Marlene Dietrich plays Princess Sophia Frederica, later renamed Catherine Alexina, a German noblewoman who enters into a loveless marriage with the unstable heir to the Russian throne, then executes a plot to oust him from power.
A heavily stylized and very visually opulent set, the use of biblical imagery in the background design stands in stark contrast to the sexual decadence and depravity of the characters in the story. Sheer fabrics and playful usage of soft, sensual materials in the costumes and set dressing work well to convey emotion and intention through texture and movement in the absence of colour on screen. Similarly, I was impressed how the designers gave Catherine a slim cut military uniform in white and put her on a white horse so the audience could pick her out visually from the rest of the army in the later scenes where she rides trough the palace on horseback with her army. The triumphant climax of the film where the army rides their horses up the stairs as Catherine takes the throne is made all the more spectacular when you realize the elevated set probably had to be constructed specially to hold all the weight.
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