|
By
NICK ZEGARAC
At the time that "Anastasia"
was being prepared for pre-production Ingrid
Bergman had been persona non grata in Hollywood
for nearly a decade. The scandalous affair with
Roberto Rossellini that ended her marriage to
Peter Lindstrom had been denounced on the floor of
Congress and overwhelming critical reaction from
the press and public effectively ended Bergman's
tenure in Hollywood films.
Eventually, at screenwriter Arthur Lawrence's
insistence, and backed by director Anatole Litvak,
20th Century Fox relented, allowing for one of the
all-time great comebacks in cinema history.
Immediately embraced by the movie going public,
Bergman's performance was hailed as a tour de
force, winning the Best Actress Oscar. Yet the
film provides more questions than answers -- a
fitting end to one of the 20th century's most
tragic and compelling vanishing acts.
The 1956 version of "Anastasia" is the rapturous
fairytale that attempts to answer the mystery of
what became to the youngest daughter of Tsar
Nicholas II, the last Imperial ruler of Russia.
Lawrence happily distances his screenplay from
anything even remotely associated with the tragic
historical record and focuses instead on a troupe
of militant loyalist exiles wallowing in their
pasts in Paris. Ingrid Bergman stars as the
mysterious woman with no past who is plucked from
obscurity by con man, General Bounine (Yul
Brynner). Bounine wants to get his hands on
Anastasia's ten million dollar inheritance.
Engaging two former masters from Russia's imperial
court, the conniving Chernov (Akim Tamiroff) and
the nervous Petrovan (Sacha Pitoëff) Bounine
begins to educate his find in a crash course of
social graces and royal protocol. However,
somewhere between the lesson and the past, the
protégé begins to recall places and people that
she hasn't been taught about, leaving Bounine with
more curiosity and questions than ever before. Can
it be that the woman with no past is in fact the
actual heir to the Russian throne?
Helen Hayes costars as the impeccable Dowager
Empress. Her initial reaction to Bounine is one of
bitter disdain. But when the woman being groomed
as Anastasia suddenly recalls for the Empress a
memory that no one but she could have known, the
Dowager's heart melts and she accepts the woman as
her granddaughter. As a mere supporting player,
Martita Hunt, as the Baroness von Livenbaum, is a
genuine scene-stealer. This is a film of immense
emotional undercurrents made all the more poignant
by a stellar cast of performers.
After decades of full frame viewing on
conventional televisions, Fox Home Video has at
long last restored "Anastasia" to its Cinemascope
aspect ratio on DVD. Previous editions of the film
on laserdisc and VHS had been plagued by orangy
flesh tones and excessive amounts of film grain.
This DVD corrects and properly balances the
colors. Though at times flesh tones can appear a
little on the pasty side, overall the color, black
levels and fine detail are impeccably rendered. A
slight amount of edge enhancement and some very
minute aliasing crops up in a few scenes but
nothing that will distract. The audio is a 4.0
remastering effort that brings back the early
grandeur of Cinemascope stereophonic sound. Extras
include a Biography Special on the real Anastasia,
a Movie-tones trailer, a restoration comparison
and the film's original theatrical trailer -- plus
an insightful audio commentary running throughout
the film's presentation. What became of the real
Anastasia remains secret to this day. Thankfully,
Fox Video has ensured that there will be no
mystery in finding suitable copies of this vintage
classic on DVD for decades to come. |
