Anna Boleyn
Live Musical Accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis
Screening on Film
Screening on Film
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.
With Henny Porten, Emil Jannings, Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein.
Germany, 1920, 35mm, black & white, silent, 118 min.
German intertitles with English subtitles.
Print source: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung
With Henny Porten, Emil Jannings, Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein.
Germany, 1920, 35mm, black & white, silent, 118 min.
German intertitles with English subtitles.
Print source: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung
Resurrecting 16th century England on a grand scale, Anna Boleyn is an early example of the Monumentalfilme, a German sibling to the American prestige picture. Prior to his departure to Hollywood, Lubitsch was contracted for a handful of such productions, though the films, which emphasized spectacle over subtlety, are a far cry from the work the director would come to be known for. Anna Boleyn concerns the elopement of the titular heroine (Henny Porten) to King Henry VIII (Emil Jannings), an arrangement doomed from the start by the King’s erratic temperament, which is juxtaposed against Anna’s frailty. Though Henry’s unapologetic indulgence in carnal pleasure marks him as an early iteration of the classic Lubitschean male, it’s the doomed Anna who receives the director’s sympathetic treatment as the story marches toward tragedy. In detailing the disastrous repercussions of unchecked masculinity, the film lacks the spark and wit of Lubitsch’s later films, but it is as good an indicator as any of his sterling command of resources, as evidenced in particular by an extraordinary wedding sequence filmed in an open-air recreation of the Westminster Cathedral.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
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Trouble in Paradise
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1932
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Ninotchka
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1939
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Shoe Palace Pinkus / Meyer From Berlin
Live Musical Accompaniment by Jeff RapsisScreening on Film
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Madame DuBarry
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1919
Live Musical Accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis
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That Uncertain Feeling
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1941
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
The Love Parade
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1929
Screening on FilmRecently Restored
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The Doll
Live Musical Accompaniment by Martin MarksScreening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Kohlhiesel's Daughters
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1920
Live Musical Accompaniment by Jeff RapsisScreening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Lady Windermere's Fan
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1925
Live Musical Accompaniment by Martin MarksScreening on FilmRecently Restored
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
If I Had a Million
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, et al, 1932
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Broken Lullaby AKA The Man I Killed
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1932
Screening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Design For Living
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1933
Screening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
One Hour With You
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1932
Screening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
So This is Paris
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1926
Live Musical AccompanimentScreening on FilmRecently Restored
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When I Was Dead / The Pride of the Firm
Live Musical Accompaniment by Robert HumphrevilleScreening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Carmen AKA Gypsy Blood
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1918
Live Musical Accompaniment by Robert HumphrevilleScreening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Heaven Can Wait
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1943
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
The Smiling Lieutenant
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1931
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Monte Carlo
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1930
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
The Eyes of the Mummy
Live Musical Accompaniment by Robert HumphrevilleScreening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1938
Screening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Eternal Love
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1929
Screening on FilmRecently Restored
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Three Women
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1924
Live Musical Accompaniment by Robert HumphrevilleScreening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Anna Boleyn
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1920
Live Musical Accompaniment by Jeff RapsisScreening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
The Shop Around the Corner
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1940
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Sumurun
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1919
Live Musical Accompaniment by Martin MarksScreening on FilmRecently Restored
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To Be or Not To Be
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1942
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The Oyster Princess
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1919
Live Musical Accompaniment by Robert HumphrevilleScreening on Film
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The Merry Widow
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1934
Screening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
The Wildcat AKA The Mountain Cat
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1921
Live Musical Accompaniment by Andrew SimpsonScreening on Film
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The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1928
Live Musical Accompaniment by Martin MarksScreening on Film
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Ninotchka
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1939
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Cluny Brown
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1946
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Angel
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1937
Screening on Film
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That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst ...
Cluny Brown
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1946
Screening on Film
