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The BBC's triumphant 1961 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's romantic masterpiece starring Sean Connery and Claire Bloom. When the beautiful young aristocrat Anna Karenina (Claire Bloom) meets the dashing Country Vronsky (Sean Connery) at a Moscow railway station, their first encounter is overshadowed by misfortune. Trapped in a loveless, arranged marriage with the cold Alexei Karenina, Anna tries her best to resist the passionate advances of Vronsky. Eventually succumbing to his allure, Anna grows to be his mistress. Her actions cause outrage in St Petersburg society and her husband not only refuses her the dignity of a divorce but also prevents her from seeing her beloved son unless she agrees to leave Vronsky forever. Shunned, heartbroken and trapped by the very love she'd always sought, Anna's actions become ever more desperate. Anna Karenina is a classic revision adapted by Donald Bull and directed by Rudolph Cartier, who sweeps the film to a shocking conclusion. Made just a year before Sean Connery first starred as James Bond in Dr No, Anna Karenina is a timeless, classic BBC drama to treasure.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
The BBC has a well deserved reputation for delivering classic drama and that reputation was earned on the back of productions such as this. Based on the play by Marcelle-Maurette, from the novel by Leo Tolstoy, this tv adaptation from 1961 tells the story of a love affair between Anna (Claire Bloom) the wife of a prominent man who is much older than her, and Count Vronsky, played by Sean Connery just a year before he shot to fame in Dr No.
The BBC production was handled with his usual flair by Rudolph Cartier and at times has the look of a cinema piece, particularly the opening scenes at the railway station. The rest of the cast is largely excellent, but Connery and Bloom take the honours although there's a marvellous performance by Jack Watling as Prince Oblonsky to enjoy too.
The story is well known but if you don't know it, I won't give anything away here. The DVD is a real treat. At the beginning there's a disclaimer often seen on archive material about the quality of materials used, but for a near fifty year old telerecording, this is in excellent condition. It hasn't been vidfired (restored to look like video) in the way old Dr Who is usually released, but the film look is much preferable in my opinion, especially on an historical drama. I have seen many archive DVDs using materials much younger, but in much worse condition, than this. That the programme even exists at all is something of a miracle, bearing in mind the way the BBC destroyed so much of its archive.
There are no extra featurettes or commentary tracks on the disc, but that hardly matters with such a cracking piece of archive television and I was captivated by the whole thing. Even the end credits brought a smile to my face, as they were in a style I've not encountered before. But you'll have to buy the disc yourself to see what I mean.
A truly classic piece of drama, well presented by Simply who must be congratulated for bringing this to DVD in the UK. I can only hope more archive tv of this nature, and particularly some more Rudolph Cartier, finds its way on disc in the near future.
Do yourself a favour and buy Anna Karenina to see a rare slice of quality drama from the BBC. You won't be disappointed.
The BBC production was handled with his usual flair by Rudolph Cartier and at times has the look of a cinema piece, particularly the opening scenes at the railway station. The rest of the cast is largely excellent, but Connery and Bloom take the honours although there's a marvellous performance by Jack Watling as Prince Oblonsky to enjoy too.
The story is well known but if you don't know it, I won't give anything away here. The DVD is a real treat. At the beginning there's a disclaimer often seen on archive material about the quality of materials used, but for a near fifty year old telerecording, this is in excellent condition. It hasn't been vidfired (restored to look like video) in the way old Dr Who is usually released, but the film look is much preferable in my opinion, especially on an historical drama. I have seen many archive DVDs using materials much younger, but in much worse condition, than this. That the programme even exists at all is something of a miracle, bearing in mind the way the BBC destroyed so much of its archive.
There are no extra featurettes or commentary tracks on the disc, but that hardly matters with such a cracking piece of archive television and I was captivated by the whole thing. Even the end credits brought a smile to my face, as they were in a style I've not encountered before. But you'll have to buy the disc yourself to see what I mean.
A truly classic piece of drama, well presented by Simply who must be congratulated for bringing this to DVD in the UK. I can only hope more archive tv of this nature, and particularly some more Rudolph Cartier, finds its way on disc in the near future.
Do yourself a favour and buy Anna Karenina to see a rare slice of quality drama from the BBC. You won't be disappointed.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
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This is a pretty faithful, albeit abridged, treatment of Tolstoy's classic. The production was staged for television fifty years ago - with the emphasis on staged. The cast is excellent, especially Claire Bloom in the title role, and some viewers may be especially interested in seeing a pre-Bond Sean Connery tackle the part of Count Vronsky (and make a pretty good fist of it). This production is superior to most other film and television versions of the story, and rates 4/5 for the acting and scenario writing. However, the DVD appears to me a mechanical transfer (a video image of a telecine projection) and the vision quality is quite poor (2/5). Once or twice lip-sync is lost, then recovered, as the projection bumps over bad splices. If this is all that is available for modern audiences, a pity. It is better than nothing and, for the sake of Bloom's performance at least, worth having in the catalogue. Whether you want to have it in your collection will depend on how much faded, low resolution, black and white television you can put up with.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
This was bought as a present for a parents Birthday. My mother has always been a fan of the Tolstoy works and found this to be rather enjoyable to watch, although she did comment as much to say Sean Connery played his typical Bond character. I never realised that Sean Connery could only play the one character and was a more versatile actor.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Anna Karenina
A very good Film which gives a reasonable interpretation of the lengthy novel by Tolstoy.Some portions of the story are omitted,but this is inevitable in dealing with such a major... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. J. R. Milner
Enjoyable DVD
I recently read Anna Karenina and went to Amazon to look for screen and TV versions of the story. I found this DVD which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Published 8 months ago by Edward
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