Anastasia (1956)

Editor's Note In 1917, Russian revolutionaries overthrew the last czar, Nicholas, imprisoning him and his family and executing them one year later. Shortly thereafter, rumors began to spread that one of the czar's daughters, Anastasia, was still alive. In 1928, a woman surfaced claiming to be Anastasia. Based on the play, and the fictionalized account of actual events, ANASTASIA tells the story of Anna (Ingrid Bergman), the impoverished, suicidal Russian woman living in Paris who believes she may be Anastasia. When ex-military leader General Bounin, deftly played by Yul Brynner, and his cohorts discover Anna, they convince her, through grueling training sessions, that she is, in fact, the real princess. Yet Anna's own unmistakable memories unnerve even the general who, upon finding her, believed she was only a fake. The climax of the film, in which the Dowager Empress (Helen Hayes), who is still alive, meets Anastasia, is poignant and riveting. Shot on location in Paris, director Anatole Litvak commands incomparable performances from Bergman, Hayes, and Brynner in this captivating tale of lost identity. Bergman won her second Oscar for her winning portrayal that introduces just the right regal note of doubt about her real heritage.

	Akim Tamiroff
	Ingrid Bergman
	Martita Hunt
	Yul Brynner
	Helen Hayes
	Felix Aylmer
	Natalie Schafer
	Andrew Low - Set Designer
	Marcelle Maurette - Source Writer
	Arthur Laurents - Writer
	Rene Hubert - Costume Designer
	Bill Andrews - Production Designer
	Guy Bolton - Writer
	Andre Andrejew - Production Designer
	Buddy Adler - Producer
	Bert Bates - Editor
	Jack Hildyard - Cinematographer
	Alfred Newman - Composer
	Anatole Litvak - Director

Years after the last Russian czar and his entire family are murdered during the revolution, a former asylum patient, Anna (Ingrid Bergman), surfaces and might be Czar Nicholas's daughter, Anastasia. With only dim memories--and an uncanny resemblance to the lost princess--to guide her, she allows herself to be taken in by the ex-czarist military leader and con man Bounin (Yul Brynner) and be unveiled as the princess. Only a meeting with Anastasia's grandmother, the Dowager Empress who is still alive in Denmark, will reveal if Anastasia really is who she claims to be.

"If the caviar was real, SHE would be real."----A guest at a party where Anastasia is introduced to the exiled aristocracy in Paris for the first time