ロマノフ朝の第8代女帝・エカチェリーナ2世は、クーデターの陰謀を報告しにやって来た若き将校・アレクセイ中尉の情熱と美貌に惹かれ、彼を近衛司令官に任命するが…。
AIが作品の魅力を深く読み解いています
監督: Otto Preminger
脚本: Edwin Justus Mayer / Lajos Biró / Bruno Frank
音楽: Alfred Newman
制作: Ernst Lubitsch
撮影監督: Arthur C. Miller
制作会社: 20th Century Fox
William Eythe is "Lt. Chernoff", an enthusiastic Russian officer determined to warn his Empress that she is in the gravest of danger. Arriving at her palace, he eventually manages to secure an audience but it turns out that Catherine the Great (Tallulah Bankhead) and her shrewd Chancellor "Ilyitch" (Charles Coburn) have already dealt with this potential treachery. The Empress, however, takes a bit of a shine to her gallant young soldier and soon he is soaring through the ranks - much to the chagrin of his fiancée "Anna" (Anne Baxter). As he rises, he begins to think he can make a difference - and is soon treading on toes that could spell his end... The writing is amusing and quick fire, and the efforts from Bankhead and, particularly, Coburn keep this film moving along a-pace. There is plenty of pith in the script, and though it pays but the tiniest of nods to actual history, it does offer us quite an entertaining account of how life might have been when the court was run by a lady who liked the sight of a soldier in a white uniform. Good fun!
