Anna Boleyn (1920)

Director:

Ernst Lubitsch

Writers:

Norbert Falk (writer)
Hanns Kräly (writer)

Release Date:

17 April 1921 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The story of the ill-fated second wife of the English king Henry VIII, whose marriage to the Henry led...

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Cast

Henny Porten	...	Anna Boleyn
Emil Jannings	...	Henry VIII
Paul Hartmann	...	Sir Henry Norris
Ludwig Hartau	...	Duke of Norfolk
Aud Egede Nissen	...	Jane Seymour
Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein	...	Queen Catherine
Hilde Müller	...	Princess Marie
Maria Reisenhofer	...	Lady Rochford
Ferdinand von Alten	...	Mark Smeaton
Adolf Klein	...	Cardinal Wolsey
Paul Biensfeldt	...	Jester
Wilhelm Diegelmann	...	Cardinal Campeggio
Friedrich Kühne	...	Archbishop Cranmer
Karl Platen	...	Physician
Erling Hanson	...	Count Percy

Also Known As:

Anne Boleyn
Deception

Runtime:

100 min | USA:133 min | 118 min (DVD)

Country:

Germany

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Liepnitzsee, Brandenburg, Germany

Company:

Messter Film

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin - Von der Schönhauser Allee nach Hollywood (2006) (V)

Big, beautiful, and boring

Opulent sets and sumptuous costumes well photographed by Theodor Sparkuhl, and a good (not great) performance by Jannings as Henry cannot overcome poor writing and static camera-work. Henny Porten chews the scenery as Anne.

It's all very beautiful; but it's all surface and no depth. The melodramatic tale of a woman wronged made it a hit in America where the expressionistic "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" flopped in the same year (1920), proving that what is popular is not what endures. Lubitsch would be remembered for his lively comedies, not sterile spectacles like this.