Anastasia (1956 film)
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Anastasia | |
---|---|
Directed by | Anatole Litvak |
Screenplay by | Arthur Laurents |
Based on | Anastasia by Marcelle Maurette |
Produced by | Buddy Adler |
Starring | Ingrid Bergman Yul Brynner Helen Hayes |
Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
Edited by | Bert Bates |
Music by | Alfred Newman |
Production company | |
Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | English 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.
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]
- Ingrid Bergman as Anastasia / ''Anna Koreff''
- Yul Brynner as General Bounine
- Helen Hayes as Maria Feodorovna
- Akim Tamiroff as Boris Andreevich Chernov
- Martita Hunt as Baroness Elena von Livenbaum
- Felix Aylmer as Chamberlain
- Sacha Pitoëff as Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin
- Ivan Desny as Prince Paul von Haraldberg
- Natalie Schafer as Irina Lissemskaia
- Grégoire Gromoff as Stepan
- Karel Štěpánek as Mikhail Vlados
- Ina De La Haye as Marusia
- Katherine Kath as Maxime
- Peter Sallis as Grischa (uncredited)[3]
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]
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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]
- List of American films of 1956
- Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna
- Anastasia (1997 film)
- The Story of Anastasia, a German film appearing that same year
- Romanov impostors
References[edit]
- ^ 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
- ^ Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. p. M144.
- ^ "Anastasia (1956)".
- ^ Anastasia
External links[edit]
- Anastasia at IMDb
- Anastasia at the TCM Movie Database
- Anastasia at AllMovie
- Anastasia at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Anastasia at Rotten Tomatoes
- 1956 films
- 1956 drama films
- 1950s American films
- 1950s English-language films
- 20th Century Fox films
- American drama films
- American films based on plays
- CinemaScope films
- Cultural depictions of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
- Films about amnesia
- Films directed by Anatole Litvak
- Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award-winning performance
- Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe-winning performance
- Films scored by Alfred Newman
- Films set in Copenhagen
- Films set in France
- Films set in 1928
- Films shot at MGM-British Studios
- Films with screenplays by Arthur Laurents