Anna Karenina (1935)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Clarence Brown

Writers:

S.N. Behrman (dialogue adaptation)
Clemence Dane (writer)

Release Date:

25 December 1935 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The married Anna Karenina falls in love with Count Vronsky despite her husband's refusal to grant a divorce, and both must contend with the social repercussions.

Plot Keywords:

Divorce | Obsessive Love | Train | Russia | Suicide

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Greta Garbo	...	Anna Karenina
Fredric March	...	Vronsky
Freddie Bartholomew	...	Sergei
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Kitty
May Robson	...	Countess Vronsky
Basil Rathbone	...	Karenin
Reginald Owen	...	Stiva
Phoebe Foster	...	Dolly
Reginald Denny	...	Yashvin
Gyles Isham	...	Levin
Joan Marsh	...	Lili
Ethel Griffies	...	Mme. Kartasoff
Harry Beresford	...	Matve
Sarah Padden	...	Governess
Cora Sue Collins	...	Tania

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (re-rating) (1990) | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | New Zealand:PG | Sweden:11 (re-release) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Aware that her co-star Fredric March was notorious for seducing his leading ladies, Greta Garbo reportedly wore garlic under her clothes and purposely had bad breath in order to stave off his advances.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Shadows of equipment are visible in the scene where Karenin confronts Anna.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Only Love (1998) (TV)

Sexist Old Mother Russia

I'm willing to bet that Anna Karenina was something that Greta Garbo agreed to remake because she thought she might have her same leading man again. She had done Tolstoy's troubled countess in an acclaimed silent version with John Gilbert. When Gilbert's career wouldn't rebound after Queen Christina the year before, Garbo took on Fredric March as a second choice.

It's not a bad choice, March makes a very good love 'em and leave 'em Count Vronsky. The book is nicely edited down to an acceptable movie length although it surely is better suited for a mini-series. But true to the Production Code and March's own image, he doesn't leave Anna for another woman and MGM tacks on a cop out scene at the very end where he expresses his profound regrets over the whole business.

Greta Garbo is trapped in a marriage to a career minded Basil Rathbone and is bored with the lack of romance. Along comes the dashing Count Fredric March and she leaves husband and child Freddie Bartholomew.

The whole point here is the difference in what happens. Tolstoy recognized full well the sexist frame his society operated under, but he thought it was a good thing. Women ought to know their place was his idea.

When Garbo runs off to Italy with March and then is seen publicly with him in St. Petersburg, she is shunned from polite society. March can be shed of her and his return back to his regiment is welcomed, Garbo has nowhere to go and her fate is inevitable.

Garbo captures the air of tragedy surrounding poor Anna so well, you're in tears practically the whole film. You KNOW what her fate must be yet you still watch her entranced. No wonder Anna Karenina is such an acclaimed role for her, both silent and sound versions.

Basil Rathbone is a proud member of the sexist society of Old Russia, yet his performance is also good in that you both feel his pain and hate him for not having an ounce of forgiveness for her.

Of the supporting cast, my favorite is Reginald Owen who is Garbo's brother. He's cheating on his wife with anyone in sight and then in the end HE lectures Garbo on what her duties are.

No wonder there were so many Bolshevik women.