ANASTASIA
($20) is a wonderful classic movie that brims with romanticism and a great
deal of old style Hollywood flair. Based upon the play by Marcelle
Maurette and Guy Bolton, ANASTASIA stars Ingrid Bergman in her
Academy Award winning turn as Anna Anderson, a woman who may or may not be
the Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of deposed Russian Czar Nicholas II.
As the film opens, Anna is an amnesiac living on the streets of Paris,
when she finds herself approached by a former Russian General named
Bounine (Yul Brynner) and several of his comrades. Because of her striking
resemblance to the Czar’s youngest daughter, and the persistent rumors
that the Grand Duchess Anastasia survived a Bolshevik firing squad in
1918, Bounine wants to use Anna as part of a plot to liberate a ten
million pound inheritance from the Bank of England.
With
nowhere to go and no idea of her true identity, Anna becomes a willing
part of Bounine’s ploy and finds herself being tutored on every detail
of Anastasia’s life, in an effort to convince exiled Russian nobility
that she is indeed the Grand Duchess. When Anna gives her first
"performance" as the Grand Duchess, she amazes many of the
nobles, as well as Bounine, especially when she begins supplying details
of Anastasia’s life that she couldn’t have possibly known. However,
the true test of Bounine’s fabrication comes when Anna finally meets the
Dowager Empress (Helen Hayes), Anastasia’s grandmother, who has been
hardened by previous encounters with pretenders claiming to be one of her
murdered grandchildren. The cast of ANASTASIA also features Akim
Tamiroff, Martita Hunt, Felix Aylmer, Sacha Pitoëff, Ivan Desny and
Natalie Schafer.
20th
Century Fox Home Entertainment has made ANASTASIA available on DVD
in a 2.35:1 wide screen presentation that has been enhanced for 16:9
displays. This is a truly marvelous looking transfer that benefits from
the restorative work done on ANASTASIA for its inclusion in Fox’s
Studio Classics series. The image is quite sharp and very nicely defined.
Colors appear strong and usually rather nicely saturated- obviously some
effort went into ringing this much vibrancy out of the DeLuxe film
elements. All of the hues are crisp and cleanly rendered, without noise or
smearing. Blacks appear right on the money, while the whites are
completely stable. Contrast is good, plus the picture produces a terrific
amount of shadow detail for a film of this vintage. The grain structure is
somewhat noticeable during the presentation, but is never excessive.
Digital compression artifacts are always well concealed.
ANASTASIA
features a Dolby Digital 4.0 channel soundtrack, which would appear to be
a direct transcription of its original release format. The soundtrack has
that big wide 50’s style sound mix, which tends to favor the musical
portion of the track. Although directional dialogue was a component of
many CinemaScope releases, here the dialogue tends to remain pretty much
localized in the center channel. Of course, the dialogue itself is always
crisp sounding and completely intelligible. Musical fidelity is at the
level of an "A" production from 1956, with Alfred Newman’s
rich score sounding very pleasing when amplified. I should also note that
the score is the only sound component that utilizes the rear channels.
French and Spanish monaural tracks are also encoded onto the DVD, as are
English and Spanish subtitles.
The
basic interactive menus provide access to the standard scene selection and
set up features, as well as a few supplemental features. Up first is a
running audio commentary featuring screenwriter Arthur Laurents, Helen
Hayes’ son James MacArthur, film historian Sylvia Stoddard and movie
music historian John Burlingame. This is a rich and detailed commentary
track that will appeal to movie buffs, so it is definitely worth checking
out. Also included on the DVD is the A&E Biography
program Anastasia: Her True Story, as well as Movietone
Newsreel footage of the film’s twin movie premieres, Ingrid Bergman
award clips and footage of the Romanov family, as well as separate footage
of the Czar in 1907. A restoration comparison, theatrical trailer and
bonus trailers close out the supplements.
ANASTASIA
is another wonderful vintage movie given a first class release as part of
the Fox’s Studio Classics series. The DVD looks and sounds great, plus
it features a very nice supplemental section. If you are a movie buff, or
a fan of either Ingrid Bergman or Yul Brynner, then ANASTASIA is a
must own DVD. And, if you are discovering the film for the first time, ANASTASIA
still comes very highly recommended.
