Anastasia (1956)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

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:

Russian | Exile | Russian Easter | Opportunist | Grandmother

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

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

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #18293) | Canada:G (video rating) | 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:

Anna Anderson's handwriting was pronounced identical with Anastasia's and medical experts found 17 points of similarity between her ear and the real Anastasia's. However, after her death it was discovered that her DNA did not match of England's Prince Philip, a blood relative of the Romanovs.

Quotes:

Dowager Empress: But oh please, if it should not be you, don't ever tell me.

Movie Connections:

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

Royal Fairy Tale

Based on the legend about the sole-surviving daughter of Russia's last Czar, this film is very well done with an excellent cast, international locations, and an evocative soundtrack.

This was Bergman's return to American film after being shunned for having an extra-marital affair at a time when America was caught in the height of self-righteous McCarthyism. She proved that she could still hold the screen even with the likes of her very powerful co-stars.

The story follows the progression of a lost soul from suicidal depths to resurrection as a lost princess and concludes as a fairy tale. The elderly empress points out at the end that the play is over -- go home.