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20th Century Fox
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The most amazing conspiracy the world has ever known... and love as it never happened to a man and woman before!
Russian exiles in Paris plot to collect ten million pounds from the Bank of England by grooming a destitute, suicidal girl to pose as heir to the Russian throne. While Bounin is coaching her, he comes to believe that she is really Anastasia. In the end, the Empress must decide her claim.
CinemaSerf
Nov 9, 2022 · via TMDB
Whilst this is certainly a lavish and luxuriant production, somehow the sum of the parts just don't add up to much of an whole. Yul Brynner is the ambitious, former general-turned-restauranteur "Bounine" who has been, for many a year, convincing his financial backers that he has discovered the last surviving child of the assassinated Czar Nicholas II. He has discovered the sickly and troubled "Anna" (Ingrid Bergman) and hopes that with some grooming, training and furs she might be able to convince the Dowager Empress (Helen Hayes) that she is, indeed, her granddaughter. It also turns out that should she endorse the identity of the young woman, the enormous sum of £10 million will be released to her by the Bank of England. Bergman is strong as the initially vulnerable, amnesiac girl who has no real idea who she is, or where she comes from - and that performance contributes very plausibly as the story gathers momentum and her persona becomes much better established (real or not!). Hayes - aided by the scene stealing Martita Hunt's "Baroness von Livenbaum" - also plays her part well, an imperious woman who is cynical but harbours an optimistic desire that hopes against hope. Brynner isn't up to very much, though. He doesn't quite cut it as the scheming manipulator and as the story progresses his character, already pretty unlikeable, doesn't really develop until a rather weak and underwhelming denouement (historical truth notwithstanding). When this was made, there was a chance that one of the Grand Duchesses had survived, and the colourful and stylish look of this film tries hard to capitalise on those intriguing rumours. Sadly, though, here the dialogue is wordy and there is little by way of on-screen chemistry to distinguish this disappointingly episodic and plodding historical drama.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
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
Ivan Desny
Prince Paul von Haraldberg
Natalie Schafer
Irina Lissemskaia / Nini
Grégoire Gromoff
Stepan
Karl Stepanek
Mikhail Vlados
Ina De La Haye
Marusia
Katherine Kath
Maxime
Peter Sallis
Grischa (uncredited)
Jack Hildyard
Director of Photography
Gerry O'Hara
Assistant Director
Anatole Litvak
Director
Buddy Adler
Producer
Alfred Newman
Original Music Composer
Guy Bolton
Adaptation
Arthur Laurents
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Versus
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Seven Dorms of Death
2015
Preview
1982
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
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