With the secrecies and uncertainties surrounding the execution in 1917 of the Russian royal family by revolutionaries, history is littered with claims of surviving children. None more so than the romanticised survival of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II.
A decade later, General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine (Yul Brynner) and his accomplice Boris Adreivich Chernov (Akim Tamiroff) groom the destitute, suicidal Anna Koreff (Ingrid Bergman) to pass as Anastasia. Their aim – to access the £10 million inheritance sitting in the Bank of England. But they must first convince Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (Helen Hayes), the Grand Duchess’ grandmother and living in exile in Copenhagen, of her identity.
As directed by Anatole Litvak, Anastasia is somewhat dull and pedantic – an episodic, overly staged telling of its narrative but which benefits from empathic performances by Bergman and, in particular, Hayes.
Nominated for 2 Oscars in 1957 including best score (Alfred Newman), won 1 for best actress.
Rating: 50%
Director: Anatole Litvak (The Snake Pit, Decision Before Dawn)
Writer: Arthur Laurents (Rope, West Side Story) – adapted from the play by Guy Bolton & Marcelle Maurette
Main cast: Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata, Casablanca), Yul Brynner (The King & I, The Magnificent Seven), Helen Hayes (The Sin of Madeline Claudet, Airport)
An Opinion or Two 