Excellent but underrated film

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

each occasion when you see again. because it is more than a well known story. and it is more than exploration of a hypothesis. it is a beautiful Litvak. for the wise choices for the each role. for atmosphere. and, especially, for the music. a film impressive for less a magnificent scene - the meet between Ingrid Bergman and Helen Hayes. and for the science to use Yul Brynner in inspired manner. and, sure, for the performance of Martita Hunt. it is a surprising film for its modernity. for subtle way to be a game of appearances, love, desires. and, sure, for the end. a good support for reflection. about history, people and deep purposes.

I have never got around in seeing this classic until a few days ago. I have been interested in researching Anastasia since I've seen the 1997 version years ago, and I have finally got around seeing this! I thought Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman was absolutely wonderful at playing Anna Anderson! She really fit the role and just had done it so well! She looked absolutely beautiful with the dresses she had on, especially the dress she had at the end I quite liked how Yul Brynner playing a mysterious and an odd character who never existed. He was outstanding also for a Russian actor I never came across before!I was a little bit disappointed with the ending, I thought we would see Anna Anderson and the General being shown that they ran off together. Even if they got married instead, I would've liked if they both appeared at the near end! I thought it was pointless to film the ball if they weren't there!

I should admit first that I saw the cartoon musical remake with the voices of Meg Ryan and John Cusack before this original that I had only heard of because of the award winning lead actress, so of course I watched. Basically is has been ten years since the teenage Romanov Grand Duchess and her sisters and brother, children of the Tsar, Nicholas II, have apparently been killed. Anna Koreff (Oscar and Golden Globe winning Ingrid Bergman) is the orphaned woman who has no memory of where she came from, turning up in Paris and found by General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine (Yul Brynner) who is very keen on the £10,000,000 inheritance. What starts out as training to become a convincing Anastasia impostor, with her uncanny resemblance, Anna gains more confidence and style to meet what may be former familiars and imperial court members. Her big ambition to help her possibly confirm her identity, as there are many saying she really is Anastasia, is to meet Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (Golden Globe nominated Helen Hayes) during the tour de force in Copenhagen. When Anna gets to the know fortune hunting Prince Paul Von Haraldberg (Ivan Desny) we see Bounine getting jealous, and everything comes down to a grand ball where he tries to convince the Empress to meet the lady he has found. The Empress does have a private word with Anna, she is obviously confident that she is another impostor wanting to inherit the fortune she is owed, as the only living Tsar sibling, but as a conversation develops Anna does reveal remembering many things from her past that the Empress recognises, and only she would know. In the end, supposedly the Empress confirms that Anna truly is the living Anastasia, and although she is seen in the arms of Price Haraldberg and not Bounine, it is a seemingly happy ending because everything has been settled. Also starring Akim Tamiroff as Boris Adreivich Chernov, Martita Hunt as Baroness Elena Von Livenbaum, Felix Aylmer as Chamberlain, Sacha Pitoëff as Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin, Natalie Schafer as Irina Lissemskaia, Grégoire Gromoff as Stepan and Karel Stepanek as Mikhail Vlados. Bergman does give a good award worthy performance (she won against Deborah Kerr in The King and I, ironically starring Oscar winning Bryner), the story is a little confusing in moments, and I may have drifted off slightly, but it is a rather watchable period drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Music for Alfred Newman, and it was nominated the BAFTA for Best British Screenplay. Very good!

Long ago, I found the basic premise of Anastasia captivating; but when I last saw this (in my teens, two decades ago) I was disappointed. Now, much later, I'm impressed to see some on-location photography in Paris. I was less pleased with the filtering of the idea through the romance genre (in the early reels) and the 'prestige production.' Both decisions are usually fatal. But as it proceeds it become smarter, more cynical entertainment than the usual offerings of the 50s, and although dated Bergman can certainly act.It doesn't generate a shred of anticipation over whether Bergman is Anastasia, but other merits make up for that. The DVD commentary from Sylvia Stoddard a scholar of Russian history is very appreciated when she's poring over history, less so when she's gushing about the movies acheivements.Martita Hunt who played Miss Havisham in David Lean's Great Expectations has a large role.