ANASTASIA
($20) is a wonderful classic movie that brims with romanticism and a great
deal of old style Hollywood flair. Based upon the play by Marcelle
Maurette and Guy Bolton, ANASTASIA stars Ingrid Bergman in her
Academy Award winning turn as Anna Anderson, a woman who may or may not be
the Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of deposed Russian Czar Nicholas II.
As the film opens, Anna is an amnesiac living on the streets of Paris,
when she finds herself approached by a former Russian General named
Bounine (Yul Brynner) and several of his comrades. Because of her striking
resemblance to the Czar’s youngest daughter, and the persistent rumors
that the Grand Duchess Anastasia survived a Bolshevik firing squad in
1918, Bounine wants to use Anna as part of a plot to liberate a ten
million pound inheritance from the Bank of England.
With
nowhere to go and no idea of her true identity, Anna becomes a willing
part of Bounine’s ploy and finds herself being tutored on every detail
of Anastasia’s life, in an effort to convince exiled Russian nobility
that she is indeed the Grand Duchess. When Anna gives her first
"performance" as the Grand Duchess, she amazes many of the
nobles, as well as Bounine, especially when she begins supplying details
of Anastasia’s life that she couldn’t have possibly known. However,
the true test of Bounine’s fabrication comes when Anna finally meets the
Dowager Empress (Helen Hayes), Anastasia’s grandmother, who has been
hardened by previous encounters with pretenders claiming to be one of her
murdered grandchildren. The cast of ANASTASIA also features Akim
Tamiroff, Martita Hunt, Felix Aylmer, Sacha Pitoëff, Ivan Desny and
Natalie Schafer.
20th
Century Fox Home Entertainment has made ANASTASIA available on DVD
in a 2.35:1 wide screen presentation that has been enhanced for 16:9
displays. This is a truly marvelous looking transfer that benefits from
the restorative work done on ANASTASIA for its inclusion in Fox’s
Studio Classics series. The image is quite sharp and very nicely defined.
Colors appear strong and usually rather nicely saturated- obviously some
effort went into ringing this much vibrancy out of the DeLuxe film
elements. All of the hues are crisp and cleanly rendered, without noise or
smearing. Blacks appear right on the money, while the whites are
completely stable. Contrast is good, plus the picture produces a terrific
amount of shadow detail for a film of this vintage. The grain structure is
somewhat noticeable during the presentation, but is never excessive.
Digital compression artifacts are always well concealed.
ANASTASIA
features a Dolby Digital 4.0 channel soundtrack, which would appear to be
a direct transcription of its original release format. The soundtrack has
that big wide 50’s style sound mix, which tends to favor the musical
portion of the track. Although directional dialogue was a component of
many CinemaScope releases, here the dialogue tends to remain pretty much
localized in the center channel. Of course, the dialogue itself is always
crisp sounding and completely intelligible. Musical fidelity is at the
level of an "A" production from 1956, with Alfred Newman’s
rich score sounding very pleasing when amplified. I should also note that
the score is the only sound component that utilizes the rear channels.
French and Spanish monaural tracks are also encoded onto the DVD, as are
English and Spanish subtitles.
The
basic interactive menus provide access to the standard scene selection and
set up features, as well as a few supplemental features. Up first is a
running audio commentary featuring screenwriter Arthur Laurents, Helen
Hayes’ son James MacArthur, film historian Sylvia Stoddard and movie
music historian John Burlingame. This is a rich and detailed commentary
track that will appeal to movie buffs, so it is definitely worth checking
out. Also included on the DVD is the A&E Biography
program Anastasia: Her True Story, as well as Movietone
Newsreel footage of the film’s twin movie premieres, Ingrid Bergman
award clips and footage of the Romanov family, as well as separate footage
of the Czar in 1907. A restoration comparison, theatrical trailer and
bonus trailers close out the supplements.
ANASTASIA
is another wonderful vintage movie given a first class release as part of
the Fox’s Studio Classics series. The DVD looks and sounds great, plus
it features a very nice supplemental section. If you are a movie buff, or
a fan of either Ingrid Bergman or Yul Brynner, then ANASTASIA is a
must own DVD. And, if you are discovering the film for the first time, ANASTASIA
still comes very highly recommended.
