Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-12-21

Hayes, Ingrid Bergman and Yul
Brynner. These constitute Just
the trio to give plausibility to
the purported survival of the last
Cars youngest daughter in that
Romanof slaughter in an Eka-
terinerburg cellar.
The film, shot in Europe, does
more than bring Miss Bergman
back to the American screen. It
proves also that she has lost
none Of the beauty or the talent
that made her an actress before
she became merely controver-
sial.
Her AnaStaSia is a touching
figure to make one sorry that
such a girl is more a fictional
than a factual character, as the
preponderance of evidence in
dicateS.
Anatole Litvak, who directed
the screen version of "Anastasia, :"
is no man to misread the senti-
mental. melodramatic flavor of
the. film narrative.
This is the material on which
to let fly, a beautiful Grand
Duchess in distress. Let fly Isl
precisely what Mr.. Litvak does,
Including a revised and happier
ending than was ventured on the
stage. His premise here may
well be that whether or not
"AnastaS1a" actually is a fairy
tale, it has profound Cinderella
implications.
In general. however. Aurthur
Laurent's screenplay follows
Marcelle Maurette's original. Its
essence is intrigue, the plot of
a group Of clever White Russian
exileS in Paris to find a girl they |
can palm of as a Romanoff to
get their hands on Czarist mil
lions in a London bank.
Miss Bergman, Ill clad, mem
tally Ill, impoverished and de-
fenseless. falls into the gangs
trap. Its members are prepared /
to make her the image, 10 cruel .
years later. Of the Romanof who ,
might have scaped. Dramatic
this idea. doubly so when the
evidence begins to indicate the !
girl Is the real AnaStasia.
AS a girl seeking her identity /,
desperately enough to identity /,
herself with so degrading a con-
spiracy, Miss Bergman is a hero
Inc worthy of CinemaScope.
1t is she who, with Brynner as
The plots mastermind, must car
ry the burden of the OUTSIDE mar
rative. Theirs is a duel that |.
misses none of the extravagances |,
OF the script. AS a kind of Eliza !,
Doolittle in the hands of Bryn-
ner, Miss Bergman is anything Il,
but a docile beauty who once lost !,
her mind and her memory, but +.
has now regained the former.
She is playing one game, the :
honorable one of finding herself,
he the dishonorable one of seek !,
ing merely a clever imposter. If
1t Is not to seem an overlong
game. Miss Bergman and Bryn-
ner must keep it emotionally :
tense when the script turns hol-
low or repetitouS.
This they manage always to /.
do. long enough to bring AN
RStaSia" to the famous sur .
charged scene in which the girl /.
confrontS her Empress grand
played by Miss Hayes. +,
Few scenes of ultimate test have !.
been built up as carefully as this :
one. Played properly. it alone can !.
make "Anastasia" memorable,
IN emotional maelstrom inviting
enough to bring Miss Hayes back
to the screen.
Miss Hayes and Miss Bergman
make sure that the last feathers
weight of feeling is wrung from
this meeting between the tired,
disillusioned old firebrand and
the desperately anxious girl. AS
on the stage. it is the scene that
lifts "Anastasia" above its old
fashioned melodrama rut.
While "AnaStasia" is blessing
its feminine stars with such
roles. Mr.. Brynner is no actor
to stand back and let them
dominate the screen. His amoral
Gen. Bunine is a dominantly
figure. a plotter
worthy Of the contempt in which
the old Empress holds him and