Anna Karenina (1948) | Vivien Leigh, Ralph Richardson

Anna Karenina (1948) | Vivien Leigh, Ralph Richardson | No Train Wreck Here

DVDs:

Anna Karenina (1948)

	Anna Karenina (1948) Vivien Leigh, Ralph Richardson Madacy Records, 1998 average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Vivien Leigh is a "Scarlett" woman as tragic heroine Anna Karenina, unhappily married to "colossal bore" Alexei (Ralph Richardson), who neglects her to attend to affairs of state. When Anna meets the dashing Count Vronsky (Kieron Moore), she begins an affair of her own that scandalizes St. Petersburg and leads to her ostracization from high-society circles and, in a heartbreaking scene, her beloved son. Pepe Le Moko director Julien Duvivier's 1948 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's oft-filmed book has stretches that make the film seem as long and cold as a Russian winter night, but the ravishing Leigh as the doomed Anna keeps the fires burning. The "thoughtless and selfish" Anna is a distant relation of the willfull Ms. O'Hara from Gone with the Wind, although her ultimate comeuppance leaves no hope for "another day." This is a high-minded prestige production (Tolstoy gets his name above the title), but it offers the more simple, old fashioned pleasures of a Hollywood melodrama. --Donald Liebenson

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Anna Karenina

Get a box of Kleenex and a cup of Hot Chocolate because this movie requires both. It will break your hreart and it is a love story, so put another log on the fire and get ready for a really wonderful movie.

No Train Wreck Here

The Duvivier ANNA KARENINA has always been considered generally inferior to the Garbo MGM version, and for years was only available in substandard video transfers and dim revival prints. Fox's spiffy new DVD is cause for rejoicing from film fans -- there's plenty to enjoy in this movie. (Only the most dogged of completists will complain that the version on display is the American release print, some 12 or so minutes shorter than the British version. Trust me, you won't miss the differences.) The screenplay, credited to Jean Anouilh, among others, is the usual trot through the novel, with Kitty and Levin receiving their customary short shrift, the better to concentrate on Anna. Leigh is in fine form here, tacking the last of her glamour roles in film with elegance and assurance. Given the turmoil passion wreaked in Leigh's personal life, her Anna's perhaps a bit cool, but she's intelligent, fine-grained, and ultimately very moving. As a nice plus, Leigh looks superb in her chic Beaton duds. Richardson's ideal as Karenin, and, in a large and distinguised supporting cast, Sally Ann Howes' Kitty and Martita Hunt's Princess Betsy give particular pleasure. (Michael Gough, in a bit part, manages to be as over-the-top irritating in a few lines as he was later in leads in such B-classics as KONGA and TROG, thereby putting the lie to my long-held opinion that he's an actor best suited to small parts.) The picture's major weakness is Kieron Moore's Vronsky. Handsome in a horse-faced way, he's no match for Leigh; their scenes together lack life and fire. The director generally throws the scenes her way, and with good reason. Even shrouded in semi-darkness, Moore looks lost. Altogether, not a great classic, but full of many pleasures, great and small.

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a forgotten film masterpiece

so many great artists came together to capture the Tolstoyan tale of woman's victimisation by society and love itself. Leigh's best performance ever alongside Richardson's icy Karenin manage to rise above Kieron Moore's lumpen Vronsky, the film's one flaw. Superb direction by the renowned French master, Duvivier, an intelligent script lifted to genius by the input (uncredited) of playwright Jean Anouilh, and period perfect costumes by Cecil Beaton all back up this triumph of Vivien Leigh.

for your reconsideration

it is time to give vivien leigh's anna another chance.

at the time, it could have been easily eclipsed by her health problems and her second husband laurence olivier, who was coming in to his prime as england's foremost actor.

but at the end of the film, leigh is showing where is she is headed as an actress. anna's great risk, her gamble and her loss are touchingly devastating. she would cap on this with her performance as blanche du bois.

ralph richardson and kieron moore are also right in there as her husband karenin and lover vronsky. moore is a whole lot of pretty in his uniforms, which is why he doesn't get the greatest press as an actor. he's good. if duvivier had taken time, he might have gotten something of greater value from this actor.

as it was, he got some fabulous work out of cecil beaton. his designs are just so opulent, with loads of detail, rich dark furs, ruffles and lace.

and the constant lambert score is also romantic and sumptuous, especially at the end as it supports anna's alienation from everything in her life.

sometimes, it is hard to out-and-out love this film, but it is easy to appreciate the effort put forth by everyone involved.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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