Anastasia (1956)

Anatole Litvak: Anastasia (US 1956). Akim Tamiroff (Chernov), Sacha Pitoeff (Petrovin), Yul Brynner (generale Bounine) and Ingrid Bergman (Anastasia/Anna Koreff/Anna Anderson).

Anastasia / Anastasia.

    US 1956. Prod.: Buddy Adler per Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. 

    Director: Anatole Litvak. Sog.: della pièce omonima (1952) di Marcelle Maurette nell’adattamento (1954) di Guy Bolton. Scen.: Arthur Laurents. F.: Jack Hildyard. M.: Bert Bates. Scgf.: Andrei Andrejew, Bill Andrews. Mus.: Alfred Newman. Int.: Ingrid Bergman (Anastasia/Anna Koreff/Anna Anderson), Yul Brynner (generale Bounine), Helen Hayes (imperatrice Maria Feodorovna), Akim Tamiroff (Chernov), Martita Hunt (baronessa Elena von Livenbaum), Felix Aylmer (ciambellano), Sacha Pitoeff (Petrovin), Ivan Desny (principe Paul von Haraldberg). 105’. Colour.

    "Anastasia" theme, comp. Alfred Newman, is heard in the movie as an instrumental only. Lyrics to the song version were written by Paul Francis Webster, recorded by Loren Becker (1956). Finnish lyrics by Saukki (Sauvo Puhtila), first recorded by Hannu Hovi in 1956.

    Marcelle Maurette's play was not staged in Finland.

    Helsinki premiere: 22 Feb 1957 Kino-Palatsi, telepremiere 28 April 1973 Yle TV1.

    35 mm print from: The Walt Disney Studios

    Concession by Park Circus

    Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna 2024: Journey Into Night: The World of Anatole Litvak

    Viewed at Jolly Cinema, e-subtitles in Italian by SubTi Londra, 29 June 2024

Ehsan Khoshbakht (Bologna 2024 Catalogue): "One of the quintessential films of the 1950s, Anatole Litvak’s immaculate entry into his ‘identification of woman’ series is restrained in its grandness and rich in evoking the key themes of his cinema. In 1928, Bounine, a white Russian army general in exile, plots to pass off an itinerant Anna as Anastasia, the alleged sole survivor of the Czar’s family. With an eye on claiming the Romanov fortune deposited in the Bank of England, Bounine trains Anna to impersonate Anastasia but soon suspects he might be dealing with the genuine Grand Duchess."

"Litvak fought with Fox to cast Ingrid Bergman who was ostracised in America after her scandalous affair with Roberto Rossellini. Now with her marriage to Rossellini on the rocks, Bergman’s portrayal of Anna’s tortured existence gained credibility, garnering her an Oscar."

"Shot mostly in Elstree Studios in England but also in Paris, Nice and Copenhagen for exteriors, Anastasia is about knowledge of self and history, and how the two intertwine. In its dazzlingly modern approach, it resembles more recent films such as Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, a film that also features a couple’s intriguing games of identity and role-swapping. A breathtaking sense of ambiguity abounds throughout, partly thanks to the impeccable script by Arthur Laurents."

"In an exquisite use of CinemaScope, there’s a striking conversation scene between Bergman and Brynner from their respective rooms in a hotel suite during which we only see two doors on each corner of the frame and a vast, empty space standing between them – the void of Anna’s identity but Bounine’s also. Then, magically, it fills with unspoken desire. If the film enacts a performance that the characters start to take for real, then, at the utterly brilliant ending, the Dowager Empress announces that the show has ended. But as she does, Anna and Bounine have already left the frame/stage. Now we are left with our own void – to wonder who we are." Ehsan Khoshbakht (Bologna 2024 Catalogue)

AA: I see for the first time Anatole Litvak's Anastasia. I have only seen 20th Century Fox's 1997 Anastasia remake of their success property, based on the same Arthur Laurents screenplay - which they transformed and conducted as a lavish animation directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The strength of the animation is rightly in sumptuous fantasy and fairytale, plus there is a vivid Anastasia protagonist, voiced by Meg Ryan.

I am also familiar with Alfred Newman's "Anastasia" theme tune composed for Litvak's movie (not reused in the animation). I don't know about other countries, but in Finland it became a popular song, still in radioplay. At least six singers made a record of it, perhaps also thanks to fine lyrics by Sauvo Puhtila.

Anastasia was Ingrid Bergman's Hollywood comeback vehicle, "but you can't go home again". You are not the same. The home is not the same. You have grown in different directions. Hollywood in an important sense was about to cease to exist.

Bergman had had a string of the greatest directors: Cukor, McCarey, Hitchcock, Rossellini and Renoir. She was successful to the end, but only once again she was directed by a master of the same calibre, Ingmar Bergman.

Anastasia is a filmed success play and a film of quality. The theme of identity is genuinely moving. It takes Ehsan Khoshbakht to compare it with Abbas Kiarostami, and yes, Certified Copy. Anastasia has also an affinity with thrillers about secret agents who assume fake identities. Litvak himself directed one: Decision Before Dawn. The mental illness, amnesia and attempted suicide aspects take us also towards the world of The Snake Pit.

The cast is lively and interesting. I was especially moved to register Helen Hayes (Arrowsmith, A Farewell to Arms) as the Dowager Empress. She has what it takes to carry the role of the greatest gravity. She sees through Anastasia but finally decides to play along - at least for a while.

One can sense Anatoli Litvak's compassion with the Russian tragedy - both in the motherland and in exile.

A gorgeous CinemaScope print in glorious colour. A feast to the eye. Cinema Jolly's scope projection again takes the breath away already during the opening credits backed up by the powerful Alfred Newman music theme.

...

Regarding the execution of the Romanov family, including Anastasia, on 16 July 1918, I have just read from Anne Reid's A Nasty Little War: The West's Fight to Reverse the Russian Revolution (2023), that their asylum offer was turned down in Britain by Nicholas II's first cousin - King George V himself. The episode was hushed up and censored from the memoirs of those involved, including Prime Minister Lloyd George. The Tsar and the King were uncannily similar in appearance. The Romanovs were seen in Britain as bogeymen, particularly "Nicky".