Catherine's life is divided into two parts approximately the same length. Between 1729 and 1762 , she went from being a German princess to a Russian grand duchess ; from 1762 until she died in 1796, she was Empress of Russia . The main source of information about her life is her Memoirs . She was the reigning Empress of Russia for 34 years, from June 28, 1762 until her death at age 67. Catherine collected the legacy of Peter I of Russia, "a window to the West on the Baltic coast", and enlarged it, opening it on the Black Sea. Pedro imported technology, government institutions and military organization and Catalina brought legal, political and moral philosophy from Europe, as well as medicine, art, culture and education. The aging Catherine-Helen Mirren is magnificent in the title role of this television drama . She's constantly besieged by court intrigue , political machinations and wars : Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) and Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792) and taking part of Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. And Russo-Persian War in which Russia agreed to protect Georgia against any new invasion and further political aspirations of their Persian suzerains. Catherine waged a new war against Persia in 1796 after they, under the new king Agha Mohammad Khan, had again invaded Georgia and had expelled the newly established Russian garrisons in the Caucasus . Elizabeth had learnt her political lessons in the years of intrigue before she became Queen , she was a brilliant stateswoman, managing a to rule a great empire. It begins after the death her husband king Peter III , then she's crowned the only Queen. The marriage between Catherine and Peter III was a disaster and with the help of Gregory Orlov , 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 and she eventually leads the Cossacks army against rebel tartars .
Slow but lavish and engrossing British dramatization of the empress Catherine the Great . This notable historic drama recreates the wars , turmoil , struggle for power and loves , though adding some crude love scenes . Typically lavish and simplist historical retelling relies heavily on the love story between Catherine and Grigory Potemkin . Helen Mirren is awesome as Catherine the Great ; furthermore , Jason Clarke is good cast as Potemkin . Spectacular palaces , the ball-room scenes, the costumes and the uniforms are good . Philip Martin , the filmmaker, and the script-writer Nigel Williams deliver us a fine historical movie with passion and intelligence . Special mention for support actors , such as the notable Richard Roxburgh as Grigory Orlov , Kevin McNally as Alexi Orlov, Joseph Quinn as Prince Paul who'll succeed as Czar though he had an unfortunate final , Clive Russell as Court Fool , Rory Kinnear as Minister Panin , Thomas Doherty as Peter Zavadovsky and Gina Mckee is equally outstanding as the arrogant Countess Praskovya . Wonderful colorful cinematography adds to the atmosphere shot on locations in Pilsrundale, Latvia in Vilnius, Lithuania, but it does help to know some history in order to keep the interesting plot . Director Philip Martin takes a brilliant look at the turbulent life of famous Empress of all the Russias from her troublesome years and machinations surrounding her reign .
Other renditions about this known Queen are the following ones : ¨Catherine the Great¨ 1943 by Paul Czinner with Elizabeth Bergner , Douglas Farirbanks Jr. , Flora Robson. ¨A Royal Scandal¨ 1945 by Otto Preminger, Ernst Lubitsch with Tallulah Bankhead , Charles Coburn , Anne Baxter , William Eythe . ¨Caterina di Russia¨ 1963 by Umberto Lenzi with Hildegard Knef , Sergio Fantoni , Giacomo Rossi Stewart . ¨Great Catherine¨ 1968 by Gordon Flemyng with Jeanne Moreau, Peter O'Toole, Zero Mostel, Jack Hawkins . ¨Catherine the Great¨ 1995 by Marvin J. Chomsky with Catherine Zeta Jones , Paul McGann, Ian Richardson.
