Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

MissSimonetta A filmmaker's early work can be fascinating, if not always among his or her best efforts. Lubitsch's signature touch may not have been fully developed by 1920, but he had still made charming romantic comedies like The Oyster Princess up to that point. However, one thing fans of his 1930s and 1940s work may not expect is that Lubitsch also made big historical epics during the silent era. The most famous might be The Loves of Pharaoh, starring Emil Jannings as a lecherous pharaoh who tears apart two young lovers. The film is beautifully produced, with lavish sets and costumes, crowds rushing through the frames. Unfortunately, the pace is leaden and the story is barely engaging.Lubitsch's treatment of the rise and fall of sixteenth century queen Anne Boleyn (here named "Anna") follows the same basic premise: Emil Janning's lusty Henry VIII separates young lovers Henry Norris and Anne Boleyn when he tires of his aging queen, Katherine of Aragon. Unfortunately, much of the same flaws of Pharaoh can be seen here as well: what we have is a lack of engagement or an interesting heroine.Lubitsch's Anne may be the most ive portrayal of the woman put to film and her characterization is probably the biggest reason why it's such a slog to get through. Anne Boleyn was known for being charismatic despite not fitting the blonde-haired, fair-skinned beauty standards of the day with her olive complexion and dark (possibly red) hair. So of course this Anne is fair skinned, blonde, and charisma-less. Anne always looks like she is on the verge of tears or fainting. She is repulsed by Henry from the start and never possesses any ambition to become queen. We see nothing of her social skills, her religious zeal, her bravery in the face of death. About the most you get of the historical Anne is her love for her daughter Elizabeth and occasional flashes of temper which in this movie seem to come out of nowhere.All the other characters are painted with broad strokes too: the mild Jane Seymour is suddenly a calculating temptress (?!), Henry Norris is the suffering lover boy, Mark Smeaton is basically a cackling frat boy out to get Anne when she won't sleep with him, the Duke of Norfolk is completely amoral and lacking humanity. About the closest we get to a bonafide performance is Emil Janning's Henry VIII, but even he is limited to leering, glowering, and guzzling beer from tankards.The script also lumbers from historical event to historical event, with things happening laughably fast. The divorce of Katherine of Aragon took years in real life, but here it's cleared up in all of five minutes! Yes, yes, this is entertainment, not a documentary-- but considering this movie is hardly entertaining, I'm going to pick at the rushed treatment of the story much more. But as I said before, it's not a total waste: the production looks great and Lubitsch sometimes uses creative framing and mise en scene to liven things up. But when it' all at the service of a dull script, it does not help make the viewing experience any better.What really kills me is that we're dealing with a fascinating piece of history and a fascinating woman. Making Anne Boleyn a saint is about as erroneous as making her a harpy (see the terrible, TERRIBLE Other Boleyn Girl for how Anne Boleyn's character gets assassinated these days). She was capable of kindness (she gave much to charities serving the poor) and cruelty (her treatment of her stepdaughter devolved once Mary refused to accept her as queen; she was known for boasting quite a temper). Few movies about AB have portrayed her as a woman: she is the seductress, the harpy, the suffering saint-- almost never a woman.Anyway, only Lubitsch or Jannings fans will get much out of Anna Boleyn (1920). If you want early Lubitsch, I highly recommend The Oyster Princess, a movie more suited to his style and talents.

