Anna Karenina
Short description
Anna Karenina is a 1935 Hollywood adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel. In imperial Russia, Anna is married to Alexei Karenin, a senior government official, and devoted to her young son Sergei. She meets the cavalry officer Count Vronsky, and their attraction develops into a public affair. Because her husband refuses a divorce and society turns away from her, Anna must weigh the life she has against the life she wants. The story follows both the consequences for her family and the couple's growing isolation, and it ends in tragedy. The film was directed by Clarence Brown for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a screenplay by Clemence Dane and Salka Viertel and David O. Selznick producing. Greta Garbo plays Anna, Fredric March is Vronsky, and Basil Rathbone is Karenin; Freddie Bartholomew, Maureen O'Sullivan and May Robson appear in supporting roles. The film came ninth in the directing credits listed here, after Chained and before Conquest.
Produced on a budget of about one million dollars, it was one of the studio's prestige literary adaptations of the decade. On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from roughly 6,200 votes, while on TMDB it has a rating of 6.6 out of 10 from around 102 votes, figures that point to a widely seen and generally well regarded film rather than a widely discussed one.
What's left behind the scenes
- The role of Count Vronsky was offered to Ronald Colman (1891-1958), but upon learning that Greta Garbo would be filming in the movie, he demanded double his fee, and the role of Vronsky was given to Fredric March.
- Greta Garbo was aware that her co-star, Fredric March (1897-1975), was a notorious womanizer and seducer, so – it is claimed – she wore garlic under her dress and deliberately didn't brush her teeth in order to ward off March if necessary.
- Greta Garbo categorically refused to film at night, so the film company MGM was forced to construct a soundstage around the railway set where night could be simulated.
- The scene with the Russian ballet was filmed exclusively in black and white. No other colors were present in the costumes or makeup of the characters.
- Initially, Greta Garbo (1905-1990) became friends with Freddie Bartholomew (1924-1992), but one day Bartholomew, who was then 11 years old, asked her for an autograph for his own uncle. After that incident, their relationship became strictly professional. Bartholomew regretted losing Garbo's friendship for the rest of his life.
- Greta Garbo had already played Anna Karenina in Edmund Goulding's film "Love" (1927).
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