Anna Boleyn (1920) On DVD

Actor:           Henny Porten, Emil Jannings, Paul Hartmann, Ludwig Hartau, Aud Egede-Nissen                                                                                                                      
Director:      Ernst Lubitsch
Genre:          Drama
Year:            1920
Studio:          Kino International
Length:         133
Released:    December 5, 2006
Rating:          Unrated (Video)
Format:         DVD
Misc:              NTSC, Black & White
Language:    English
Subtitles  :    N/A

DESCRIPTION:

The tragic story of the second wife of England's Henry VIII is given a first-class treatment by Lubitsch, complete with opulent sets and some beautifully-shot exterior sequences. Henny Porten (Kohlhiesel's Daughter, Backstairs) gives a memorable performance as Boleyn, but the film really belongs to Emil Jannings (The Last Laugh, The Blue Angel), one of Germany's greatest screen stars, playing Henry. Jannings's bravura performance conveys Henry's decadence through his insatiable appetite for both food and women, but never reduces him to caricature or pure villain. Jannings also establishes the screen model for Henry that would be further developed by Charles Laughton almost fifteen years later in The Private Life of Henry VIII.