BackgroundThe Scarlet Empress (1934)is director Josef von Sternberg""s startling, dark, visually opulent, hauntingly expressionistic, semi-erotic and mostly fictional biopic of one of 18th century Russia""s most illustrious historical figures - Catherine II (the Great), during the years 1744 to 1762.He was known to be in competition with an elderly, philosophical plebian and political leader - Senator Lentulus Gracchus (Charles Laughton) for control of the Roman Senate.The riddle was solved: the 21st president out of 42 was Chester A.Arthur, the name of one of NYC""s elementary schools - where the bomb was planted.Cobb directed his police force to converge on the school to locate the bomb (found in a recently-delivered refrigerator).Anger.Confusion.Loneliness.Fear.I had experienced those feelings before, multiplied exponentially on he day my planet was destroyed.Such a feeling is something I choose never to experience again.Nyota, you mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring.Well, I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite.Suddenly, phaser blasts rocked their ship when they came under fire by a D4-class Klingon vessel - a battle cruiser on random patrol.The film""s McGuffin (or plot device o propel the action) was the spirit of a dead woman known as Carlotta Valdes - who supposedly possessed the beloved female character and spurred the obsessed investigation of the male character.