''Anastasia'' is a 1956 American
period
Period may refer to:
Common uses
* Era, a length or span of time
* Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Period (music), a concept in musical composition
* Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
film directed by
Anatole Litvak
Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (russian: Анатолий Михайлович Литвак; 21 May 1902 – 15 December 1974), better known as Anatole Litvak, was a Ukrainian-born American filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in vari ...
and written by
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents (July 14, 1917 – May 5, 2011) was an American playwright, theatre director, film producer and screenwriter.
After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S. Army during World War II ...
. Set in
interwar
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...
France, the film follows a plot related to rumors that the
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
* Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist
* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
* Grand, Vosges, village and c ...
, the youngest daughter of the late
Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
and
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, survived the
execution of her family in 1918. Russian General Bounine (
Yul Brynner
Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in th ...
), former leader of the
White Army
The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв ...
during the
Russian Revolution, along with his associates plot to swindle an inheritance of £10 million from the Grand Duchess using an amnesiac (
Ingrid Bergman) who looks remarkably like the missing Anastasia. The exiled émigrés of the Russian aristocracy, in particular the
Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna (
Helen Hayes) of Denmark, must be convinced that their handpicked claimant is legitimate if the plotters are to get her money.
''Anastasia'' was adapted from a 1952 play written by
Guy Bolton
Guy Reginald Bolton (23 November 1884 – 4 September 1979) was an Anglo-American playwright and writer of musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the US, he trained as an architect but turned to writing. Bolton preferred ...
and
Marcelle Maurette Marcelle may refer to:
*Marcelle, a French feminine version of Marcel
* 1300 Marcelle (1934 CL), a main-belt asteroid
*Groupe Marcelle
A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation.
A ...
. He was inspired by the story of
Anna Anderson
Anna Anderson (born Franziska Schanzkowska, 16 December 1896 – 12 February 1984) was an impostor who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia. Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Nicholas II an ...
, the best known of the many
Anastasia impostors who emerged after the Imperial family were killed in July 1918.
Plot
Though the
last Russian Tsar and his family were executed in 1918, rumors persisted that his youngest daughter, the
Grand Duchess Anastasia
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
* Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist
* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
* Grand, Vosges, village and co ...
, somehow survived. In 1928 Paris, Anna, an ailing woman resembling Anastasia, is brought to the attention of former
White Russian General Bounine, now the proprietor of a successful Russian-themed nightclub. Bounine knows that while Anna was in a
mental asylum
The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...
being treated for
amnesia, she told a nun that she was Anastasia. When approached by Bounine and addressed as the grand duchess, she refuses to have anything to do with him. She flees and tries to throw herself into the
River Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
, but is stopped.
Bounine meets with his associates Chernov and Petrovin. Bounine has already repeatedly raised funds from stockholders (eager to gain a share of £10 million belonging to Anastasia held by an English bank) based on his claim that he had found Anastasia. Privately he admits it is a scam. But the stockholders have lost their patience and given him eight days to produce her.
Bounine arranges for Anna to be intensively trained to pass as Anastasia. During this time, she and Bounine begin to develop 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 her skeptical interlocutors.
Anna has to go to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, where she has to convince the highly skeptical dowager empress, Anastasia's grandmother, that she is Anastasia Romanov. Meanwhile, Bounine becomes increasingly jealous of the attentions that Prince Paul, another fortune hunter, pays to Anna. At a grand ball in Copenhagen at which Anna/Anastasia's engagement to Paul is to be announced, the dowager empress has a final private conversation with her. Although aware of Bounine's machinations,
Empress Marie Feodorovna believes that Anna is truly her granddaughter. Realizing that Anna has fallen in love with Bounine, she helps her run away with him. The empress then makes it known to those around her that Anna is not Anastasia, although it is left ambiguous if she accepts that notion.
Cast
![Anastasia (1956) trailer 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Anastasia_%281956%29_trailer_1.jpg)
*
Ingrid Bergman as
Anna Koreff / Anastasia
*
Yul Brynner
Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in th ...
as General Bounine
*
Helen Hayes as the
Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna
*
Akim Tamiroff as Boris Andreevich Chernov
*
Martita Hunt
Martita Edith Hunt (30 January 190013 June 1969) was an Argentine-born British theatre and film actress. She had a dominant stage presence and played a wide range of powerful characters. She is best remembered for her performance as Miss Havi ...
as Baroness Elena von Livenbaum
*
Felix Aylmer
Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby.
