''Anna Boleyn'', also known as ''Deception'', is a 1920 German historical film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It stars Henny Porten as

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

and Emil Jannings as

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

. The film was produced by Paul Davidson's Union Film, a subsidiary of the giant German company UFA. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Kurt Richter. The film cost an estimated 8 million

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

to make, but was able to recoup this from the sale of the American rights alone which brought in $200,000 (14 million marks).

Plot summary

Cast

Reception

''Anna Boleyn'' was among

Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...

's favorite films, calling it "an example of superb direction and splendid acting, especially that of Emil Jannings. It was the first time on the screen that a King had been made human. It has subtle, satirical humor."

Home media

The film was released in the US by

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art film, art ho ...

as part of the box set "Lubitsch in Berlin" in 2005–2007 with English intertitles. It was also released in the UK by Eureka's Masters of Cinema series as part of the box set "Lubitsch in Berlin: Fairy-Tales, Melodramas, and Sex Comedies" in 2010 with German intertitles and English subtitles.

References

Bibliography

External links

* * 1920 films 1920s biographical films 1920s historical films Cultural depictions of Anne Boleyn Cultural depictions of Catherine of Aragon German black-and-white films Films about Henry VIII Films directed by Ernst Lubitsch Films of the Weimar Republic Films set in the 1530s Films set in 16th-century Tudor England German biographical films German epic films German historical films German silent feature films Epic films based on actual events Historical epic films UFA GmbH films Films shot at Tempelhof Studios Silent German adventure films 1920s German films Silent epic films Cultural depictions of Jane Seymour {{historic-film-stub