tomsview If you can ride out the dull spots in this talky 1956 movie there is a fascinating story in there somewhere.The film starts in 1928 as expatriate Russian supporters of the Romanov dynasty in Paris led by General Bounine (Yul Brynner), set up a scam to get their hands on a fortune left in a British bank by Tsar Nicholas II.The idea is to pass off Anna Anderson (Ingrid Bergman), a homeless amnesiac, as the Princess Anastasia. The key to the plan is to make Empress Maria Feodorovna, the Tsar's mother, accept Anna as her long lost granddaughter.According to the film, fake Anastasias were popping up out of just about every bowl of cabbage borscht and Beluga caviar, but eventually Anna is so convincing that we are never sure if she is the real deal or not. Although a number of scenes were filmed in Paris and Copenhagen, opening the film out, the first half is tough going, especially the scenes with Bounine, Boris Chernov (Akim Tamiroff) and the other plotters in stagy-looking sets – too many gabby, eccentric characters piled one on top of the other. I'm afraid Hollywood's stereotypes of Russian emigres of the period were just as tedious as their take on the denizens of Ruritanian Kingdoms that were also a speciality of the old studios.However when Anna interacts with the Empress, the film has tension. Ingrid received the Academy Award for this role although these days she comes across as maybe a little too overwrought while Yul Brynner simply plays Yul Brynner.Over the years, there have been some fascinating books written about whether or not Anastasia survived. Eventually the discovery of the bodies and DNA took all the fun out of the speculation, pretty well proving that she was murdered in 1918 along with the rest of her family. The real history of the end of the Romanovs is still a haunting story; a 2014 BBC documentary, "Russia's Lost Princesses", gives a brilliant insight into their lives and shocking deaths.One thing about Anatole Litvak's "Anastasia" though, every time I see it, it fires my imagination to know more about the real events.

AaronCapenBanner Anatole Litvak directed this drama that fictionalizes the story of presumed murdered Czarina princess Anastasia, whom three Russian exiles(led by Yul Brynner) plot to pass off as the real thing in order to get part of the vast fortune, using suicidal and destitute woman named Anastasia(played by Ingrid Bergman in an Academy Award winning role) who comes to believe she is the real czarina, though must convince the skeptical Empress(played by Helen Hayes) to be accepted. Ponderous and dated film has fine acting, but story was based on the real Anna Anderson, who made the initial claims(and was profiled on both "In Search Of..." & "Unsolved Mysteries") that have since been disproved by irrefutable DNA evidence.

blanche-2 "Anastasia" is based on the Broadway play that starred Viveca Lindfors, Hurd Hatfield, and Eugenie Leontovich, and it was this film that brought Ingrid Bergman back to the United States after the big sin that drove her out of the country. Besides Bergman, the film stars Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes.We know today that Anna Anderson was a Polish actress and not Princess Anastasia, but before DNA, this was one of the world's great mysteries. In the real story, Prince Phillip's DNA was used, since he is related to the Russian royal family, and proved that Anna Anderson was a fake, answering a question that had vexed people for decades.In this version, a Russian businessman, Bounine (Brynner) and some other Russian expatriates living in Paris plot to collect millions of Romanov money by grooming an unhappy, depressed young woman who has recently been institutionalized to be the Princess Anastasia due to her resemblance to the Tsar's youngest daughter. Bounine begins to believe that she might be the real Anastasia. But the big test will be before the Dowager Empress (Hayes) who has no interest in meeting another pretender.The acting is wonderful, with the beautiful Bergman giving a fully fleshed out performance, beginning as a confused woman and developing through the film into a real royal presence. Brynner is very strong in his role, with moments of grace and gentleness.Bergman won her second Academy Award for her performance, but she is matched by Helen Hayes' powerful performance as the Dowager Empress, externally a hard woman but one whose heart has been broken by the tragic loss of her family. Though she can't let herself believe at first that this is Anastasia, she is longing for her to be.Very good movie with an interesting ending.

Jackson Booth-Millard I should admit first that I saw the cartoon musical remake with the voices of Meg Ryan and John Cusack before this original that I had only heard of because of the award winning lead actress, so of course I watched. Basically is has been ten years since the teenage Romanov Grand Duchess and her sisters and brother, children of the Tsar, Nicholas II, have apparently been killed. Anna Koreff (Oscar and Golden Globe winning Ingrid Bergman) is the orphaned woman who has no memory of where she came from, turning up in Paris and found by General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine (Yul Brynner) who is very keen on the £10,000,000 inheritance. What starts out as training to become a convincing Anastasia impostor, with her uncanny resemblance, Anna gains more confidence and style to meet what may be former familiars and imperial court members. Her big ambition to help her possibly confirm her identity, as there are many saying she really is Anastasia, is to meet Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (Golden Globe nominated Helen Hayes) during the tour de force in Copenhagen. When Anna gets to the know fortune hunting Prince Paul Von Haraldberg (Ivan Desny) we see Bounine getting jealous, and everything comes down to a grand ball where he tries to convince the Empress to meet the lady he has found. The Empress does have a private word with Anna, she is obviously confident that she is another impostor wanting to inherit the fortune she is owed, as the only living Tsar sibling, but as a conversation develops Anna does reveal remembering many things from her past that the Empress recognises, and only she would know. In the end, supposedly the Empress confirms that Anna truly is the living Anastasia, and although she is seen in the arms of Price Haraldberg and not Bounine, it is a seemingly happy ending because everything has been settled. Also starring Akim Tamiroff as Boris Adreivich Chernov, Martita Hunt as Baroness Elena Von Livenbaum, Felix Aylmer as Chamberlain, Sacha Pitoëff as Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin, Natalie Schafer as Irina Lissemskaia, Grégoire Gromoff as Stepan and Karel Stepanek as Mikhail Vlados. Bergman does give a good award worthy performance (she won against Deborah Kerr in The King and I, ironically starring Oscar winning Bryner), the story is a little confusing in moments, and I may have drifted off slightly, but it is a rather watchable period drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Music for Alfred Newman, and it was nominated the BAFTA for Best British Screenplay. Very good!