), a much older and very married businessman. For his part, Konstantin regards the girl as just another harmless fling -- until he realizes a shade too late that he's really in love with her after all. Filmed in German, Ariane was simultaneously lensed in an English-language version, The Loves of Ariane.

Husbands or Lovers

Husbands or Lovers · 1924

Husbands or Lovers

MovieDramaRomance

A wife, bored by her overweight slob of a husband, gives in to the temptation of a slickly seductive poet.

As You Like It

As You Like It · 1936

MovieComedyRomance

Film version of Shakespeare's comedy of a young woman who disguises herself as a man to win the attention of the one she loves.

More Like This

House of Gucci

House of Gucci · 2021

MovieDramaHistory

When Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately… murder.

Bloodsport

Bloodsport · 1988

MovieActionDrama

An American Army Major goes AWOL to Hong Kong for an outlawed martial arts contest called the Kumite.

War and Peace

War and Peace · 1956

MovieWarRomance

The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.

Rob Roy

Rob Roy · 1995

MovieAdventureHistory

In the highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, Rob Roy tries to lead his small town to a better future, by borrowing money from the local nobility to buy cattle to herd to market. When the money is stolen, Rob is forced into a Robin Hood lifestyle to defend his family and honour.

Camille Claudel

Camille Claudel · 1988

Camille Claudel

MovieDramaHistory

The life of Camille Claudel, a French sculptor who becomes the apprentice of Auguste Rodin and later his lover. Her passion for her art and Rodin drive her further away from reason and rationality.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere · 2025

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

MovieDramaMusic

Bruce Springsteen, a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggles to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past.

As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me

As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me · 2001

As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me

The German soldier Clemens Forel - determined to be reunited with his beloved family - makes a dramatic escape through bitter cold winters, desolate landscapes, and life threatening ventures from a Siberian labor camp after World War II. 8000 miles and three endless years of uncertainty later, he is finally about to reach his destination... An edge of your seat drama that celebrates the power of the human spirit and the force of will, while inspired and impowered by love.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter