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Anastasia

182 votes

Russian exiles in Paris plot to collect ten million pounds from the Bank of England by grooming a destitute, suicidal girl to pose as heir to the Russian throne. While Bounin is coaching her, he comes to believe that she is really Anastasia. In the end, the Empress must decide her claim.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1956-12-13

Runtime: 105 mins

Director: Anatole Litvak

Spoken language: English, Français

Genres: Drama, Romance

Original title: Anastasia

Production Companies: 20th Century Fox

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Anna Koreff / Anastasia

Ingrid Bergman

General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine

Yul Brynner

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna

Helen Hayes

Boris Adreivich Chernov

Akim Tamiroff

Baroness Elena von Livenbaum

Martita Hunt

Chamberlain

Felix Aylmer

Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin

Sacha Pitoëff

Prince Paul von Haraldberg

Ivan Desny

Irina Lissemskaia / Nini

Natalie Schafer

Grégoire Gromoff

Karl Stepanek

Ina De La Haye

Katherine Kath

Peter Sallis

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Whilst this is certainly a lavish and luxuriant production, somehow the sum of the parts just don't add up to much of an whole. Yul Brynner is the ambitious, former general-turned-restauranteur "Bounine" who has been, for many a year, convincing his financial backers that he has discovered the last surviving child of the assassinated Czar Nicholas II. He has discovered the sickly and troubled "Anna" (Ingrid Bergman) and hopes that with some grooming, training and furs she might be able to convince the Dowager Empress (Helen Hayes) that she is, indeed, her granddaughter. It also turns out that should she endorse the identity of the young woman, the enormous sum of £10 million will be released to her by the Bank of England. Bergman is strong as the initially vulnerable, amnesiac girl who has no real idea who she is, or where she comes from - and that performance contributes very plausibly as the story gathers momentum and her persona becomes much better established (real or not!). Hayes - aided by the scene stealing Martita Hunt's "Baroness von Livenbaum" - also plays her part well, an imperious woman who is cynical but harbours an optimistic desire that hopes against hope. Brynner isn't up to very much, though. He doesn't quite cut it as the scheming manipulator and as the story progresses his character, already pretty unlikeable, doesn't really develop until a rather weak and underwhelming denouement (historical truth notwithstanding). When this was made, there was a chance that one of the Grand Duchesses had survived, and the colourful and stylish look of this film tries hard to capitalise on those intriguing rumours. Sadly, though, here the dialogue is wordy and there is little by way of on-screen chemistry to distinguish this disappointingly episodic and plodding historical drama.

2022-11-09

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