Great Catherine (film)
Great Catherine | |
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![]() Belgian theatrical poster | |
Directed by | Gordon Flemyng |
Written by | George Bernard Shaw (play) Hugh Leonard |
Produced by | Jules Buck |
Starring | Peter O'Toole Zero Mostel Jeanne Moreau Jack Hawkins |
Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
Edited by | Anne V. Coates |
Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
Distributed by | Warner-Pathé Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Great Catherine is a 1968 British comedy film directed by Gordon Flemyng, based on a one act play by George Bernard Shaw, and starring Peter O'Toole, Zero Mostel, Jeanne Moreau and Jack Hawkins.[1] Like the play, it is loosely based on the story of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams and his time spent as an envoy at the Russian court.
Synopsis
A British officer, Captain Charles Edstaston, is sent to the Russian court of Catherine the Great as an envoy, where he has to contend with the crafty machinations of her chief minister Potemkin.
Cast
- Peter O'Toole - Charles Edstaston
- Jeanne Moreau - Catherine the Great
- Zero Mostel - Potemkin
- Jack Hawkins - British Ambassador
- Akim Tamiroff - Sergeant
- Marie Lohr - Dowager Lady Gorse
- Kate O'Mara - Varinka
- Angela Scoular - Claire
- Oliver MacGreevy - General Pyskov
- James Mellor - Colonel Pugachov
Critical reception
TV Guide wrote, "They waited 55 years to make it (Shaw's play) into a film and would have been well advised to wait another 55 years. What a mishmash!...Mostel, unless held in check, always overacts, and this is a prime example of a stage actor, accustomed to having to play "big" for the people in the last row, overdoing things for the close-up camera" ; [2] whereas The New York Times wrote, "GREAT CATHERINE has a great clown named Zero Mostel...the glorious hamming of the portly American makes the picture...Surely Mr. Mostel's antics would have won the playwright's approval...The story, Braced immeasurably by the Shavian lines, as arranged by the scenarist, Hugh Leonard, and stylishly piloted by the director, Gordon Flemyng, the picture is also beautiful in its lavish décor, costumes and color photography." [3]
References
External links
- 1968 films
- 1960s comedy films
- 1960s historical films
- British historical films
- British films
- English-language films
- Film scores by Dimitri Tiomkin
- Films based on works by George Bernard Shaw
- Films about Catherine the Great
- Films directed by Gordon Flemyng
- Films set in Russia
- British comedy films
- 1960s British film stubs
- 1960s comedy film stubs