Ingrid Bergman’s Return to American Film as ‘Anastasia’ 1956

 

Ingrid Bergman made her first American film in seven years in 1956's "Anastasia."
 Though matured, Ingrid had lost none of her luminosity.

The best way to enjoy 1956’s Anastasia is to view it as the selling of a myth. When the play and film of Anastasia were created in the ‘50s, there was still some room for doubt. This, allowing for the fact the Grand Dowager Marie never publicly accepted Anna Anderson as Anastasia and many people at the time believed that she was an imposter. The film Anastasia teases the unlikely possibility that Anna is actually her but glibly leaves the mystery open-ended.

Anna or Anastasia? Now, we know. But in 1956, the mystery over the fate of Russia's
 "Anastasia" was still debated. Whatever, it gave Ingrid Bergman her second Oscar.

The conclusive truth about the death of this member of the Russian royal family wasn’t proven beyond a doubt till nearly a century after their assassinations.

Anna was gradually proved to be an imposter through later historical research and DNA tests. This Anastasia can be enjoyed as a commentary on people’s appetite for mythologizing public figures and those who peddle in myth for profit. As a “is she or isn’t she” drama, Anastasia is, in hindsight, just a stylish fairy tale.

Yul Brynner's General Bounine and his team search for the perfect "Anastasia."

Anastasia had just turned 17 when she and her family were assassinated in the Russian Revolution. The film Anastasia takes place 10 years later, when a woman who thinks she might be the royal duchess turns up. Ingrid Bergman was 40 at the time—while she's still lovely, Ingrid was no longer girlish. Fox studio president Spyros Skouras wanted Jennifer Jones, nearly Bergman’s age. He was probably swayed by Jones’ Oscar-nominated smash at Fox, Love is a Many Splendored Thing. I wonder if anyone thought of Audrey Hepburn—she did appear in another Russian epic that year, War and Peace. Luckily, roving studio head Darryl Zanuck thought bringing Ingrid Bergman back to American film would be a coup. Zanuck was a gambler and this bet paid off. Much like Bergman’s Anastasia, Ingrid sought the embrace of her former American audiences that once loved her, like her Anna/Anastasia desired from the royal grandmother.

"Anastasia" was just one of many tormented women that Ingrid Bergman portrayed
 in her film heyday, from "Gaslight" to "Notorious" to "Joan of Arc."

Ingrid Bergman excelled at playing tormented women, elevated by her emotionalist but natural acting style. Bergman had her best role as Anna/Anastasia since she left Hollywood for her out-of-wedlock pregnancy scandal seven years earlier. As the beaten down woman in the early part of the film, she is typically realistic. Even in the later sections of the film, when she gets her royal makeover, Bergman plays with occasional grandeur, but it’s all in character. She won her second Oscar for Anastasia in a strong year of competition. Aside from formidable contenders Carroll Baker (Baby Doll), Nancy Kelly (The Bad Seed), Deborah Kerr (The King and I), and Katharine Hepburn (The Rainmaker), there were also-rans Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor for Bus Stop and Giant. What better way for Hollywood to forgive Bergman than to bestow a second Oscar for her juicy comeback.

Though Ingrid Bergman was a dozen years too old for the role of "Anastasia,"
her performance was superb.

Yul Brynner parried a one-two-three punch to superstardom in 1956: The King and I, The Ten Commandments, and Anastasia. Yul is riveting and in fine form in all three films, though his character is secondary to Bergman's Anastasia. Yul walks a fine line as the mercenary character that has a humane side. Aside from being exotically handsome, Brynner had a marvelous speaking voice, and a most piercing stare! Of the three films, General Sergei Bounine is Yul’s most subtle role, and shows that he doesn’t have to play larger than life to hold audiences’ attention. With his modern style of direct acting, Yul definitely holds his own with Bergman in her star turn as the would-be Russian royalty. 

Yul Brynner was in peak form in 1956, in every way! Here, in "Anastasia."

I've read critical comments that Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner had no chemistry in Anastasia. For one thing, their characters were adversarial for most of the film, until near the last act as he realizes he has feelings for this woman, no matter what her origins or motivations. From that viewpoint, I thought Bergman and Brynner had a realistic, adult rapport that gradually turns romantic. Almost always in movies, the stars' characters fall in love at first sight or suddenly decide in the finale that they love each other after all, always an eye roll for me.

Hollywood Royalty! Yul Brynner and Ingrid Bergman in 1956's "Anastasia."

Helen Hayes, who always seemed old to me, was just 15 years older than Bergman, who was a dozen years older than the actual Anastasia, and here Hayes plays Anastasia's grandmother. Aside from that skewed bit of Hollywood math, Hayes is feisty but warm as the doubting Dowager Marie, who's endured a slew of imposters already. Hayes’ royal goes through an arc of distrust, acceptance, love, and finally, amused resignation that this isn’t going to be her happy ending. Surprisingly, Hayes didn’t get a best supporting Oscar actress nomination for her plum role and well-modulated performance. It was a very strong year in the actress category, both starring and supporting. Oh well, at least Helen gets the movie’s witty last line. Interestingly, Anastasia received only two Oscar nominations: Bergman as winner as Best Actress and Alfred Newman nominated for Best Score.

Helen Hayes and Ingrid Bergman's big scene, as the Dowager Empress & the woman
who claims to be her granddaughter "Anastasia."

A terrific cast supports the star trio of Anastasia superbly, including Akim Tamiroff, Martita Hunt, FelixAylmer, Natalie Schaefer, and Sacha Pitoeff.

Perhaps it’s because the story of this Anastasia feels so specific in relation to the complex saga of the Russian duchess and her later wannabes, that it feels smooth to the point of slickness. And though “opened up” with location shooting, Anastasia still feels like a lavish play. Adapted from the stage, the smart script by Arthur Laurents (Gypsy, West Side Story, The Way We Were, and The Turning Point, has some memorable lines. That smartness may also account for the feeling of slickness versus the gritty turmoil of the Russian mystery woman who may have survived a grisly assassination.

Helen Hayes' Grand Dowager realizes that the reunion with the woman who claims
to be her granddaughter "Anastasia" is not meant to be. With Yul Brynner.

Anastasia was directed with style and sophistication by Anatole Litvak, a Russian Jew who had to exile twice in his life, first from Russia and later from Germany. Litvak was just a year younger than the real Anastasia, by the way.

A beautiful score and photography by Alfred Newman and Jack Hildyard are two examples of the top drawer production values by 20^th Century Fox for this lavish film.

Here’s my Facebook entertainment page, FYI!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/178488909366865 

You can take Anastasia as a well-crafted '50s film vehicle for Ingrid Bergman or as a cautionary tale about myths. Either way, it’s well worth a look.

Here’s my take on Ingrid Bergman in her first Oscar-winning role from a dozen years earlier, Gaslight: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2022/10/stars-story-light-up-mgms-gaslight-1944.html

 

The many women who have claimed to be "Anastasia" muddy the waters for Ingrid
 Bergman's Anna, who's not truly sure who she is herself.