Producer: David O. Selznick. A Clarence Brown Production. Copyright 20 August 1935 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corporation. New York opening at the Capitol: 30 August 1935. London opening: 19 October 1935. U.K. general release: 4 January 1936. Australian release: 6 November 1935. 9 reels. 95 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Russian noblewoman deserts her husband and child for a dashing cavalry officer.NOTES: Although not nominated for any Academy Awards, Anna Karenina was voted Best Foreign Film of 1935 at the Venice Film Festival, and Greta Garbo was named Best Actress of the year by the New York Film Critics' Circle. A remake of Love (1927), photographed by William Daniels and directed by Edmund Goulding from an adaptation by Frances Marion. John Gilbert played Vronsky, Brandon Hurst was Karenin, and Garbo of course played Anna Karenina. COMMENT: Clarence Brown's masterpiece and my choice as one of the greatest films of all time. Back in 1967, when I wrote a detailed account of Anna Karenina for a well-known film magazine, I described Brown's "Shall we go in for dinner?" opening crane shot at the banqueting table as the most famous and most daring single shot in all film history. No-one dared to challenged this assertion at the time and I still believe it is true today. I also pointed out that, although most critics were only too eager to draw attention to this particular camera feat, they tended to under-rate Brown's achievements in the rest of the film. In point of fact, the same skills, the same inventiveness, the same artistry are evident throughout. Who could forget some of the effectively symbolic sequences like our first glimpse of Garbo as, disembarking from the train, she suddenly emerges through a cloud of steam? Or the scenes of Garbo and March, on their return journey to St Petersburg, silhouetted against the windows of the speeding train as it traversed a series of bleak plains with the sun setting low over distant hills? Purists will argue that the movie has simplified the book by concentrating all our attention on the Garbo-March romance and neglecting other elements. While this is true to some extent, it's really an inevitable part of the process of translating a sprawling two-volume novel to the screen. Oddly, the main condensation is one of change rather than elimination. All the major players in the novel are presented in the film, but the character of Karenin has been demonized. In the novel, he is a far more complex person: lonely, well-meaning, exasperating, vacillating, pompous, frightened, almost amiable. The movie portrait homes in on his pompous mannerisms and presents him as a cold, unloving and unlovable person. Ideal casting for Basil Rathbone, in fact, who relishes such lines as his advice to his young son: "Unhasting and unresting is my motto. It should be your motto too." And his statement to Garbo: "I am concerned only with appearances." When Anna Karenina was re-issued in the late 1950s, a lot of the critical buzz centered around Phoebe Foster and Sir Gyles Isham, both of whom give mighty impressive performances, the former as Dolly, the latter as Levin, the impressive Tolstoy-like figure who comes into conflict with Vronsky over the flighty Kitty (spiritedly played by Maureen O'Sullivan). Both Foster and Isham had only short careers in the cinema. Both appeared in only eight talkies each. Both made their greatest marks on the stage, Isham at London's West End where he became the talk of the town in Family Affairs, Foster on Broadway. It's said that Garbo herself requested the aristocratic Isham for the role after seeing one of his British films. Be this as it may, Anna Karenina proved to be the high point in his film career. Foster's too. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executives were also impressed with Isham, and offered him a five-year contract. He declined because he felt he was needed back in England to help his father, Sir Vere Isham, who had never recovered from a serious motor accident and was almost an invalid. The only other film in which we can currently see Isham is Victor Saville's The Iron Duke in which he has a small role as Castlereagh. It would be nice to see one of Gyles' starring British films, particularly his first, Anne One Hundred (1933), a Paramount picture in which he co-starred opposite the lovely Betty Stockfeld). Every critic also has a good word for the superb cinematography of Garbo's hand-picked cameraman, William Daniels. But not so many take time to praise the background music composed by Herbert Stothart. They take it for granted (which is itself a compliment). I love Stothart's tinkling bells effect when the chandeliers are being lit. Also most effective is the dramatic combination of music and sound effects as the train gathers speed at the conclusion. Best of all is his underscoring of the quarrel scene between March and Garbo. As his martial music fades into the bitter-sweet Anna theme, Garbo exclaims softly, "I face the truth."-"What truth?" asks Vronsky.-"That one day I shall find myself alone."

