The woman who will become Catherine the Great marries into the Russian royal family when she weds Grand Duke Peter, the nephew of Empress Elizabeth. Although the couple has moments of contentment, Peter's cruel and erratic behavior causes a rift between him and Catherine. Mere months after Peter succeeds his aunt as the ruler of Russia, a revolt is brewing, and Catherine is poised to ascend to the throne as the country's new empress.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
as Grand Duke Peter

Elisabeth Bergner
as Catherine

Flora Robson
as Empress Elisabeth

Gerald du Maurier
as Lecocq

Irene Vanbrugh
as Princess Anhalt-Zerbst

Joan Gardner
as Katushienka

Dorothy Hale
as Countess Olga

Diana Napier
as Countess Vorontzova

Griffith Jones
as Grigory Orlov

Gibb McLaughlin
as Bestujhev
CinemaSerf
Some actors just emit a sort of magnetism through the camera - and Douglas Fairbanks Jr (Grand Duke Peter) does it in spades in this rather prosaic depiction of the early life of Catherine II of Russia. When Princess Sophie (Elisabeth Bergner) is chosen to marry the young Grand Duke by his aunt, Emp...