Anna Karénine (1948)

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Vivien Leigh

Anna Karenina

Ralph Richardson

Karenin

Kieron Moore

Count Vronsky

Hugh Dempster

Stepan Oblonsky

Mary Kerridge

Dolly Oblonsky

Marie Lohr

Princess Shcherbatsky

Frank Tickle

Prince Shcherbatsky

Sally Ann Howes

Kitty Shcherbatsky

Niall MacGinnis

Levin
(as Niall Macginnis)

Michael Gough

Nicholai

Martita Hunt

Princess Betty Tversky

Heather Thatcher

Countess Lydia Ivanovna

Helen Haye

Countess Vronsky

Mary Martlew

Princess Nathalia

Ruby Miller

Countess Meskov

Austin Trevor

Col. Vronsky

Ann South

Princess Sorokina

Gus Verney

Prince Makhotin

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Vingt-et-un jours ensemble

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7.7

La valse dans l'ombre

6.4

Le cygne

Did you know

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Trivia
Vivien Leigh's costumes were made in Paris by Barbara Karinska to Cecil Beaton's designs. She was in such pain wearing them that she even went to her doctor fearing she had broken her ribs. It was subsequently discovered that the dresser had been putting the corsets on upside down.

Quotes
Anna Karenina: My dear Korsunsky, you know very well I never dance unless I can help it.

Crazy credits
Closing credits: "And the light by which she had been reading the book of life, blazed up suddenly, illuminating those pages that had been dark, then flickered, grew dim, and went out forever".

Alternate versions
U.S. release version runs approximately 112 minutes. This is the version issued by Fox DVD in 2007.

Connections
Featured in Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond (1990)

Soundtracks
Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture
(uncredited)
Music by Mikhail Glinka
Arranged by Constant Lambert

A married woman (Vivien Leigh)'s affair with a dashing young officer has tragic results.

I read the novel several years ago in all its glory, but apparently most of it failed to stick with me because watching this film felt like i was hearing the story for the first time. And with there being so many different versions of the story on film, I am surprised I had not seen one before. (Unless I forgot those, too!) This seems like it must be the definitive version. The elegance, the intrigue. This is what I picture the aristocracy to be like. I love that they engage in seances, because that is such an upper class thing to do in the late 1800s. And Vivien Leigh? The perfect casting for a lead.