Anastasia
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.17 You Save: $7.81 (52%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.98 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Anastasia
Movie Review: Thoroughly enjoyable!
Summary: 4 Stars
The performances by Bergman and Brynner really escalate this film into greatness. I wish more people would see this. Its such a beautiful and subtle film.Movie Review: Bergman & Brynner = No chemistry/DVD poor sound quality.
Summary: 3 Stars
Let me start off by saying that I find Ingrid Bergman a goddess among actresses, and Yul Brynner is always interesting to watch. But I discovered to my surprise (and disappointment) that Bergman and Brynner had very little chemistry...I have always found the story of Anastasia to be extremely fascinating, and this production was fine in many details, but when all was said and done, "Anastasia" was remarkably overdone and underwhelming because of some very shallow writing and the miscasting of the two stars.Helen Hayes easily stole the movie as Anastasia's grandmother. She had the best lines.
A critical scene: When Anastasia appeals to her grandmother to open her eyes to the truth, the words seem artificial. I saw the grandmother, an elderly woman who has lost everything, as the victim and never Anastasia. There is no doubt that Bergman poored her heart into the scene, but her words rang false every time she tried to convince Hayes she was her niece. And even after Anastasia's acceptance by her grandmother, the ending seems artificial and rushed, as if the director ran out of patience and yelled 'cut' prematurely.
Brynner always seems to be more interested in himself than Anastasia or his friends. And when he DOES finally show a little compassion when he asks for a meeting with Hayes near the end, it is too little too late because we still don't see what Anastasia would see in this selfish man who has not once been nice to her in the whole time he has known her (maybe he was nice to her at one point, but that ended up on the cutting room floor).
And we are to believe that the grandmother is okay with this? That Anastasia loves him? That this man and Anastasia will live happily ever after? Wrong.
Some of you might be suggesting right about now that I should get a life, that "Anastasia" is a classic. It's true. It is a classic. And Bergman never looked more beautiful, and Brynner more dashing.
A bigger annoyance was the DVD's poor restoration. The audio quality is clearly out of synch with the rest of the movie. A better effort should have been done by all.
Movie Review: Well, now that we know the truth...
Summary: 3 Stars
Anatole Litvak's 1956 Anastasia was Ingrid Bergman's big comeback vehicle after being cast into the moral void for running off with Roberto Rossellini, but it's Helen Hayes' performance that really gives the film its heart and its best scenes. Now that the story of Anna Anderson's claim to the title and inheritance of Tsar Nicholas' daughter has been completely debunked by DNA tests it's more a bit of wish-fulfilment than a compelling mystery, and one that doesn't go out of its way to disguise its theatrical origins - despite the lavish CinemaScope lensing, it rarely strays outdoors unless it's absolutely necessary for a brief establishing shot. Yul Brynner and Akim Tamiroff do their party pieces (stern precision and comically nervous dishonesty) and Bergman fares much better doing imperious than impoverished in a classy production that goes down smoothly but doesn't linger long in the memory.
Fox's R1 DVD suffers from an atrocious remix in the opening reel where the music and effects track are amplified while the dialog is reduced to a barely audible whisper even at full volume, a problem that doesn't affect the rest of the film but is irritating as hell while it lasts.
Movie Review: Classic movie, poor DVD transfer
Summary: 3 Stars
I have to agree with the other reviewers. The sound transfer to DVD is below par. That is the only reason for three stars. Sad, because the movie was digitally restored and looks beautiful, otherwise. In the beginning of the film, the background noise is loud and the dialogue is almost inaudible. This persists for about the first 35 minutes of the film after which the two tracks seem to balance out more . . . althought I still had to keep the volumn up louder than normal, the rest of the film. When I saw this film on VHS a few years ago, this was not the case so I know it had to do with the "burning" onto DVD. Anyway, that is the only reason for three stars. The movie, itself, is a masterpiece. Restored to beautiful color and clarity, and in wide-screen, you almost feel as if you are seeing it on the silver screen for the first time in all its artistic grandeur. Helen Hayes and Ingrid Bergman give stellar performances worthy of the oscars received. Since the price is only about 8 bucks, I would so go ahead and get it, but keep the subtitles on for the first 30 minutes so you don't miss any of the dialogue.Movie Review: Better than not seeing it at all...
Summary: 3 Stars
This is one of those movie gems one rarely sees on TV anymore, so the only way to see it is to buy the DVD. The film restoration is wonderful, with brilliant colors, but as other reviewers have noted, the technicians totally forgot to work on the soundtrack. In fact, it's almost like they went out of their way to ruin it. The mix is bad -- sometimes the background music/theme track drowns out the dialogue, or the actors sound as if they were speaking their lines inside a 55-gal. drum (echo, tinny, etc.). Bass and treble seem out of whack. The audio listing notes it as "Dolby 4.0," maybe that version was Dolby's only dud? I don't have a surround system with my TV, so I wondered if THAT was the problem; running the sound through an amp and 2 more speakers didn't help much.
3 stars are only for the DVD; the film (plot, acting, etc.) deserves 5.