This historical drama Anna Boleyn directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Henny Porten and Emil Jannings, has royal production values, even if lacking supplemental content.
The Production: 3.5/5
When most people think of Ernst Lubitsch, delightful comedies are generally what comes to mind. The actor turned auteur enjoyed meteoric success in the German film industry in the late 1910s. His historical drama, Anna Boleyn, is an exquisitely produced and mostly entertaining work. Starring Henny Porten as the titular second wife of King Henry VIII, who is played with gusto by celebrated actor Emil Jannings. The film begins with Henry’s eventual annulment to his first wife, Queen Katherine of Aragon. History buffs will note some chaos involving the Church around this time due to the king’s displeasure in being told divorce isn’t acceptable, per the Pope. This is a straightforward telling of the almost three years of Queen Anne’s marriage, birth of their daughter, repeated attempts at delivering a male heir, and finally her execution. Just out of curiosity, I read a few Wikipedia articles that did nothing to foster more joy for monarchies.
The main reasons to check out this film would be the impressive production values and Emil Jannings’ blustery performance. I found the film more interesting than many dramas of the same time, which admittedly can be difficult to sit through. I’m a silent film fan, but I’ve been more into comedy and the more epic productions. One interesting aspect about the film is that Lubitsch frames practically every shot as a tableau, even down to a myriad of custom mattes over the image – often making shots look letterboxed, pillarboxed, or even like a painting. There is some levity at times, but it does have a more serious tone in the second half. I did like how Lubitsch tends to be more dynamic with his actors, letting them move around more and getting the most out of faces. It’s incredible to think that there would still be a decade before he made his most iconic films in America.
Video: 4/5
3D Rating: NA
The first thing to do when critiquing a Blu-ray of a film made 104 years ago is the understanding that it’s a small miracle it exists in watchable form at all. Thankfully, the surviving film elements – mainly a camera negative and original prints – look quite lovely. Per a card at the beginning of the film, the F.W. Murnau Foundation restored the film photochemically from those original elements in 2001, with the 2K digital master used for this disc (and the MoC edition) being created in 2014.
Contrast is generally excellent, with quite a lot of detail. Don’t expect a scratchy, blown out, fuzzy image here. Some stabilization has been applied, but it’s more or less “as-is” in terms of the lack of dirt and scratch removal. Sure, it would be nice to have the image given extensive treatment, but I don’t mind the way this simply captures what a fresh 35mm print would look like from the photochemical restoration. A few sections seem to be from lower quality sources, but even those look nice enough. Kino has encoded at a very high bitrate (36mbps) onto a BD-50.
The 1.33:1 image is properly tinted and toned, as well as speed corrected to approx. 18fps (via repeating every fourth frame). The sepia bulk of the film has lovely contrast that shows off the exquisite detail in costumes. Much like other Lubitsch silents (especially The Wildcat), he often adds masking on the edges, creating occasional “letterboxed” or “pillarboxed” images.
The original German intertitles are kept intact, with optional English subtitles.
Audio: 5/5
The piano score provided on this Kino Lorber edition was recorded in 2005 by Javier Perez de Azpeitia. This same score was utilized for the Eureka/Masters of Cinema’s Lubitsch in Berlin collection released in 2017. Fidelity is excellent, with the track encoded as DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo.
For those into silent cinema, the fidelity is probably not as much as a concern as how the score pairs with the images. Thankfully, it’s just as delightful. The composer captures the right emotions and tempos, never becoming a distraction. Simple, but it serves.
Special Features: 0/5
Unfortunately, no supplements have been provided on this release on Anna Boleyn. The DVD edition released by Kino Video in 2006, as well as the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray included a feature-length documentary, “Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin.” Kino Lorber seems to have included audio commentaries on practically all other Lubitsch silents they have released lately, so one that went into at least a historical perspective would have been interesting.
Overall: 4/5
While not among the top silent classics, Anna Boleyn is definitely worth a look for Lubitsch fans. More historical perspective via supplements would have been nice, but the lovely presentation should be enough for most silent cinema buffs.
Current Home Theater setup (as of 01/2019):
Monitor:
Samsung 60" LED 4K UHD (UN60J7090)
Players:
Primary - Sony UBP-X700 UltraHD Player
Secondary - Sony BDP-S5500 Blu-ray 3D Player (all region modded)
Sound:
VIZIO 5.1 Soundbar SB-3851C0
Other Players:
PS3
Apple TV (4th generation)
3-D Glasses:
Samsung Active Shutter (4x)
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