Anna Karenina (1948)

Director:

Julien Duvivier

Writers:

Leo Tolstoy (novel) and
Jean Anouilh (writer)

Release Date:

22 January 1948 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

This Was Her One Tragic Love !

Plot:

Stefan and Dolly Oblonsky have had a little spat and Stefan has asked his sister, Anna Karenina, to come down to Moscow to help mend the rift...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Family Abandonment | Male Female Relationship | Dysfunctional Marriage | Horse Race

Cast

Vivien Leigh	...	Anna Karenina
Ralph Richardson	...	Alexei Karenin
Kieron Moore	...	Count Vronsky
Hugh Dempster	...	Stefan Oblonsky
Mary Kerridge	...	Dolly Oblonsky
Marie Lohr	...	Princess Scherbatsky
Frank Tickle	...	Prince Scherbatsky
Sally Ann Howes	...	Kitty Scherbatsky
Niall MacGinnis	...	Konstantin Levin
Michael Gough	...	Nicholai
Martita Hunt	...	Princess Betty Tversky
Heather Thatcher	...	Countess Lydia Ivanova
Helen Haye	...	Countess Vronsky
Mary Martlew	...	Princess Nathalia
Ruby Miller	...	Countess Meskov

Also Known As:

Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (UK) (complete title)
Anna Karenina (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Ana Karenina (Spain) [es]
Anna Karénine (France) [fr]
Anna Karenina (Finland) [fi]
Anna Karenina (Sweden) [sv]
Anna Karenina (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

139 min | 111 min (cut version) | West Germany:105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:S | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

London Film Productions

Trivia:

The first feature of Maxine Audley.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Care and Handling of Roses (1996) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Ruslan and Lyudmila

Decent Adaptation of Russian Classic (Spoiler)

"Anna Karenina" is not Vivian Leigh's best work, but it is not bad either. In this movie, she plays an adulteress who is driven to suicide by guilt, loneliness, and the belief that her lover is about to leave her.

The viewer meets Anna when she arrives at her brother's house just in time to patch things up between him and his wife. Anna's brother has been caught kissing his children's' governess and his wife is about to leave him. Anna changes her sister-in-law's mind by telling her that men secretly despise their mistresses, and respect the wives they cheat on.

On her way back to Moscow, Anna sits on the train next to an older lady, and the two women start talking about their sons. When they arrive at their destination, the older lady is met by her son, Count Vronsky (who later becomes Anna's lover) and Anna is met by her husband, Alexei (who greets her coldly)

Following a series of encounters, Count Vronsky and Anna become lovers. Alexei soon finds out, and threatens to divorce Anna and take their son, Sergei with him. Anna is torn by her love for Sergei, and following a near fatal illness, promises Alexei that she will give up her lover forever. However, her love for Count Vronsky soon proves stronger than her love for her son, and Anna gives up her son to be with Vronsky.

After Vronsky and Anna begin living together, respectable people stop wanting to socialize with Anna, and she becomes desperate. Isolated from her former friends, Anna starts obsessing that Vronsky is at the point of leaving her. When he goes away for a few days, she throws herself in front of a train.

Although Count Vronsky and Anna have no chemistry, at least in the movie, there is at least a suggestion of passion (Vronsky tries to commit suicide after Anna resolves to stay with her husband for her son's sake). One is led to believe,therefore, that Anna's fears of abandonment by Vronsky are unfounded. In fact, Vronsky wants to marry Anna, but cannot because Alexei refuses to grant Anna a divorce.

The ultimate tragedy of "Anna Karenina" is that the heroine is the victim of a double standard, in which she must suffer for cheating on a husband who, to quote "Amy" from "At First Sight", has the emotional content of a soap dish. She cannot divorce Alexei without his permission, and she cannot live with a man who is not her husband without being scandalized.