Typically simplist historical and Italian dramatization of the empress Catherine the Great, this is a mediocre drama recreating the wars, turmoil, struggle for power and loves.¨Caterina di Russia¨ 1963 by Umberto Lenzi displays a decent cast , such as: Hildegard Knef, Sergio Fantoni, Giacomo Rossi Stewart . It begins in Saint Petersburg, the crowd attacks the carriage of the Grand Dukes, Catherine (Hildegard Knef) and Peter III (Raoul Grassilli) . The Duke orders to shoot the people but the captain of the Cossacks, Orlov (Sergio Fantoni), refuses and is deported to Siberia, although he manages to escape and return to Saint Petersburg. It is there where Catherine discovers that Pedro III has ordered his execution and she contacts Orlov to meet with the Cossacks on the outskirts of town. The marriage between Catherine and Peter III was a disaster and with the help of Gregory Orlov, Catherine eventually gets rid of Peter and is crowned Empress and Czarina of all the Russias as she struggles to drag her medieval empire into the modern world and she eventually leads the Cossacks army against rebel tartars .
Caterina di Russia (1963) deals with political intrigue, lovers, turmoil and war during ¨Catherine the Great¨ kingdom. Historical feature film of Italian production that recreates the story of Catherine, her fight for power and then she's crowned the only Queen and empress of Russia for 34 years from June 28, 1762 until her death at age 67. Catherine's life is divided into two parts approximately the same length. Between 1729 and 1762 , she went from being a German princess to a Russian grand duchess ; from 1762 until she died in 1796, she was Empress of Russia . The main source of information about her life is her Memoirs . She was the reigning Empress of Russia for 34 years, Catherine collected the legacy of Peter I of Russia, "a window to the West on the Baltic coast", and enlarged it, opening it on the Black Sea. Elizabeth had learnt her political lessons in the years of intrigue before she became Queen, she was a brilliant stateswoman, managing a to rule a great empire. Pedro I imported technology, government institutions and military organization and Catalina brought legal, political and moral philosophy from Europe, as well as medicine, art, culture and education. She was constantly besieged by court intrigue , political machinations and wars : Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) and Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792) and taking part of Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russo-Persian War. The film also focuses on society with its lavish aristocratic balls, as well as the politics and struggle for power and other events that marked an era in 18th century Russia. The mature Catherine-Hildegard Knef gives a mediocre acting in the title role of this Italian/French/Yugoslavian drama, costarred by Sergio fantoni as Orloff and the best acting goes to Raoul Grassilli as the nutty Czar Peter III showing perfectly his craziness, as well as his inappropriate and bloody proceeding.
Umberto Lenzi takes a so-so look at the turbulent life of famous Empress of all the Russias from her troublesome years and machinations surrounding her reign. Umberto Lenzi, at the beginning of his long career, headed towards historical/adventure films such as "Queen of the High Seas" , "The triumph of Robin Hood", "The Invincible Masked Rider", "The Last Gladiator", although later he would pigeonhole himself into the Poliziotteschi genre until moving on to more bloodthirsty horror, such as "Cannibal Ferox" and "Ghosthouse".
Other renditions about this known Queen are the following ones : "The Scarlet Empress" (1934) by Josef von Sternberg with Marlene Dietrich as Catherine II, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser . ¨Catherine the Great¨ 1943 by Paul Czinner with Elizabeth Bergner , Douglas Farirbanks Jr. , Flora Robson. ¨A Royal Scandal¨ 1945 by Otto Preminger, Ernst Lubitsch with Tallulah Bankhead , Charles Coburn, Anne Baxter, William Eythe . ¨Great Catherine¨ 1968 by Gordon Flemyng with Jeanne Moreau, Peter O'Toole, Zero Mostel, Jack Hawkins . ¨Catherine the Great¨ 1995 by Marvin J. Chomsky with Catherine Zeta Jones , Paul McGann, Ian Richardson. TV series "Catherine the Great" (2019) created by Nigel Williams with Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke, Gina McKee, Kevin McNally .
