Catherine the Great 1995
Catherine the Great ★★½ 1995
Teenaged German princess Sophia (Zeta-Jones) marries into Russian royalty in 1744 when she weds Peter (Jaenicke), nephew of the Empress Elizabeth (Moreau), and has a name change when she's crowned Catherine II. The marriage is a disaster and with the help of her lover Gregory Orlov (McGann), Catherine eventually gets rid of Peter and is crowned Empress and Czarina of all the Russias as she struggles to drag her medieval empire into the modern world. Typically lavish and simplistic historical retelling. Originally released as a two-part miniseries. 100m/C VHS, DVD . GE Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul McGann, Ian Richardson, Jeanne Moreau, Mark McGann, Hannes Jaenicke, Mel Ferrer, Omar Sharif, John Rhys-Davies, Brian Blessed; D: Marvin J. Chomsky; W: John Goldsmith; C: Elemer Ragalyi; M: Laurence Rosenthal. TV