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.
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.