"A Royal Scandal" has a score of 7.0 on IMDB and mostly glowing reviews. Combine this with an excellent cast (particularly Charles Coburn) and that it was created by Ernst Lubitsch, I should have really loved the movie. Instead, I found it very talky and dull.
The film is set in the royal palace and concerns Empress Catherine (Tallulah Bankhead) and in the story, she spends most of her time chasing handsome young guys and ignoring the affairs of state. It also shows her as very capricious and a woman whose emotions control her every action.
While it's true that Catherine the Great had man affairs, her sex life always seemed to come second to her ruling her nation. In other words, she was competent AND not a shallow, capricious nut-case like she seems to be in the movie.
I think it's interesting to compare this incredibly talky film with Marlene Dietrich's portrayal of a younger Catherine in "The Scarlet Empress". This earlier film really stuck closer to true historical facts and was also not nearly as talky and was mesmerizing. In contrast, "A Royal Scandal" just seemed silly and trivial. I recommend you just see this earlier film and skip this gabfest.
The film is set in the royal palace and concerns Empress Catherine (Tallulah Bankhead) and in the story, she spends most of her time chasing handsome young guys and ignoring the affairs of state. It also shows her as very capricious and a woman whose emotions control her every action.
While it's true that Catherine the Great had man affairs, her sex life always seemed to come second to her ruling her nation. In other words, she was competent AND not a shallow, capricious nut-case like she seems to be in the movie.
I think it's interesting to compare this incredibly talky film with Marlene Dietrich's portrayal of a younger Catherine in "The Scarlet Empress". This earlier film really stuck closer to true historical facts and was also not nearly as talky and was mesmerizing. In contrast, "A Royal Scandal" just seemed silly and trivial. I recommend you just see this earlier film and skip this gabfest.