Anna Boleyn

This is a strange piece: a tale of late-medieval English history, made at a German studio, entirely produced and acted by Germans (plus one Swiss and one Norwegian). While we in the UK are quite used to Hollywood rewriting our history for us (Braveheart etc.) we don't expect it so much from our fellow Europeans. But back in the early 1920s the UFA studio in Berlin really was the Hollywood of Europe, and for a few years they had the cinematic prowess to tell whatever stories they liked.

The director here is Ernst Lubitsch, who later became well-known in the US for his sophisticated comedies, and back then he was primarily a comedy director too. Anna Boleyn sees him turning his many comical tricks to more dramatic effect. A favourite comedy technique of his was the pull-back-and-reveal, as used for example in the opening shot of The Oyster Princess (1919) to show the bloated Oyster King surrounded by his lackeys. That shot is duplicated here with the introduction to Henry VIII, the look slightly more realistic but just as revelatory of the character. And although Lubitsch's pictures are in a very different category to those of his fellow UFA luminaries Fritz Lang and FW Murnau, he shares with those directors a fascination with décor and architecture. He constantly composes shots in depth, looking down corridors or through into larger rooms, from the early moments at the harbour where a set of doors are opened onto a bustling street, to the haunting final view of the scaffold. This was a common way of emphasising a large space before the days of widescreen, but it also gives the whole thing a sense of dread and inevitability, as characters advance upon us from the distance or spy on each other into a room beyond.

Lubitsch also reveals himself to be a master of pacing within a sequence. For example after a handful of busy shots at the spring festival the scene, everything becomes slow, simple and a shade darker as Anna encounters Norris on the outskirts of the merrymaking. Throughout the picture the director encourages steady, measured performances, making some scenes move at a glacial pace but endowing them with atmosphere and fascinating detail, such as the eerie depiction of Anna and Henry's wedding night. Playing the king, the talented Emil Jannings is uncharacteristically restrained, giving us a menacing, moody king very different to Charles Laughton's flamboyant 1933 portrayal. Henny Porten is not quite as good in the title role, her performance consisting mostly of looking extremely disturbed. However she is able to make a good account of herself in the final few minutes, when it really matters. An honourable mention must also go to Paul Biensfeldt as the jester, who makes the most of his close-ups and gives us a sincere and dignified portrayal of this deceptively simple character.

Anna Boleyn is all in all a rather stunning feature, and actually somewhat better than most of the historical dramas coming out of Hollywood at the time. It seems that, during this crucial period when the full-length motion picture was beginning to grow up and things like screen acting and set design were becoming serious professions, the Germans had the edge with their strong theatrical, operatic and artistic traditions, upon which their cinematic industry was built. Lubitsch, Jannings, and almost every other member of the crew and cast had a background on the stage, as oppose to the technicians and entrepreneurs who were running Hollywood. In Germany they knew very well how to tell stories visually, how to merge production design and performance into a complete form of expression, and they had a large pool of people with the necessary experience. The supremacy of UFA would continue until the Americans gained the technological edge in the late 20s (not to mention poaching much of Germany's creative talent), but during this short period it was the most competent movie-making factory in the world. Anna Boleyn is not even the finest output of its time and place, and yet is still made with that powerful blend of storytelling knowledge and cinematic inventiveness, and is a drama of considerable stature and elegance.

Anna Boleyn becomes the lady in waiting for Catherine of Aragon, wife of King Henry VIII. Henry immediately puts the moves on Anna. When Catherine is unable to produce a son, Henry gets his marriage annulled and marries Anna. Then Henry puts the moves on Anna's lady in waiting, Jane Seymour. Anna produces a daughter, which does not thrill Henry. Anna is beheaded on trumped-up charges of infidelity.

This is a good-looking film, with an excellent performance by Jannings. Henny Porten is also good, particularly during the climax when her own uncle turns against her. The sets and costumes are first rate.

The film runs about two hours, but never drags. One weak spot was the jousting scene, which was a bit lame. This film is definitely worth a look.

