Presented by Ayano Fukui
(Author’s note: The sentences in Italics are the transcripts of the narration from the program.)
On February 15 in 2002, a short television program about the legend of Anastasia was broadcasted in Japan. As far as I know, in Japan, there were two television programs that featured the legend of Anastasia, in 1994 and then again in 2002. This review describes the program that was broadcast in 2002.
The 15-minute program appeared in a quiz show entitled Unmei no Da-Da-Da-Daan [The Dramatic Fates of People]. The quiz show featured the lives of people in history. I recall that I have encountered the life of the beautiful Empress Elizabeth in Austria, the enormous life of Catherine the Great in Russia, and the tragic life of Marie Antoinette in France through the quiz show and it evoked my curiosity about their dramatic lifetimes. When I noticed that the legend of the Grand Duchess Anastasia would be featured in the quiz show, my heart was singing and I imagined how the story of her would be featured.
The program on Anastasia was entitled Anastasia Survived or Not!? The Mystery of the Grand Duchess Anastasia. On the day when it was broadcasted, an advertisement of this program appeared in a dairy newspaper:
The program was based on James Blair Lovell’s Anastasia: the Lost Princess and Hugh Brewster’s Anastasia’s Album. Japanese choices for the publication of the books about the legend of Anastasia might have been problematic in translation. Japan has not published the Japanese translation of Peter Kurth’s Anastasia: the Riddle of Anna Anderson and therefore in Japan, Lovell was considered an authority in this field describing the legend of Anastasia. It leads people who are interested in the legendary Anastasia to a confusing road.
The program began with the narration, “This is a queer story of Anastasia’s fate, the greatest mystery of Twentieth Century.”
"In February 1920, Berlin, Germany. On that freezing day, a young woman jumped into the canal. Fortunately, she was saved by the policeman who had happened to be around the bridge. The woman called herself Anna Anderson. However, she did not tell who she was. Her behavior and beautiful blue eyes indicated that she was from a noble house…”
The program was entitled the “Mystery of the Grand Duchess Anastasia.” However, it sounded to me that it featured Anna Anderson’s story. There was a short biography of the real Anastasia at the beginning of the program. “June, 1901. The Imperial Russian Tsar Nicholas II and Tsaritsa Alexandra welcomed their new fourth child the Grand Duchess Anastasia. She did not need to encounter hardships in her childhood and grew up as an innocent tomboy. When she turned seventeen, a tragedy fell upon her.”
The program included the intriguing scene where the real Anastasia threw paper balls from the balcony of the palace at the people who were walking in the streets. Later, it led to Dr. Rudnev’s conviction that Anna, who remembered that trivial recollection was real. In that program, some haunting songs were inserted: James Horner’s “A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics” flows in the “paper balls” scene. Also, Pat Boone’s famous song, “Anastasia” was added into the scene where Ingrid Bergman’s Anastasia was featured.
The most moving scene in the program to me would be, the one from Anna Anderson’s later years. The music, Ennio Morricone’s “La Caliph” flowed beautifully in the scene where Anna Anderson said “You believe it or you don’t believe it. It doesn’t matter.” This scene was somehow haunting to me, regardless who the woman really was. The program ended with the scene about the excavation of the body of the last Tsar’s family.
This short 15-minute program did not define the story of Anastasia as a resolved legend. It did not define Anna Anderson as an imposter, either. It left such kinds of questions. The narration of the program ended with these words:
“This is the legend of Anastasia as the Grand Duchess of Tragedy. Still, all the riddles of her have been wrapped in deep darkness.” As I said earlier, the program about Anastasia was featured in a quiz show. This is the quiz about Anastasia in that program:
“During captivity, Anastasia’s mother, the Empress Alexandra wrote letters to her children and it asked the children to “dispose of the medicines as had been agreed” (Brewster 57). What was the meaning of the code, “medicine” in Alexandra’s letter to her children?”
References:
“Korosareta Princess wa Ikiteita? Anastasia wo Meguru Mystery.” Unmei no Da Da Da Daan. Narr. Rumi Sugimoto. Prod. Yasuo Ishihara. Dir. Katsuhito Sakamoto. Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, Tokyo. February 15, 2002. Transcript. (Available in Japanese)
Brewster, Hugh. Anastasia’s Album. London: Little Brown and Company. 1996. pp. 57
Lovell, James Blair. Anastasia: the Lost Princess. New York: St. Martin Press. 1991. pp. 92
[Photo Captions]
1. This advertisement reads, “Was the woman who claimed to be Anastasia real? This week, we will feature royal princesses and find out the truth from the mysterious story that the world had wondered, ‘Was she real or not?’ Watch it tonight at 9 pm.”
2. Photos 2-4 are captured by the author of this article. This photo is from the segment at the beginning in the program with the tagline, “The Greatest mystery of Twentieth Century! The Riddle of Anastasia.”
3. “It doesn’t matter,” says Anna Anderson. This segment as “the video of her in the past” was probably borrowed from a documentary program about her which was produced in the USA.
4. The green subtitle in the photo reads “Anastasia and her siblings received the letter from Alexandra.” The caption above on the right side reads, “The Riddle of Anastasia, what is the meaning of medicines?”
The Legend of Anastasia Encounters Japan