Anna Boleyn

Anna Boleyn (2007 DVD)
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Germany, 1920
Silent with English intertitles

I don't know much about the flesh and blood Anne Boleyn other than the small amount I looked up today, but Ernst Lubitsch's 1920 big budget historical drama about the famous 16th century British queen/royal beheading victim seems to offer up a reasonably accurate portrayal of her from a sympathetic perspective. Henny Porten does a decent enough job at eliciting admiring glances and/or sympathy as the onscreen Anna of die Titelrolle (below, unfortunately appearing in one of her many uniformly unattractive pieces of women's headgear), but evil Emil Jannings steals the show as the gluttonous, womanizing serial husband King Henry VIII in a performance that's like a spiritual ancestor of Forest Whitaker's take on Idi Amin. Wow! While the two-hour narrative does tend to drift a bit in spots from my perhaps unduly caffeinated point of view, Javier Perez de Azpeitia's regal piano track, some elaborate crowd sequences, and a perfectly-realized final scene make this well worth taking a look at if you get the chance. Otherwise, heads will roll! (http://www.kino.com/)

"I heard say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck."

(words attributed to the real-life Anne Boleyn)