Anna Boleyn

A German silent film set at the English court. Anne Boleyn comes to court as a lady-in-waiting. In Queen Katherine's household. The king notices her. Henry is married. He wants to end the marriage and the church will not allow it. From there the film is a story of rupture. The king breaks with Rome and founds his own church. The only reason is a marriage. Anne becomes queen. She bears a daughter. The king wanted a son. From there the interest cools. Henry looks at another woman. The court turns at once. Those around Anne move away. An accusation is prepared. Treason, adultery and conspiracy. The narrative shows plainly that the charges are invented. What the narrative is interested in is not love but machinery: its idea is that a king's personal desire turns into an apparatus of state, and that the apparatus turns back just as easily. Anne is brought to trial and the outcome is settled from the start. The last section is the execution. The narrative does not show it; it shows the crowd and the waiting. The production is very large. Thousands of extras, full-scale palace sets, and crowded ceremonial scenes. This is one of the big historical films postwar German cinema made for export. Ernst Lubitsch became known in this period through such productions; his move to America came through their success. Emil Jannings plays the king. The part is coarse, appetitive and entirely physical. Henny Porten was the best-known German actress of the period. The film was released in America under another title. Who it is for: anyone who likes silent cinema and large-scale historical production. Who it is not for: anyone expecting historical accuracy; the narrative compresses events and simplifies the politics of the court.