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| Anna Karenina (1935) | 
| Director: Clarence Brown
Actors: Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Freddie Bartholomew, Maureen O'sullivan, May Robson
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $3.97
You Save: $16.01 (80%)
Buy New/Used from $2.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  (20 reviews)
Sales Rank: 38119
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 93 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD67377D
ISBN: 1419807447
UPC: 012569673779
EAN: 9781419807442
ASIN: B0009S4IIS
Release Date: September 6, 2005
Theatrical Release Date: 1935
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Description
Anna Karenina, dutiful wife and doting mother, knows contentment but not passion. That changes when she meets ardent Count Vronsky. For him, she throws away marriage, family, social position and finally her life. Leo Tolstoy's novel receives sumptuous treatment in David O. Selznick's production. The cast - including Fredric March (as Vronsky), Basil Rathbone, Maureen O'Sullivan and Freddie Bartholomew - is stellar under the direction of Clarence Brown. But the soul of the film is Greta Garbo in a nuanced performance that won the New York Film Critics Best Actress Award. At the height of her art, Garbo is unforgettable as a woman helpless in love's thrall and heartbroken at the loss of her son. Her final scene will haunt you.
Amazon.com essential video
Garbo won two consecutive New York Film Critics Awards for best actress in this and Camille--an altogether more satisfying selection. At 95 minutes, this handsome David O. Selznick production for MGM hasn't a prayer of doing justice to the rich supporting cast of characters in Tolstoy's thick novel (notably Kitty, through no fault of the perky Maureen O'Sullivan). That was equally true of Clarence Brown's 1927 silent version Love (1927), also starring Garbo, but it was both more passionate and more fluid; Brown's direction here gathers no momentum within scenes or in the film overall. Garbo's quiet "Too late, too late," as she realizes early on what a tragedy her obsessive love affair must lead to, is exquisitely doomed; but Fredric March makes a tiresome, even petulant, Vronsky. It's a measure of the film's misdirection that Basil Rathbone, icy-cold as the careerist husband Karenin, inspires more sympathy. At least he's entertaining. --Richard T. Jameson
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 BEWARE! THIS IS NOT THE GARBO VERSION November 7, 2008
As the illustration clearly shows, the Cliff Notes version is the one starring Vivien Leigh, not Greta Garbo. The single star rating does not apply to the quality of either movie, but exists to call attention to this mistake.
 Anna Karenina November 25, 2007
Another Greta Garbo great! Fredrick March and Freddie Bartholomew are equally as great. Greta Garbo plays doomed Anna Karenina. Bored with her cold husband she turns her attention to Count Vronsky she eventually runs away with him. Her powerful husband makes her choose between her lover and her child. Her choice dooms her in the end.
 Overated missed opportunity June 29, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In the Garbo canon, this film surely must rate as the biggest missed opportunity of her career. All the ingredients should have contributed to a memorable film but after a good start, it just doesn't happen.
Maybe it is the short running time. A sweeping novel has been understandably truncated but Anna's relationship with Vronsky is not sufficiently developed so their passion is unconvincing. A number of scenes don't lead anywhere e.g. Kitty's marriage scene.
Maybe it's the cast. Basil Rathbone as her husband rises to Garbo's level, superbly generating some sympathy within a stern and cold character and Reginald Owen is excellent as her brother. Freddie Bartholomew is awful with his acting school diction and delivery. Fredric March starts well, dashing and magnetic, but becomes mechanical and unconvincing as the film develops. Maureen O'Sullivan, no one's idea of a Russian or Garbo's sister, overacts in a simpering and cloying manner.
Maybe it's the script and direction. The first 20 minutes are by far the best with a terrific scene when March and his colleagues drink and eat and as the film moves to the memorable introduction of Garbo through the steam of a train and shows her empathy and warmth as she deals with her errant brother. From there, it is a gradual downhill slide plodding along lugubriously and generating little passion. It is as if everyone ran out of interest, even Garbo.
Maybe it was the censorship which caused so many of these problems. Anna Karenina is an adulteress so it is likely that any scenes of real passion would have been curtailed.
The print of the film has not been restored and is dirty with white lines appearing often. At least one scene is missing as noted by another reviewer and there are no extras except the original trailer. Unless the film is purchased as part of one of the Garbo collections, it is not good value.
 a classics illustrated comic book would give you a better impression of tolstoy March 21, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
garbo is radiant but there is no other reason to watch this highly abridged telling of tolstoys novel. while im used to hollywood (by necessityt) removing whole sections of a loooong book, this is incomprehensible to anyone who hasnt some previous acquaintance with the story. even the usually reliable fredric march and basil rathbone (one of the greatest hams ever) cant save it.
Love in an Age of Appearances March 3, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As I plow my way through this Great Garbo Signature Collection a few things are becoming somewhat apparent. One, as Garbo got older she grew into her beauty and out of that ghostly look she had in his early films. And two, she is a movie star not a serious actress. As a result this adaptation of "Anna Karenina" is much more a Garbo vehicle than a serious take on a serious piece of Russian literature. Like most of her film entrances this one is marked by an extreme close up, lighting that is way too bright, and actual fanfare that today would just seem silly. The main problem I had was that it was just not very literary. The vocab is at a second grade reading level and the ideas are bold and unambiguous. The book and even the movie are old old old so I will forgive the story for feeling familiar, and you have to appreciate the message they are trying to spread. Here we have Anna, who fought for love, but was crushed under an avalanche of honor and careers, and who died for the sins of the men in her life.
The first 30 minutes of the film are a waste (sorry, sacrifice) as we visit an upscale party where Anna meets Count Vronsky (Fredric March). We get so much dancing and costuming that I started having flashbacks to "Marie Antoinette". From there the film turns its attention to the role of adultery and the repressive nature of marriage. Anna and Vronsky are besotted, but Anna is married to Karenin, a tough military type who marches around all day scolding her for spoiling their (obnoxious) son. He doesn't really care if she loves him or not, just so long as she stays with him so that they can keep up appearances. She eventually caves to passion and he resorts to the old "Your mother is dead," trick to explain her absence to their son. The film takes a stand against all things that are rotten about our dealings with relationships. Marriage is presented as an evil force that is thrust upon us to quash free love, free sex, and freedom. The rules are blasted for being arbitrary and the fact that sometimes there is a better option out there than marriage is stated. Those who sit around all day imploring others to focus on their careers are dismissed as stuffy bougie folk with nothing better to do. Of course there is a lot of Hollywood hokum mixed in here, what with the rousing tale of how you should crawl out from under your oppressors boot and find true happiness, but still this movie rocks philosophically.
Soon after running off together Anna and Vronsky realize that there is a difference between love making and love maintaining. Her son beckons her and the Serbian/Turkish War beckons him. These desires dominate their lives until the film moves towards a decent climax and the anti-climatic resolution. I would also like to say that in light of the Barbaro tragedy the horse racing scene is especially tough to watch. Not so much for the image of a horse being euthanized, but for those that involved real horses taking truly scary tumbles. This film may depict old school Russia but the message is still relevant. We are all too eager to slap on the shackles of jobs and relationships just so that we can bemoan the ball and chain. And the sooner we realize that our government is squarely on the side of Karenin, the better off we will be. **3/4
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