Scandal at court

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Scandal at court
Original title A Royal Scandal
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1945
length 94 minutes
Rod
Director Otto Preminger
script Edwin Justus Mayer based
on the play Die Zarin (1912) by Lajos Biró and Melchior Lengyel
production Ernst Lubitsch
music Alfred Newman
camera Arthur C. Miller
cut Dorothy Spencer
occupation

Scandal at Court is an American feature film prepared by Ernst Lubitsch and made by Otto Preminger in 1944 . The leading roles are played by Tallulah Bankhead and Charles Coburn .

action

Russian Empire , at the court of Catherine the Great . In the 18th century, upscale political intrigue and lavish love vice prevailed here. As everyone there knows, the tsarina has a great deal of wear and tear and prefers good-looking, neat guard officers and lieutenants around her. She has just scrapped her last lover, Wariatinsky, the commander of the palace guard, when Lieutenant Alexej Tschernoff, who has strayed from his troops without permission, rides up to the palace to warn his monarch of great danger. Alexej's sweetheart is the very young Countess Jaschikoff, who serves the Tsarina as lady-in-waiting. She is surprised to see her fiancé in the castle so unexpectedly.

When Tschernoff tries to get through to his commander-in-chief, he comes across Chancellor Nikolai Ilyich, whose primary task it seems to be to keep every petitioner away from the tsarina. And so he promises the stormy lieutenant to pass his message on to Katharina. However, Lieutenant Tschernoff is not so easy to get rid of, but insists on speaking to the monarch personally. And so Katharina the Great grants him the favor of an audience and is very impressed by Alexei's stormy youth and the commitment to the life of his empress. This in turn is so stunned by the face of Katharina in person that he ignites with ardent admiration and swears in his life that he will always protect her from now on. These are all good reasons for the tsarina to bring the young officer to court and make him her new toy, her next lover, especially since she likes this idealistic boy exceptionally well. Chernoff is appointed head of the palace guard so that Katharina doesn't need any special reasons to want to see him regularly.

This development displeases General Ronsky, who had hoped that his simple-minded nephew Boris could inherit Wariatinsky as head of the life guards. Ilyich's own plans also get a little confused. As political advisor to the Tsarina, he wants to keep everything away from her that could distract her, because Russia is in the midst of difficult and important treaty negotiations with France that the Chancellor is conducting for Catherine. The least enthusiastic about the new developments at court, however, is Tschernoff's fiancé Anna, who knows the wear and tear of her monarch all too well and is accordingly worried about Alexei's loyalty. Not without good reason, because the Tsarina appoints her latest conquest in quick succession, first captain, then major and finally colonel, just as Her Majesty's mood pleases, and she has reasons for this that are not necessarily found in Alexei's soldierly achievements are. In his naivete, however, Alexei believes that he is the only one allowed to share favor and bed with his ruler. When he now has to discover the opposite, he is the first to put himself at the head of those putschists and mutineers against whom Alexei had actually wanted to warn the tsarina.

One day the rebellious soldiers under Alexei's leadership penetrate the palace. But Katharina's most loyal servant, her old, experienced Chancellor Ilyich, confronts the ardent intruders and waves the checkbook. Mindful of the willingness to corrupt oneself and abandon all ideals, the insurrection collapses as quickly as it began. Leader Alexej is arrested and goes to dungeon. His fate is now entirely in the hands of Katharina. The tsarina quickly returns to her old lifestyle and experiences new happiness in love with the French ambassador at court, a veritable marquis. In the exuberance of her feelings inflamed for the French, she orders Alexei's pardon. He is now allowed to marry the lady-in-waiting Anna, his real bride, who cannot be angry with her Alexej.

Production notes

Scandal at court was actually supposed to be staged by Ernst Lubitsch in 1944. However, since he fell ill, he handed over the direction to Otto Preminger. Lubitsch planned the entire film down to the last detail before his illness. Preminger only had to implement Lubitsch's plans. As a result, the comedy was also advertised as a "Lubitsch film". It premiered on March 26, 1945, with a mass start in New York on April 11 of the same year. In Germany, the film only premiered on television. There Scandal at Court ran on ZDF on November 9, 1980. In Austria, where the costume comedy was shown in cinemas as early as 1952, the film was shown under the title Scandal at the Royal Court .

Lyle R. Wheeler and Mark-Lee Kirk created the film structures, Thomas K. Little was the set designer. René Hubert created the costumes. Cyril J. Mockridge composed additional music unnamed.

The story of Scandal at Court had already provided the template for Lubitsch's silent film production The Forbidden Paradise twenty years earlier .

Contrary to expectations, the scandal at court was not a box office success. The strip cost $ 1,755,000 to manufacture and grossed just $ 1.5 million in North America.

Reviews

The Anglo-American reviews hardly left a good hair on the film. Below are two examples:

"... and all the laughs are made in the cheapest way, very deep down the ramp."

- James Agee , 1945

"Very few moments of interest and not at all the class of the silent film version Forbidden Paradise ."

- Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 870

In Germany, however, the film found favor with criticism:

The lexicon of international films says: "A witty comedy full of ridicule and humor, more of a play than a film, an entertaining pleasure."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. The film poster announces: Ernst Lubitsch's A Royal Scandal
  2. ^ Scandal at court. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 9, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used