Otto Preminger was brought in to physically direct this Ernst Lubitsch production about guy crazy Catherine of Russia (Tallulah Bankhead) and a soldier lover (William Eythe) that she constantly promotes. Scripted and rehearsed by Lubitsch, it's a talky door slamming (naturally) drawing room comedy on a grand scale that quickly lends itself to tedium and satiric bombast.
Catherine the Great is busy running her country but leaving most of the work to a chancellor ( Charles Coburn) while she chases men. She falls for an idealistic Lieutenant who "looks good in white" but they clash over his ideas and her intentions. Meanwhile buffoonish generals plot her overthrow.
Bankhead's campy Catherine simply overwhelms Eythe's earnest ways. A second tier Tyrone Power (the original choice) lookalike, the imbalance is obvious from the outset and the lengthy exchanges between the two are a mismatch with Tallulah punching down all the way.
Given their differing directorial styles one wonders if Otto was unable to pull off the timing Lubitsch intended. The script itself has a burlesque feel with Bankhead and Eythe doing an Abbott and Costello stand-up most of the way with little sign of Lubitsch's firm grip on the subversive wit to be found in most of his films.
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