Anna Karenina (1935) was directed by Clarence Brown. The film is an excellent screen adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's great novel.The film stars Greta Garbo as Anna. Fredric March portrays Count Vronsky, and Basil Rathbone plays Karenin. March was a great actor, but I thought his Count Vronsky was too cold and unloving. Karenin is supposed to be cold and unloving. Basil Rathbone was a consummate actor, and his portrayal of Karenin was extraordinary.Greta Garbo was born to play this role. From the moment we see her features appear from within a cloud of steam, until the end of the movie, she's perfect. Of course, her beauty was fabled, but she also was a great actor. Anna Karenina was the perfect role for her, and she played it to perfection. There's no point in going on and on about Garbo. When you see the movie, you'll understand what I mean.It's interesting that director Brown was never considered to be among the elite directors of his day. However, he was Garbo's favorite director. The person introducing the movie told us that Garbo preferred him because (a) He knew how to film her to bring out her beauty and (b) he basically stood back and let her be Garbo.Even if Brown wasn't considered to be among the top directors of his time, the film he directed manages to convey the essence of Tolstoy's novel in 90 minutes. The novel is almost 1,000 pages long. Capturing this epic work in 90 minutes, complete with a long dance scene and a scene at the opera, is almost miraculous.We saw this film at the wonderful Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY. We watched a 35mm print, restored at Eastman. Of course, this is how the movie was meant to be seen. However, it will work well enough on the small screen.I checked the IMDb list, and learned that Anna Karenina has been filmed over 30 times. (Actually, Garbo played Anna in an earlier silent film.) Clearly, it's a novel that works on the screen. As I write this review, Garbo's Anna Karenina has a respectable 7.1 rating on IMDb. There may be other Anna Karenina movies with a higher rating than that. Remember that this version stars Greta Garbo. In my opinion, it's an essential film for people who love literature and movies. Find it and enjoy it.

Of the handful of astounding or classic books I've read in my life Voltaire's Candide is top - and is apparently unfilmable. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is another - and has been filmed many times but none of them coming anywhere near to doing the novel justice. This MGM Clarence Brown effort remains my favourite attempt, although at 92 minutes long it's still like seeing simplified and edited snapshots of the masterwork. Of the ones I've seen the 1948 UK version had a lot going for it but was just as edited, not as plush but if watched with the MGM can augment the experience; the 1967 Russian version was nearly 150 minutes long but almost laughable in it's hamminess and with dodgy English subtitles; the BBC 10 parter from 1977 was done on a low snoozy Sunday afternoon TV budget and it showed. I wonder if the 2012 entry is a cgi cartoon?Anna Karenin has a loveless marriage but dotes on her young son; dashing Count Vronsky a cavalry officer falls in love with her and vice versa – her husband disowns her leaving her to a life of shame and regret. It's expertly handled and amidst sumptuous Cedric Gibbons sets gives the viewer the gist of the simple perfection and satisfying elegance of the story. Only…here the big problem was they got Basil Rathbone as Karenin and Fredric March as Vronsky the wrong way round - Rathbone got the sympathy but also cut a far more interesting figure than March. Veronica Lake might have cast a witches spell on Greta Garbo to get her to fancy March! A lesser problem to me because understandable was that Levin and Kitty's tales were almost completely jettisoned, including the final part of the book for a rather lame and unnecessary mini-addendum by March and Reginald Owensky. And so what if Garbo occasionally over-acted, she was as usual suitably enigmatic. A truly valiant effort to film the book, and the one I recommend over the other versions to date.

Two things stand out for me in watching this fine film: Garbo's acting and the way in which the novel was transferred to the screen.Many American viewers are impervious to Garbo's acting even as they acknowledge her beauty. To the end of her life, despite more than 50 years of residence in this country, Garbo never became Americanized. She remained an anti-social foreigner who appealed mainly to Europeans. Since this approach does not work in the American melting pot, she retired after World War II had deprived her of her European audience.However, for many intellectuals and artists, whenever she appears on the screen it is as though an inner door has opened to all of European culture: its literature, painting and sculpture, drama, poetry, music, philosophy, architecture – everything. Though certainly no intellectual, Garbo had a profound instinct for the real thing that continues to inspire artists and creative thinkers in this global age of mass media.The script for this movie is an admirable adaptation of Tolstoy's long, panoramic novel of life among the upper crust in 19th century Russia. There are well-mounted scenes from an officers' banquet, a full-dress ball, a croquet party, a horse race, an Orthodox wedding and a Russian opera. Together with a searching musical score by Herbert Stothart, this sumptuous filmfare communicates volumes in itself.Foremost among the themes of the novel was the double standard, whereby married men can be openly promiscuous while married women must keep their hanky-panky a secret. Anna attempts to buck this trend through open adultery and loses everything. The inertial forces of society are symbolized in the novel and in the film by the train. The train scenes are very important to the unity of the story and are superbly photographed and abetted by sound effects and musical commentary.I could go on and on, but for reasons of space limitations must end here by declaring this film to be the best adaptation yet of one of Europe's finest novels. See it!