Review of The Scarlet Empress (1934) by Sausages M — 16 Feb 2013

Whilst in many ways hilariously dated, Josef von Sternberg's historical drama is still entertaining stuff. Dietrich is no great actress but she was certainly iconic, and perfectly lit. And John Lodge is very convincing as her lover.

In the end this is an interesting historical document on the kind of films being made for general consumption in the early post-silent era. In many ways, with the text exposition and long periods of largely exaggerated visual queues, it's almost a 'silent' film anyway.

Worth seeing for the sets alone, this really is a film of its time. One last thing, an interesting parallel that occurred to me was that the lack of depth and over-reliance on technical detail was reminiscent of the kind of CGI entertainment to be found in popular cinema today.