Steffi_P This is a strange piece: a tale of late-medieval English history, made at a German studio, entirely produced and acted by Germans (plus one Swiss and one Norwegian). While we in the UK are quite used to Hollywood rewriting our history for us (Braveheart etc.) we don't expect it so much from our fellow Europeans. But back in the early 1920s the UFA studio in Berlin really was the Hollywood of Europe, and for a few years they had the cinematic prowess to tell whatever stories they liked.The director here is Ernst Lubitsch, who later became well-known in the US for his sophisticated comedies, and back then he was primarily a comedy director too. Anna Boleyn sees him turning his many comical tricks to more dramatic effect. A favourite comedy technique of his was the pull-back-and-reveal, as used for example in the opening shot of The Oyster Princess (1919) to show the bloated Oyster King surrounded by his lackeys. That shot is duplicated here with the introduction to Henry VIII, the look slightly more realistic but just as revelatory of the character. And although Lubitsch's pictures are in a very different category to those of his fellow UFA luminaries Fritz Lang and FW Murnau, he shares with those directors a fascination with décor and architecture. He constantly composes shots in depth, looking down corridors or through into larger rooms, from the early moments at the harbour where a set of doors are opened onto a bustling street, to the haunting final view of the scaffold. This was a common way of emphasising a large space before the days of widescreen, but it also gives the whole thing a sense of dread and inevitability, as characters advance upon us from the distance or spy on each other into a room beyond.Lubitsch also reveals himself to be a master of pacing within a sequence. For example after a handful of busy shots at the spring festival the scene, everything becomes slow, simple and a shade darker as Anna encounters Norris on the outskirts of the merrymaking. Throughout the picture the director encourages steady, measured performances, making some scenes move at a glacial pace but endowing them with atmosphere and fascinating detail, such as the eerie depiction of Anna and Henry's wedding night. Playing the king, the talented Emil Jannings is uncharacteristically restrained, giving us a menacing, moody king very different to Charles Laughton's flamboyant 1933 portrayal. Henny Porten is not quite as good in the title role, her performance consisting mostly of looking extremely disturbed. However she is able to make a good of herself in the final few minutes, when it really matters. An honourable mention must also go to Paul Biensfeldt as the jester, who makes the most of his close-ups and gives us a sincere and dignified portrayal of this deceptively simple character.Anna Boleyn is all in all a rather stunning feature, and actually somewhat better than most of the historical dramas coming out of Hollywood at the time. It seems that, during this crucial period when the full-length motion picture was beginning to grow up and things like screen acting and set design were becoming serious professions, the Germans had the edge with their strong theatrical, operatic and artistic traditions, upon which their cinematic industry was built. Lubitsch, Jannings, and almost every other member of the crew and cast had a background on the stage, as oppose to the technicians and entrepreneurs who were running Hollywood. In they knew very well how to tell stories visually, how to merge production design and performance into a complete form of expression, and they had a large pool of people with the necessary experience. The supremacy of UFA would continue until the Americans gained the technological edge in the late 20s (not to mention poaching much of 's creative talent), but during this short period it was the most competent movie-making factory in the world. Anna Boleyn is not even the finest output of its time and place, and yet is still made with that powerful blend of storytelling knowledge and cinematic inventiveness, and is a drama of considerable stature and elegance.

FerdinandVonGalitzien Continuing with the exclusive film programme about complicated relationships in some European courts, last night in the Schloss theatre was shown "Anna Boleyn", a film directed by the great Teutonic film director Herr Ernst Lubitsch. The film depicts the terrible story of the Queen consort of the British King Henry VIII. She was executed by her husband ( well, not exactly, the King ordered the executioners to do his dirty work) not to mention that this marriage caused an important political and religious historical event, the English Reformation.The film stars Dame Henny Porten, 's first screen superstar during those early years and Herr Emil Jannings, 's fattest actor in that silent era. Both play their characters in a suitable way; Dame Porten as an innocent aristocrat who becomes progressively interested in the power that the court offers her and Herr Jannings as the unscrupulous, whimsical and womanizing British monarch, a character very suitable for this German actor who overacts appropriately, given the extravagance and excessive personality of the character himself.In the early film period Herr Lubitsch was known for his outstanding costume films, colossal productions with big budgets ( "Anna Boleyn" cost about 8 million marks, a fortune even for this German count ) taking great care in magnificent decors as can be seen during the coronation procession in Westminster Abbey scene which employed 4.000 extras ( idle Germans of that time were used, causing revolutionary workers to create a fuss when German President Friedrich Ebert visited the set during filming).Besides the spectacle, one of the most important aspect of this and every film of Herr Lubitsch, even during his epic period, is the complex relationship between the main characters. We experience a game of different interests, double meanings, and the complicated art of flirting but what is treated lightly at first ends in tragedy. The importance of those historical facts is brought to bear in an effective way but Lubitsch is really more interested in the changing relationship between Henry VIII and Anna Boleyn.And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must take care that one of his fat and rich heiress doesn't lose her head for this Teutonic aristocrat.Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

movingpicturegal Silent historical drama based on the story of Anne Boleyn, newly arrived lady-in-waiting to the Queen who catches the lustful eye of Henry VIII, bad-tempered King of England who loves to feast, drink, hunt, be entertained by his court jester, watch jousts, and chase around after young beauties who jump out of cakes and assorted attractive females around the castle. Well, he's soon annulled his marriage, married Anne, and telling her it is her holy duty to produce a male heir. She fails on that score and he soon has his eye on yet another lady-in-waiting. Meanwhile, Anne spends pretty much the entire film looking hesitant, perturbed, or downright ready to burst into tears. She just doesn't come across as a happy camper (or is it just bad acting?!).This film is a solid piece of entertainment, with an absorbing story that held my interest for two hours - plus I enjoyed seeing the very lavish medieval costuming featured here on a gorgeous sepia tinted print. Emil Jannings is quite striking and memorable in his well-done portrayal of King Henry the Eighth - he really seemed like he WAS Henry the Eighth. I am not so sure about the performance given by the actress who plays Anne, seemed a bit over the top. The DVD of this film features an appropriate, nicely done piano score that perfectly suits this story. Quite a good film.