The many screen faces of Catherine the Great

by Cláudio Alves

Hulu's The Great is just the latest in a long string of portrayals of Catherine II of Russia, most commonly known as Catherine the Great. Since the time of the silents she's been a recurring topic for filmmakers, whether they're portraying her as the sex-crazed tyrant some propaganda painted her as, or trying to celebrate the legend and legacy of her time as empress. The Great makes her the spunky heroine of a black comedy, but she's also been a romantic lead and a romance's foil, an innocent pawn, and a Machiavellian master.

Looking back at the documentation we have about the real Catherine, one thing's for certain – she was incommensurably more interesting than any single movie character can ever hope to be. That's not going to stop us from exploring her various screen portrayals…

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Red Carpet Emmy Pt. 1: Mad Women, Power Couples, Pocket Smuggling

Nathaniel:  Hi Joanna and Jose! Welcome back. We'll call this Part One and it will be truly perverse if there isn't a part two since there was so very much gownage last night.

Joanna:  So happy to be back! Like so many things we saw last night, my excitement runneth over.

Nathaniel:  There are these precious few windows of time, see, and we're all online so we cover what we can. Speaking of windows of time... Mad Men's Emmy time passeth over. 0 for 17. So let's start with the Mad Women because they're never 0 for 17 in Nathaniel's World.

Megan Draper, Joan Holloway Harris, Marie Calvet, Peggy Olson, Betty Draper Francis

Joanna:  I feel like I just saw Jessica Pare's dress on someone else.  Am I crazy?

Nathaniel: Jose will know.

 Jose:  Maybe on her. She's been doing a lot of Jason Wu lately. But also, this is a very favored shape for red carpets, it might remind you of when Cate Blanchett won the Oscar too

Nathaniel: Oh, yes, that. I see it.

Joanna:  Well it's very goddessy and I like it and her cherry popping lip.  Unlike, say, Elisabeth Moss's dress which reminds me of a ravaged sofa

Nathaniel: Ravaged Sofa - ha! Some hipster band seeking a name just found it. Jessica Paré's look strikes me as a little too polished. Or maybe Jessica Paré is just making me nervous because I keep reading these theories that it was the Megan-focus of the latest season that turned Emmy against Mad Men... 

[gownage, gays, and gimmes after the jump]

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