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Anna Karenina (1935)

Director: Clarence Brown

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From Time Out Film Guide

Surprisingly, this mixture of MGM gloss, the aloof Garbo, and the labyrinthine Tolstoy works like a charm: visually and emotionally the most rarefied of Garbo's '30s films, with William Daniels' radiant photography preventing decorative blossoms, vines, banquet tables and riding-habits from congealing into the usual dull display of studio extravagance, and the dappled sunlight providing an ingenious background for Garbo's finely tortured passions. Rathbone, as usual, is enjoyably villainous as the husband; a drastically barbered March is less at ease as the lover; but the only real blot is provided by Freddie Bartholomew as the heroine's darling child, looking and sounding the way sickly chocolate tastes.

Author: GB

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

usman khawaja said...

Posted on Jul 21 2008 16:15 garbos greatest glory
Leo tolstoys multi-layered and sophisticated story is perfectly cast with Garbo as the self-indulgent,pampered and rebellious but flawed aristocrat who cannot take control of her own whims ,but Tolstoy's adultress is played by garbo with a grace where you almost begin to see her as a self martyr who sees herself initially as a rebel and the others as social hypocrites ,but later she is more aware of her own flaws as well and the critical analysis leaves her desperate of her own existence and the meaning of life itself ,
while Vronsky is loyal and logical and in love with anna who he perceives as the ultimate woman,but anna is more than a perception she is a reality as a beautiful,paranoid,insecure and manipulating woman who can chase herself even into her own doom ,
The part requires a beauty with brains to play and is possibly Garbo at her best .
The 18th century Russian aristocracy and their hypocrisy is shown in the degeneracy of the malicious scandals and gossip with social barricades hurdled for the unfortunate who challenge the contractors .
Tolstoy wrote a complex book and this is a shorter but honest version of the epic ,and the best as yet from the glamourous gowns of garbo to the canals of venice ,with intricate details of frozen steam locomotors and social soirees .
March makes an exalted Vronsky and Rathbone as the cheated husband is absolutely amazing as the defiant man who fights back his public disgrace .
this was a realist book from the perspective of all it's characters though called after the heroine ,the parallel story of Kitty and her lover are cut short here but the script still has enough passion from the book to impress the worst cynics .
I do not think they can make a better version ever then this movie from 1935,Also this is the best review by a NYT CRITIC i have ever read as it is an artistic and balanced analysis of an art form which is precise but very aware of the fragility of art and the possiblity of transition from prose to drama and then into cinema through the trickery of camera ,yet it surprisingly renders the whole discussion in a nutshell.

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