Anna Karenina

Greta Garbo

Fredric March

Freddie Bartholomew

Maureen O'Sullivan

May Robson

Basil Rathbone

Reginald Owen

Phoebe Foster

Reginald Denny

Gyles Isham

Joan Marsh

Ethel Griffies

Harry Beresford

Sarah Padden

Cora Sue Collins

Mary Forbes

Joseph R. Tozer

Guy D'Ennery

Buster Phelps

Sidney Bracey

Harry Allen

Ella Ethridge

Stanley Andrews

Mischa Auer

Betty Blythe

Eugene Burr

André Cheron

Ruth Cherrington

Davison Clark

Claudia Coleman

Constance Collier

Harry Cording

Gino Corrado

Carrie Daumery

Carlos De Valdez

Sarah Edwards

Adolph Faylauer

Sam Flint

Helen Freeman

Otto Fries

Mahlon Hamilton

Sam Harris

Keith Hitchcock

Olaf Hytten

Isabelle Keith

Andrea Leeds

Francis McDonald

Bert Moorhouse

Edmund Mortimer

Henry Mowbray

Joseph North

Barry Norton

Wedgwood Nowell

Dennis O'Keefe

William Orlamond

Barbara Pepper

Edward Reinach

Georges Renavent

Pepi Sinoff

Leonid Snegoff

Stephen Soldi

Pat Somerset

Larry Steers

Dickie Walters

Robert Warwick

Helen Wood

William Worthington

A Note Regarding Spoilers

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

Is 'Anna Karenina' based on a book?

Yes. Anna Karenina is based on the novel of the same name by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy [1828-1910]. The novel was first published in serial installments in the periodical The Russian Messenger from 1873-1877 and was first published in novel form in 1878. The novel was adapted for the movie by screenwriters Clemence Dane and Salka Viertel with dialogue adaptation by American screenwriter S.N. Behrman. Since the time of the silent film era, Anna Karenina is a story that has been retold numerous times in numerous countries. Silent films include Anna Karenina (1911), Anna Karenina (1914), Anna Karenina (1915), Anna Karenina (1919), and Love (1927). Anna Karenina (1935) is considered the first and most famous of the English language versions. It was followed by Anna Karenina (1948), Anna Karenina (1961), Anna Karenina (1985), Anna Karenina (1997), and Anna Karenina (2012), along with two TV mini-series: 'Anna Karenina' (1977) and 'Anna Karenina' (2000).

What is 'Anna Karenina' about?

In early 1800s Czarist Russia, Princess Anna Arkadyevna Karenina (Greta Garbo), the wife of statesman Count Alexei Karenin (Basil Rathbone) of St Petersburg, travels to Moscow to help settle a dispute between her womanizing brother Prince "Stiva" Oblonsky (Reginald Owen) and his distraught wife Princess Dolly (Phoebe Foster). While there, she meets and falls in love with Count Alexei Vronsky (Fredric March), a young officer in the emperor's guard. At first, Vronsky and Anna keep their affair secret, but word soon gets out amongst Russian high society. Her husband, always concerned about his public image, refuses to divorce her, making her choose between Vronsky and their young son Sergei (Freddie Bartholomew). Anna chooses Vronsky, and the couple go off for a few glorious months together in Italy. When they finally decide to return to St Petersburg and stop hiding their relationship, Anna finds that all her friends have shunned her. As she becomes more and more isolated from Russian society, she also fears that Vronsky is no longer in love with her.