''Anna Karenina'' is a 1935
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
film adaptation of the 1877 novel ''
Anna Karenina
''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writt ...
'' by
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
and directed by
Clarence Brown
Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director.
Early life
Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to Larkin Harry Brown, a cotton manufacturer, and Katherine Ann Brown (née Gaw), Brown moved to Tennessee when he ...
. The film stars
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...
,
Fredric March
Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...
,
Basil Rathbone, and
Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen O'Sullivan (17 May 1911 – 23 June 1998) was an Irish-American actress, who played Jane in the ''Tarzan'' series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller. She performed with such actors as Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, William ...
. There are several other
film adaptations of the novel.
In New York, the film opened at the
Capitol Theatre, the site of many prestigious MGM premieres. The film earned $2,304,000 at the box office, and won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign film at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
. Greta Garbo received a
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honor the finest achievements in film-making.
Winners
* † = Winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress
* ‡ = Nomina ...
for her role as Anna. In addition, the film was ranked #42 on the
American Film Institute's list of
AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions.
Plot
Anna Karenina (
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...
) is the wife of Czarist official Karenin (
Basil Rathbone). While she tries to persuade her brother Stiva (
Reginald Owen
John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs.
Career
The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...
) from a life of debauchery, she becomes infatuated with dashing military officer Count Vronsky (
Fredric March
Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...
). This indiscreet liaison ruins her marriage and position in 19th century Russian society; she is even prohibited from seeing her own son Sergei (
Freddie Bartholomew
Frederick Cecil Bartholomew (March 28, 1924 – January 23, 1992), known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English-American child actor. One of the most famous child actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywoo ...
), with eventual dire results.
Cast
*
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...
as
Anna Karenina
''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writt ...
*
Fredric March
Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...
as Count Vronsky
*
Freddie Bartholomew
Frederick Cecil Bartholomew (March 28, 1924 – January 23, 1992), known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English-American child actor. One of the most famous child actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywoo ...
as Sergei
*
Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen O'Sullivan (17 May 1911 – 23 June 1998) was an Irish-American actress, who played Jane in the ''Tarzan'' series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller. She performed with such actors as Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, William ...
as Kitty
*
May Robson
Mary Jeanette Robison (19 April 1858 – 20 October 1942), known professionally as May Robson, was an Australian-born American-based actress whose career spanned 58 years, starting in 1883 when she was 25. A major stage actress of the late 19t ...
as Countess Vronsky
*
Basil Rathbone as Karenin
*
Reginald Owen
John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs.
Career
The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...
as Stiva
*
Phoebe Foster
Phoebe Foster (born Angeline Egar; July 9, 1896 – June 1975) was an American theater and film actress.
Career
Foster studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She began appearing on Broadway in 1914, starting with a production of Roi ...
as Dolly
*
Reginald Denny as Yashvin
*
Gyles Isham
Sir Gyles Isham, 12th Baronet (31 October 1903 – 29 January 1976) was an English aristocrat, actor (who appeared in several films in the 1930s) and historian.
Life and career
Gyles Isham was born 31 October 1903 in Lamport, Northamptonshire, E ...
as Levin
*
Joan Marsh
Joan Marsh (July 10, 1914 – August 10, 2000) was an American child actress in silent films between 1915 and 1921. Later, during the sound era, she resumed her acting career and performed in a variety of films during the 1930s and 1940s.
Ear ...
as Lili
*
Ethel Griffies
Ethel Griffies (born Ethel Woods; 26 April 1878 – 9 September 1975) was an English actress of stage, screen, and television. She is remembered for portraying the ornithologist Mrs. Bundy in Alfred Hitchcock's classic '' The Birds'' (1963). Sh ...
as Mme. Kartasov
*
Harry Beresford
Harry J. Beresford (4 November 1863 – 4 October 1944) was an English-born actor on the American stage and in motion pictures. He used the professional name Harry J. Morgan early in his career.
Career
Harry Beresford began his acting career i ...
as Matve
*
Cora Sue Collins
Cora Susan Collins (born April 19, 1927) is an American former child actress who appeared in numerous films during the Golden Years of Hollywood.
Early life and career
Cora Susan Collins was born on April 19, 1927, in Beckley, West Virginia. ...
as Tania
*
Buster Phelps
Buster Phelps (November 5, 1926 – January 10, 1983) was an American actor.
Phelps debuted on film when he was a child. When the mother of another child had booked two simultaneous film sessions for that youngster, she contacted Phelps' mothe ...
as Grisha
*
Mary Forbes
Mary Forbes (born Ethel Louise Young; 1 January 1883 – 22 July 1974) was a British-American film actress, based in the United States in her latter years, where she died. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1919 and 1958. as Princess Sorokina
*
Harry Allen as Cord
*
Sarah Padden as Governess
*
Mischa Auer as Mahotin (uncredited)
*
Harry Cording
Hector William "Harry" Cording (26 April 1891 – 1 September 1954) was an English-American actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his roles in the films '' The Black Cat'' (1934) and ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938).
Life and career ...
as Officer (uncredited)
*
Olaf Hytten
Olaf Hytten (3 March 1888 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1921 and 1955. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack, while sitting in his car ...
as Butler (uncredited)
Production
Reception
Writing for ''The Spectator'' in 1935,
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
made much of Greta Garbo's powerful and theatrical acting in the film, noting that "it is Greta Garbo's personality which 'makes' this film, which fills the mould of the neat respectful
adaptation with some kind of sense of the greatness of
the novel
''The Novel'' (1991) is a novel written by American author James A. Michener. A departure from Michener's better known historical fiction, ''The Novel'' is told from the viewpoints of four different characters involved in the life and work of ...
". Greene found that the
pathos that Garbo's acting brings to the picture overwhelms the acting of all supporting cast save that of Basil Rathbone.
Helen Brown Norden from ''
Vanity Fair'' in a glowing review wrote "Against the glittering background, these people move to their inevitable doom. There seems more of anguish and more of sombre depth in this version than there was in the old silent film (with Garbo and John Gilbert). Garbo still with that remote look of "the implacable Aphrodite" on her face acts with a dignity and a bitter passion which reach a mature climax in the final scene."
The film has received acclaim from modern critics. It holds a 93% approval rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 14 reviews.
The film is recognized by
American Film Institute in these lists:
* 2002:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – #42
The film grossed $865,000 in the United States and Canada, and grossed $1,439,000 elsewhere, combined it grossed $2,304,000 and brought MGM a profit of $320,000.
Notes
Garbo also was the lead in the 1927 version of ''Anna Karenina'', released under the title ''
Love
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...
''.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
Anna Kareninaat
Allmovie
*
Extensive photo gallery and notes at GarboForever.com
{{Authority control
1935 films
1935 romantic drama films
1930s historical romance films
American historical romance films
American romantic drama films
American black-and-white films
Remakes of American films
Sound film remakes of silent films
Films based on Anna Karenina
Romantic period films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films directed by Clarence Brown
Films produced by David O. Selznick
Films about infidelity
Films scored by Herbert Stothart
1930s English-language films
1930s American films