Despite withholding distribution of the film for eight months, so as not to compete with the recently issued United Artists film "The Rise of Catherine the Great" (1934), starring Elisabeth Bergner, the movie was dismissed by critics and the public. Americans, preoccupied with the challenges of the financial crisis were in no mood for a picture that appeared to be an exercise in self-indulgence. The film's conspicuous failure among moviegoers was a blow to Sternberg's professional reputation, recalling his 1926 disaster, "A Woman of the Sea".