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 4 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:

Helen Haye was an actress who had impressed the film's producer. He sent a memo to the casting agent saying "Hire Helen Haye". This was taken to be a misprint by the agent and the popular actress Helen Hayes was hired.

Quotes:

Dowager Empress: Lievenbaum, you're disgusting! At your age, a woman's only thoughts of sex should be gender!

Movie Connections:

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

A POWERFUL TRIFLE

Big themes, treated with a tabloid sensibility. Within its historical context the Ingrid Bergman saga is much more juicier than that of Anastasia herself. After the Rosellini scandal, this was Bergman's return to the graces of the American public. The Oscar was, without question, a reward for her personal ordeal than for her performance. (That same year Carroll Baker was nominated for Elia Kazan's "Baby Doll" Katharine Hepburn for "The Rainmaker" and Deborah Kerr for "The King and I" not to mention Nancy Kelly for "The Bad Seed". The scene between Bergman and Helen Hayes, however, makes the whole, plodding thing, very worth while.