Young Catherine (1991) (TV)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Michael Anderson

Writer (WGA):

Chris Bryant (written by)

Release Date:

17 February 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

A German princess is chosen to marry the heir to the Russian Throne, but faces plots and intrigues against her. |

Plot Keywords:

Sadomasochism | Homosexuality | Marriage | Deliberate Cruelty | Infidelity

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Vanessa Redgrave	...	Empress Elizabeth
Christopher Plummer	...	Sir Charles
Franco Nero	...	Count Vorontsov
Marthe Keller	...	Johanna
Maximilian Schell	...	Frederick the Great
Julia Ormond	...	Catherine
Mark Frankel	...	Count Gregory Orlov
Reece Dinsdale	...	Grand Duke Peter
Anna Kanakis	...	Countess Vorontsova
John Shrapnel	...	Archimandrite Todorsky
Hartmut Becker	...	Catherine's Father
Alexander Kerst	...	Prussian Ambassador
Laurie Holden	...	Princess Deshkova
Katharine Schlesinger	...	Elizabeth Vorontsova
Katya Galitzine	...	Maria Choglokov

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:PG

Company:

Turner Pictures (I)

Quotes:

Frederick the Great: This frail, young slip of a girl has won herself an empire, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Against all the odds, that is what she has done.

Movie Connections:

Version of Catherine the Great (1995) (TV)

young Catherine?

The reviewer from Poland must be a feminist, for she finds "Young Catherine" to be a great film and historically accurate. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a practicing Russian historian for many, many years I took exception with YC at almost every turn, and in particular the politically correct depiction of her as the boss who single-handed moved Russia into a direction of dominance. The truth? She was only brought to St.Petersburg to be a wife and mother, and found she had to "bond" with the dvoriane, the boyars, and the military just to survive. So long as she did not challenge them she was able/ permitted to indulge her cultural wishes (filling up the Hermitage with art treasures, etc.). There are so many proofs that she was not "great," but in this area of post-modern revisionism proof is not very popular. YC is only a costume drama, a bit of fluff from Ted Turner that, like "Peter the Great" in 1986, is one more example of how badly Russia is portrayed in the West.