Anastasia (1956 film)

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Anastasia
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAnatole Litvak
Screenplay byArthur Laurents
Based onAnastasia [fr]
by Marcelle Maurette
Produced byBuddy Adler
StarringIngrid Bergman
Yul Brynner
Helen Hayes
CinematographyJack Hildyard
Edited byBert Bates
Music byAlfred Newman
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century-Fox
Release date
  • December 13, 1956 (1956-12-13)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
French
Budget$3.52 million[1]
Box office$4.3 million (US and Canada rentals)[2]

Anastasia is a 1956 American period drama film starring Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, and Helen Hayes. The film was directed and written by Anatole Litvak and Arthur Laurents, adapting the 1952 play written by Guy Bolton and Marcelle Maurette. It was inspired by the story of imposter Anna Anderson, one of the best known of many Anastasia impostors who emerged after the Imperial family were killed in July 1918.

Plot[edit]

Though the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family were executed in July, 1918, rumors spread that Nicholas's youngest daughter, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, had somehow escaped the Imperial family's murder and survived.

During 1928, in Paris, France, an ailing woman named Anna Koreff, who resembles Anastasia, is brought to the attention of a former White Russian, General Bounine, then the proprietor of a successful Russian-themed nightclub. Bounine knows that, while in a mental asylum being treated for amnesia, Anna had told a nun there that she is Anastasia. Terrified after being approached by Bounine and addressed as the Grand Duchess, Anna flees to the River Siene and attempts to throw herself in, though she is stopped.

Bounine then meets with his associates, Boris Andreevich Chernov and Poitr Ivanovich Petrovin; he had already repeatedly raised funds from stockholders, eager to gain a share of £10 million that belonged to Anastasia held by an English bank- based on his claim that he had found her, which Bounine privately admits is a lie. Frustrated by the delays, the stockholders have lost their patience with Bounine and has given him eight days to produce Anastasia.

Bounine arranges for Anna to be intensively trained to pass as Anastasia. During this time, the pair begins to develop romantic feelings for one another. Later, in a series of carefully arranged encounters with former familiars and members of the Imperial court, Anna begins to display a confidence and style that astonish skeptics.

L-R: Sacha Pitoëff, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff and Yul Brynner

Anna soon arrives in Copenhagen, Denmark, to convince the skeptical Maria Feodorovna, Anastasia's paternal grandmother, of her being Anastasia. Meanwhile, Bounine becomes jealous of how much attention Prince Paul von Haraldberg, another fortune hunter, pays to Anna. Sometime later, at a ball in which the engagement of "Anastasia" and Prince Paul is to be announced, the Dowager Empress has a final private conversation with her. Although aware of Bounine's intentions, the Dowager Empress believes that Anna is truly her granddaughter. Realizing that Anna has fallen in love with Bounine, the Dowager Empress helps them run away together. When asked by a courtier whether or not Anna was Anastasia, the Dowager Empress simply responds, "Wasn't she?"

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

The film was adapted by Guy Bolton and Arthur Laurents from the play by Bolton and Marcelle Maurette. Some critics believed the film was bound too much to the static settings and theatrical "scenes" of the play, but additional, essentially decorative, ball scenes were added to open up the action.

The film does not reveal whether Anna is or isn't Anastasia, but suggests through subtle hints that she is. The gradual realization of her true identity is juxtaposed against Bounine's growing romantic interest in her.

The film marked Bergman's return to working for a Hollywood studio after several years of working in Italy with her husband, Roberto Rossellini. Their marriage had caused a scandal, as he divorced his then current wife, Marcella DeMarchis to be with her.

The film was also a comeback for Helen Hayes. She had suspended her career for several years due to the death of her daughter Mary, and her husband's failing health.

Locations[edit]

The film was shot on location in Copenhagen, London and Paris. Studio interiors were shot at MGM-British Studios at Borehamwood, England.

The Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Paris, which was a center of worship for Russian aristocrats and other émigrés from St. Petersburg in the city, is featured in one of the early scenes.[4]

Title song[edit]

The theme song of the film, also titled "Anastasia", has been recorded by a number of artists. The most popular version was by Pat Boone, reaching number 3 (as a double-A-side with "Don't Forbid Me") on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart for several weeks in early 1957.

Reception[edit]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Award Category Nominee(s) Result
Academy Awards Best Actress Ingrid Bergman Won
Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Alfred Newman Nominated
British Academy Film Awards Best British Screenplay Arthur Laurents Nominated
David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Actress Ingrid Bergman Won
Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Won
Helen Hayes Nominated
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films 8th Place
Best Actor Yul Brynner (also for The King and I and The Ten Commandments) Won
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actor Nominated
Best Actress Ingrid Bergman Won
Photoplay Awards Most Popular Male Star Yul Brynner Nominated

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p250
  2. ^ Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. p. M144.
  3. ^ "Anastasia (1956)".
  4. ^ Anastasia

External links[edit]