In those years when the cinema had no voice it was truly an international medium. Stories from other lands could be brought to the screen by the movie industry of another country. One of Greta Garbo's sound films for MGM had her playing an English lady. And here Emil Jannings whose inability to speak the King's English and forced him to return to Germany plays that most English of monarchs Henry VIII. In this Jannings joined a great pantheon of English speaking players like Charles Laughton, Montagu Love, Charlton Heston, and Robert Shaw who all played the monarch who changed wives like some change underwear.

Jannings is an impressive looking and acting Henry VIII. A man whose pleasures mingled with his impassioned search for a woman to bear him a male heir and the politics of Europe. Henny Polen whose career spanned five decades in the German cinema plays the luckless Anne.

By the way another reviewer thought her not sexy enough to leave a king panting. In fact director Ernst Lubitsch must have seen Tudor era portraits of Anne because Polen look a lot like Boleyn.

The Lubitsch touch which everyone talks about in his talkie Hollywood films is not here as such. But Lubitsch was quite detailed in his sets and costumes in what must have cost many marks in post war Germany. They look very much Tudor England and compare them with those of Warner Brothers The Prince And The Pauper where Montagu Love was Henry VIII.

This is worth a look.

Silent historical drama based on the story of Anne Boleyn, newly arrived lady-in-waiting to the Queen who catches the lustful eye of Henry VIII, bad-tempered King of England who loves to feast, drink, hunt, be entertained by his court jester, watch jousts, and chase around after young beauties who jump out of cakes and assorted attractive females around the castle. Well, he's soon annulled his marriage, married Anne, and telling her it is her holy duty to produce a male heir. She fails on that score and he soon has his eye on yet another lady-in-waiting. Meanwhile, Anne spends pretty much the entire film looking hesitant, perturbed, or downright ready to burst into tears. She just doesn't come across as a happy camper (or is it just bad acting?!).

This film is a solid piece of entertainment, with an absorbing story that held my interest for two hours - plus I enjoyed seeing the very lavish medieval costuming featured here on a gorgeous sepia tinted print. Emil Jannings is quite striking and memorable in his well-done portrayal of King Henry the Eighth - he really seemed like he WAS Henry the Eighth. I am not so sure about the performance given by the actress who plays Anne, seemed a bit over the top. The DVD of this film features an appropriate, nicely done piano score that perfectly suits this story. Quite a good film.

I have always been surprised by the fact that the great German born director Ernst Lubitsch first made his reputation by a series of large scale silent costume dramas such as THE EYES OF THE MUMMY, MADAME DU BARRY (PASSION), and this film. Today he is remembered and revered for his comic touch in such talking films as NINOTCHKA and TO BE OR NOT TO BE and that is how it should be. His epic films are gorgeous to look at with large scale sets, elaborate costumes, and hundreds of extras but nothing that D. W. Griffith hadn't done better a few years earlier.

Unfortunately the acting in most of these movies has dated badly and is so over the top that any sense of drama is quickly lost. That is especially true of ANNA BOLEYN (1920) one of four DVD releases from Kino highlighting Lubitsch in Berlin. Henny Porten as the title character is so emotionally overwrought as to be laughable which is clearly not the intention here. Emil Jannings, not exactly known as the subtlest of actors, seems positively restrained in comparison and it's clear to see where Charles Laughton got his portrayal of Henry VIII from.

But to be fair to Porten, this exaggerated style is typical of other Lubitsch dramatic heroines as well including Pola Negri who would come with him to America and become a big star (she's also in SUMURAN and THE WILDCAT which are part of this set). The film looks great with subtle tints and proper framing and features an appropriate but underpowered musical background. An orchestral score would have softened the histrionics.

It's a good thing that Lubitsch discovered comedy otherwise he would have wound up only a footnote in cinema history. For a look at where his true talent lay, check out the comic double bill THE OYSTER PRINCESS / I DON'T WANT TO BE A MAN also in this group of new releases along with THE WILDCAT. They are as funny today as they were in 1920 and point the way to the great Ernst Lubitsch of the future...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.