Anne Boleyn (1914)

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Laura Cowie | Henri Desfontaines (Director) | Louis Mercanton (Director)

Rest of cast:

Max Maxudian | Albert Decoeur | Suzanne Méthivier | Laurence Duluc | George Kleine (Distribution – United States) | Frank Bates (Manager – Éclipse Company) | Max Pemberton (Screenplay) | Wladimir (Cinematographer)

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Original Title: Anne de Boleyn

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see also Anne Boleyn (1912)

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“Anne Boleyn” (Eclipse-Kleine)

Reviewed by James S. McQuade.

An imposing historical photodrama in three parts, under the title Anne Boleyn, has been produced by Eclipse and is scheduled to be released as a special feature by the General Film Company on May 7.

Max Pemberton wrote the scenario, and he has kept close to the historical narrative in the main facts. He has succeeded in weaving an absorbing, romantic story around the second queen of Henry VIII, so strong in vindication of her innocence and so adverse to the merciless monarch that a view of these films forces the spectator to take the side of the ill-fated Anne, with a feeling of bitter animosity toward her royal mate. The introduction of the spirit of Herne the hunter in the story seems rather uncanny; but some of the scenes are laid at Windsor, and it is not too great a stretch of the imagination to suppose that the country side at the time teemed with legends about the famous deer killer, who had hunted them under pain of death in Windsor forest itself and was hanged on a great oak about two centuries before.

Many fine, stately interiors are revealed in these pictures. It is a subject that calls for the surroundings suited to royalty, and the production meets the requirements well. Several outdoor scenes are exceptionally beautiful, those in Windsor forest particularly. The costumes are also in keeping with Court etiquette at the time.

Great praise is due Eclipse for the assignment of the characters in the cast — with one exception. Miss Laura Cowie, of His Majesty’s Theater, London, appears in the titular role. It is really a delight to see this graceful, attractive actress in moving pictures. She is brilliant both in her conception and interpretation of Anne Boleyn’s character. The capricious and the ambitious aspect is distinctly shown; but just as Anne’s real character was at its best during her imprisonment in the Tower of London, and at its noblest height on her way to the headsman’s block, so Miss Cowie’s talented impersonation reveals it. The shrinking of the tender-hearted woman from the dread ordeal, and the noble bearing of the queen when the end is reached hold one with the spell of pity and of admiration. Miss Cowie’s court curtsy is a poem in the art of polite genuflection.

Henry VIII is reflected in the person of M. Albert Decoeur, of the Sarah Bernhardt Theater, Paris. At first sight, M. Decoeur may appear a little lean in his underpinnings, for the great Tudor king; but a little reflection will bring the reminder that Henry was still, comparatively, a young, virile man when he took unto himself his second wife. Free leash to his passions and appetite aged him rapidly within the next ten years or so, until he gained Falstaffian proportions of body and a state of mind that convinced him he was a close second to the Deity. M. Decoeur presents him, therefore, pretty accurately in physique. In dignity, in unbending arbitrary policy, in amours and in unscrupulous heartlessness to gain his ends, M. Decoeur’s Henry VIII will make a strong appeal to the student of history and to others not so well informed. That final scene, in which the king and Jane Seymour, surrounded by the gay members of his court, await the sound of the signal gun that announces the beheading of Anne Boleyn, is a tragedy set in a background of smiles and pleasure. As one views it, a sigh of thankfulness is raised that the world has grown better.

The part of sweet, girlish Jane Seymour is inaptly cast. She was not much over sixteen years of age when her fresh young beauty attracted the lustful eye of Henry. The part has been assigned to a lady who looks much older than Anne Boleyn, and almost as old as Queen Catharine. Even with such physical disadvantages, the lady in question sustains the part with commendable art.

Queen Catharine, the evil Earl of Suffolk, the gentle, poetic Sir Thomas Wyatt, the court jester, the keeper of the Tower of London, and other roles are ably impersonated.

In all the big scenes the producer has massed his subjects with fine effect, and the action has an easy flow and timeliness.

Good photography, marked in many scenes by fine definition, stamps the films throughout.

As the story runs, the opening scene shows the handsome young courtier, Sir Thomas Wyatt, reading some of his verses to Queen Catharine, with Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting, an interested listener. Sir Thomas has succumbed to the charms of Anne, and it is really to her that he is reading his verses and not to Catharine.

Henry VIII had heard much about the beauty and wit of Anne Boleyn and he pays a visit to the queen at Greenwich; presumably so, for in heart he has come to see and judge Anne for himself. He learns that Sir Thomas and Anne are often together, and, his jealousy aroused, he instructs his jester to watch them. The latter discovers that the young people are deeply in love and so informs his royal master.

Henry has now set his heart on possessing Anne and loads her with rare and costly jewels. But Anne still keeps her trysts with Sir Thomas, and the king coming upon them at one of these becomes furious, and banishes Sir Thomas from the court. Then the king presses more vigorously the annullment of his marriage to Catharine, and secures it. Soon afterward Anne Boleyn becomes Queen of England.

For two years Anne is happy amid the splendors of the court. Then Jane Seymour appears on the scene and Henry falls before her girlish charms. To rid himself of Anne he summons the Earl of Suffolk to form a plan that will compromise her. Suffolk writes a letter to Sir Thomas, signed by Anne, bidding him come to her. The forgery is not detected by Sir Thomas, who comes at once, with the bearer of the note, to see her. The messenger conducts him to Anne’s apartments and locks the doors leading from them. Henry is notified, and proceeds at once to entrap Anne and her lover.

Anne, who suspects a plot just after reading the note which had brought Sir Thomas to her, urged the latter to fly at once. The doors were found locked and Anne knew that she was doomed. The king knocked at the door a moment afterward, and Anne concealed Sir Thomas in an alcove screened by curtains. Then she opened the door.

A few months afterward she was beheaded in the Tower and Jane Seymour became Queen of England.

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Scene from Anne Boleyn (Eclipse-Kleine)

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Collection: Moving Picture World, May 1914