Anna Karenina

Tolstoy's 1877 novel of adultery among the Russian nobility has been adapted numerous times: as feature films with Greta Garbo (1935), Vivien Leigh (1948), and Sophie Marceau (1997); as a handful of TV adaptations; as a Masterpiece Theatre miniseries in 2000 (VL-1/05); and as a lavish Russian film in 1967 (VL-1/07). But this black-and-white version from the BBC archives is of special interest. While it's impossible to capture the book's full range of incident and emotion within the confines of less than two hours, Donald Bull's script is an intelligent condensation, and the cast is impressive. Talented beauty Claire Bloom makes a strong Anna, and the young Sean Connery—just before taking on his James Bond role for the first time—exudes such smoldering virility as Count Vronsky that one can understand why Anna chooses him over her politically influential but prissy husband (Albert Lieven, an Anthony Hopkins lookalike). Of course, the jilted man's refusal to divorce her—or to allow her to see their son—poisons Anna's life and leads to tragedy. Unfortunately, the image quality of the film is mediocre and its long, static dialogue scenes are stagy, despite the insertion of occasional outdoor sequences. While the preferred DVD of Tolstoy's masterpiece would be the Masterpiece Theatre series, the casting of this BBC film makes it a solid supplemental version. Recommended. (F. Swietek)