A remake of the John Gilbert-Greta Garbo silent movie "Love", this often splendid, moody Garbo vehicle under Clarence Brown's direction tells the tragic Tolstoy tale with great sensitivity. As the immortal Anna of 19th-century St. Petersburg, Garbo plays the pampered wife of Karenin (Rathbone, in fine form), a rich but icy government official.





After pleading with her straying married brother (Owen) not to jeopardize his marriage, she ironically meets and falls in love the dashing Captain Vronsky (March). When she asks her husband for a divorce, she is told that if she makes such an unheard-of move, she will be deprived of her son (Bartholomew).





Remorseful but consumed by love, Anna runs off with Vronsky, who resigns his commission. Though happy at first, he soon longs for his carefree army days, and she is pained by her thwarted attempts to spend time with her son.

The star-crossed lovers finally argue and separate and when Anna, rushing to the train station upon learning that Vronsky is leaving, sees him saying goodbye to another woman, she throws herself in front of the departing train. Director Brown, in one of the best of his seven films with Garbo, and ace cinematographer William Daniels, Garbo's favorite, bathe their beloved actress in soft light that caresses her classic features.

Adorned in luxurious but subdued gowns appropriate to both her own passionate but understated style and Anna's profound sadness, Garbo is unforgettable as a woman who only briefly experiences carefree happiness, whose desires are crushed by a rigid and unfeeling society.





Especially memorable is the finale, as light flashes from the oncoming train alternately reveal and hide Anna's conflicting emotions. Meticulously and sumptuously mounted by producer David O. Selznick, the film carefully pares down Tolstoy's sprawling classic to center almost entirely upon its heroine, but the end result is highly satisfying nonetheless.





Due to the meddlesome Production Code, the remake of Anna Karenina almost did not happen.  Production began under the scrutiny of the Joseph Breen office and there was to be no depiction of the passion between Anna and Vronsky. This version, unlike the silent Love, would have only one ending - the tragic one.  For her performance, Garbo won the New York Film Critics Award.