Anastasia (1956)

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

Arthur Laurents (screenplay)
Marcelle Maurette (play)

Release Date:

13 December 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

From the sensational Broadway stage success that had audiences crying its acclaim!

Plot:

An opportunistic Russian businessman tries to pass a mysterious impostor as the Grand Duchess Anastasia. But she is so convincing in her performance that even the biggest skeptics believe her.

Plot Keywords:

Social Climber | Russian Orthodox | Con | Russian Empire | Melancholy

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Wed. May 28

6:15 AM

AMC

Cast

Ingrid Bergman	...	Anna Koreff / Anastasia
Yul Brynner	...	General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine
Helen Hayes	...	Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna
Akim Tamiroff	...	Boris Adreivich Chernov
Martita Hunt	...	Baroness Elena von Livenbaum
Felix Aylmer	...	Chamberlain
Sacha Pitoëff	...	Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin (as Sacha Pitoeff)
Ivan Desny	...	Prince Paul von Haraldberg
Natalie Schafer	...	Irina Lissemskaia / Nini
Grégoire Gromoff	...	Stepan (as Gregoire Gromoff)
Karel Stepanek	...	Mikhail Vlados
Ina De La Haye	...	Marusia (as Ina de la Haye)
Katherine Kath	...	Maxime

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:G (video rating) | Australia:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #18293) | Finland:S | UK:U | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky - 12 Rue Daru, Paris 8, Paris, France

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The conspiratorial trio of Bounine, Chernov, and Petrovin in the film are purely fictional.

Quotes:

Boris Adreivich Chernov: ...and that woman is too too something! Too crazy, too clever, too tricky!
General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine: I don't care what she is! The important thing is that she fits!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Biography: Anastasia: Her True Story" (1997)

Well, now that we know the truth...

Anatole Litvak's 1956 Anastasia was Ingrid Bergman's big comeback vehicle after being cast into the moral void for running off with Roberto Rossellini, but it's Helen Hayes' performance that really gives the film its heart and its best scenes. Now that the story of Anna Anderson's claim to the title and inheritance of Tsar Nicholas' daughter has been completely debunked by DNA tests it's more a bit of wish-fulfilment than a compelling mystery, and one that doesn't go out of its way to disguise its theatrical origins - despite the lavish CinemaScope lensing, it rarely strays outdoors unless it's absolutely necessary for a brief establishing shot. Yul Brynner and Akim Tamiroff do their party pieces (stern precision and comically nervous dishonesty) and Bergman fares much better doing imperious than impoverished in a classy production that goes down smoothly but doesn't linger long in the memory.

Fox's R1 DVD suffers from an atrocious remix in the opening reel where the music and effects track are amplified while the dialogue is reduced to a barely audible whisper even at full volume, a problem that doesn't affect the rest of the film but is irritating as hell while it lasts.