It was directed by Paul Czinner, and stars Elisabeth Bergner as Catherine, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., as Grand Duke Peter, Dorothy Hale as Countess Olga, and Flora Robson as Empress Elizabeth.

[2] This historical drama recounts the events that led to the accession of Catherine the Great, Empress of all the Russias.

"Little Catherine" is to marry the Grand Duke Peter, nephew and heir presumptive of the unmarried and childless Empress Elizabeth.

He rejects Catherine on their wedding night, reacting to something innocently said by his French valet, claiming that she used feminine tricks to win him over.

[3] New York Times reviewer Dave Kehr described the film as "a handsome but conventional melodrama," but inferior to the contemporaneous rival Catherine biopic The Scarlet Empress (1934) by Josef von Sternberg.