Earl ...
as Chamberlain
*
Sacha Pitoëff as Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin
*
Ivan Desny as Prince Paul von Haraldberg (an invented character)
*
Natalie Schafer
Natalie Schafer (November 5, 1900 – April 10, 1991) was an American actress, known for her role as Lovey Howell on the sitcom ''Gilligan's Island'' (1964–1967).
Early life and career
Natalie Schafer was born on November 5, 1900, in Manhatta ...
as Irina Lissemskaia
* Grégoire Gromoff as Stepan
*
Karel Štěpánek
Karel Štěpánek (29 October 189925 December 1980) was a Czech actor who spent many years in Austria and generally played German roles onscreen. In 1940 he moved to Britain and spent much of the rest of his career acting there.
Partial filmo ...
as Mikhail Vlados
*
Ina De La Haye
Ina De La Haye (1906–1972) was a Russian Empire born actress and singer known for her performances in Britain on stage, film and television. She was also known as Ina Delahaye.Wearing p.56
She was married to Colonel J. V. Delahaye from 1930 to ...
as Marusia
*
Katherine Kath
Katherine Kath (born Rose Marie Lily Faess; 11 August 1920 – 17 November 2012) was a French prima ballerina at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, who became an actress after suffering from an injury which destroyed her chances of continuing he ...
as Maxime
Production notes
The film was adapted by
Guy Bolton
Guy Reginald Bolton (23 November 1884 – 4 September 1979) was an Anglo-American playwright and writer of musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the US, he trained as an architect but turned to writing. Bolton preferred ...
and
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents (July 14, 1917 – May 5, 2011) was an American playwright, theatre director, film producer and screenwriter.
After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S. Army during World War II ...
from the play by Bolton and
Marcelle Maurette Marcelle may refer to:
*Marcelle, a French feminine version of Marcel
* 1300 Marcelle (1934 CL), a main-belt asteroid
*Groupe Marcelle
A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation.
A ...
. 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 the Romanov princess, but suggests through subtle hints that she is. The gradual realisation of her true identity is juxtaposed against Bounine's growing romantic interest in Anna. In one speech, he says to Anna/Anastasia that he cares for who she is and not what her name is.
Hayes draws from her stage experience to deliver the film's last line, summing up the motion picture's exploration of identity and role-playing. Asked how she will explain the vanishing of her supposed granddaughter to a ballroom full of expectant guests, she declares, "I will tell them that the play is over, go home!" The film closes with the regal figure of the Dowager Empress on the arm of Prince Paul, descending the grand staircase.
The film marked Bergman's return to working for a Hollywood studio after several years of working in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
with her husband,
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...
. (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
The film was shot on location in Copenhagen, London and Paris. Studio interiors were shot at
MGM-British Studios
MGM-British was a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer initially established (as MGM London Films Denham) at Denham Film Studios in 1936. It was in limbo during the Second World War; however, following the end of hostilities, a facility was acquire ...
at
Borehamwood
Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...
, England.
The
Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Paris, which was a center of worship for Russian aristocrats and other émigrés from
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in the city, is featured in one of the early scenes.
Anastasia
/ref>
Awards and nominations
See also
* List of American films of 1956
A list of American films released in 1956
''Around the World in 80 Days'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
A-B
C-D
E-I
J-M
N-R
S-Z
See also
* 1956 in the United States
Sources Footnotes
References
*
*
External links
19 ...
* '' Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna''
* ''Anastasia'' (1997 film)
* Romanov impostors
Members of the ruling Russian imperial family, the House of Romanov, were executed by a firing squad led by Yakov Yurovsky in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on July 17, 1918, during both the Russian Civil War and near the end of the First World War.
A ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anastasia (1956 Film)
1956 films
1956 drama films
20th Century Fox films
American drama films
1950s English-language films
American films based on plays
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
CinemaScope films
Films shot at MGM-British Studios
Films with screenplays by Arthur Laurents
1950s American films