Absolutely the worst movie.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"Anastasia" is based on the Broadway play that starred Viveca Lindfors, Hurd Hatfield, and Eugenie Leontovich, and it was this film that brought Ingrid Bergman back to the United States after the big sin that drove her out of the country. Besides Bergman, the film stars Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes.We know today that Anna Anderson was a Polish actress and not Princess Anastasia, but before DNA, this was one of the world's great mysteries. In the real story, Prince Phillip's DNA was used, since he is related to the Russian royal family, and proved that Anna Anderson was a fake, answering a question that had vexed people for decades.In this version, a Russian businessman, Bounine (Brynner) and some other Russian expatriates living in Paris plot to collect millions of Romanov money by grooming an unhappy, depressed young woman who has recently been institutionalized to be the Princess Anastasia due to her resemblance to the Tsar's youngest daughter. Bounine begins to believe that she might be the real Anastasia. But the big test will be before the Dowager Empress (Hayes) who has no interest in meeting another pretender.The acting is wonderful, with the beautiful Bergman giving a fully fleshed out performance, beginning as a confused woman and developing through the film into a real royal presence. Brynner is very strong in his role, with moments of grace and gentleness.Bergman won her second Academy Award for her performance, but she is matched by Helen Hayes' powerful performance as the Dowager Empress, externally a hard woman but one whose heart has been broken by the tragic loss of her family. Though she can't let herself believe at first that this is Anastasia, she is longing for her to be.Very good movie with an interesting ending.

I should admit first that I saw the cartoon musical remake with the voices of Meg Ryan and John Cusack before this original that I had only heard of because of the award winning lead actress, so of course I watched. Basically is has been ten years since the teenage Romanov Grand Duchess and her sisters and brother, children of the Tsar, Nicholas II, have apparently been killed. Anna Koreff (Oscar and Golden Globe winning Ingrid Bergman) is the orphaned woman who has no memory of where she came from, turning up in Paris and found by General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine (Yul Brynner) who is very keen on the £10,000,000 inheritance. What starts out as training to become a convincing Anastasia impostor, with her uncanny resemblance, Anna gains more confidence and style to meet what may be former familiars and imperial court members. Her big ambition to help her possibly confirm her identity, as there are many saying she really is Anastasia, is to meet Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (Golden Globe nominated Helen Hayes) during the tour de force in Copenhagen. When Anna gets to the know fortune hunting Prince Paul Von Haraldberg (Ivan Desny) we see Bounine getting jealous, and everything comes down to a grand ball where he tries to convince the Empress to meet the lady he has found. The Empress does have a private word with Anna, she is obviously confident that she is another impostor wanting to inherit the fortune she is owed, as the only living Tsar sibling, but as a conversation develops Anna does reveal remembering many things from her past that the Empress recognises, and only she would know. In the end, supposedly the Empress confirms that Anna truly is the living Anastasia, and although she is seen in the arms of Price Haraldberg and not Bounine, it is a seemingly happy ending because everything has been settled. Also starring Akim Tamiroff as Boris Adreivich Chernov, Martita Hunt as Baroness Elena Von Livenbaum, Felix Aylmer as Chamberlain, Sacha Pitoëff as Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin, Natalie Schafer as Irina Lissemskaia, Grégoire Gromoff as Stepan and Karel Stepanek as Mikhail Vlados. Bergman does give a good award worthy performance (she won against Deborah Kerr in The King and I, ironically starring Oscar winning Bryner), the story is a little confusing in moments, and I may have drifted off slightly, but it is a rather watchable period drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Music for Alfred Newman, and it was nominated the BAFTA for Best British Screenplay. Very good!

Bergman bagged her second Oscar as a disturbed woman who may or may not be the only member of the family of Tsar Nicholas II to have survived execution. She's good, not great. The Oscar may have been a reward for her return to Hollywood after seven years of exile. As a brash Russian figure (it's not clear why he has title of General) who goes around barking commands at others, Brynner seems to be doing a variation on his Oscar-winning role in "The King and I" from earlier the same year. Although this film boasts the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscar winners for 1956, the best performance is given by Hayes as a Danish empress. In fact, the film drags until she shows up.

1956 was a good year for actor Yul Brynner. Seeing how he had three big hit movies, The Ten Commandments, The King and I (my favorite) and Anastasia. Anastasia, though not my favorite one was very well done. It follows very well with the story that we have all heard and the acting was good. Though I'm not sure that had it been up to me that I would have rewarded it with best actress. Each actor made their characters believable and real to me. A good watch when you are a lone sitting at home with nothing else to do. So go rent the movie or borrow it from a die hard Yul Brynner fan, pop some popcorn and stick in your DVD player, sit back and enjoy.