How can one possibly turn Tolstoy's novel into a "short" film? Even at 139 minutes in the uncut Korda version so much must be lost. What we end up, sad to say, is a first-rate melodrama without the psychological subtleties of the book. But that's the bad news. On the plus side, we have the sort of lavish the sky's-the-limit big, big, bigger budget production that only the Hungarian Alex Korda could have produced a few years after the world war on the sound stages of London --sets by the Russian Andreiev, costumes by the English Cecil Beaton; deep-focus photography and lighting by the French Henri Alekan ("Belle et Bete"), and music by the English composer Constant Lambert. Technically, this film contains some of the best B&W work ever done in Britian. Perhaps the greatest fault of the film is in the style of the acting. Vivian Leigh is a great beauty, very aristocratic, very British in her reserve, but when she falls in love with Vronsky she seems constitutionally incapable of the unbridled passion that Garbo brings to the role. Ralph Richardson, however, is perfect --far superior to Basil Rathbone. Richardson displays all the rigidity of Anna's husband; his enormous pride and wounded vanity; his total incapacity to understand his wife's heart. Needless to say, Kieron Moore as Vronsky tries very hard, looks wonderful in costumes, but he seems more a West-End juvenile than the great aristocrat and officer that Tolstoy depicts. Laurence Olivier would have been a perfect Vronsky. Why Korda chose not to cast him beside his wife is a mystery.

While certainly the vanities and indiscretions of upper crust Russia is examined by Tolstoy and it has been some time since I have read the lengthy novel, this version is certainly more memorable and effective than the Garbo version. I do agree with an earlier review in that Garbo herself, perhaps a bit too self-possessed and headstrong, could never represent the character of Anna, a woman carried away on passion, lust and impending tragedy.

Vivien Leigh is stunning in her facial expressions and vulnerable, almost exotic appearance, as we see her in a black gown, contrasted dramatically with other women who blend in the background to obscurity. The gowns and architecture of the era, the stark coldness and added texture of snowflakes, as a bas-relief to the portrait of Anna. Her close-ups particularly as she is in the train station in winter, foreshadowing her eventual fate.

Overall a beautiful film which is well worth viewing. Leigh is beautiful and tragic. 8/10.

While other versions of "Anna Karenina" worked because you sympathized with Anna's plight, here I'm afraid that it is the husband (Ralph Richardson) who gets my support here, not Vivien Leigh's Anna who seems more interested in keeping things going with her lover (Kieron Moore), hardly at all involved with her son. In fact, the poor kid is hardly seen at all, making it difficult to believe that there's any type of closeness between mother and son. At first, it is easy to see why Leigh could be taken with the dashing Moore, but after the infidelity is revealed and Richardson takes her back, that-a should have been the end of that-a. You see the gossipy fishwives bad-mouthing Anna to Richardson's Karenin, initially seen as cold and distant, but he forgives her. As the saying goes, "Hurt me once. Shame on you. Hurt me twice. Shame on me."

This creates mixed feelings towards the film's heroine. Certainly, Leigh is absolutely beautiful, and the photography shines the spotlight on her, making her look absolutely radiant in the snowy settings. The problem is how the focus lies here, not on the relationship between mother and son or the decaying relationship between husband and wife, but between the two lovers whose scandal shocked the Russian nobility and made her practically an outcast. As the details of the film are expanded, Anna is revealed as far more selfish than her husband is cruel, which as it turns out, he is never actually cruel to her, only officious, then finally having the strength to say enough when she cheats on him for the second time with the same man.

I really wanted to like this a lot more. After all, there is much to enjoy here in the story of the last days before the Russian Revolution, and some haunting metaphors as Anna's impending doom is hinted at. Even the presence of a ghostly figure in her dream creates a feeling of tragedy, so as the famous finale approaches, it appears to be leading to a tension that sadly never arises. Richardson gets acting honors here, and a great cast of supporting players (among them Martita Hunt, famous for her Miss Haversham from "Great Expectations" and a young Sally Anne Howes) round out the ensemble. There's no comparing this with the Greta Garbo version where you sensed that the mother loved her son and the husband was certainly a lot less likable and sympathetic than Richardson is here.