Anna Karenina 

Anna Karenina is the young wife of an older husband. She has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky. By following her desires, Anna complicates her life.

Stars:

Nicola Pagett, Stuart Wilson, Eric Porter

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Nicola Pagett	...	Anna Karenina 10 episodes, 1977
Stuart Wilson	...	Vronsky 10 episodes, 1977
Eric Porter	...	Karenin 9 episodes, 1977
Robert Swann	...	Levin 9 episodes, 1977
Davyd Harries	...	Stiva 9 episodes, 1977
Caroline Langrishe	...	Kitty 9 episodes, 1977
Carole Nimmons	...	Dolly 8 episodes, 1977
Marilyn Le Conte	...	Annushka 8 episodes, 1977
Paul Spurrier	...	Seriozha 8 episodes, 1977
Sheila Gish	...	Princess Betsy 7 episodes, 1977
Patricia Lawrence	...	Princess Shcherbatsky 6 episodes, 1977
Geoffrey Toone	...	Prince Shcherbatsky 6 episodes, 1977
David Gwillim	...	Petritsky 6 episodes, 1977
Margot Van der Burgh	...	Lydia 5 episodes, 1977
April Walker	...	Paula 5 episodes, 1977

Storyline

Anna Karenina is the young wife of an older husband. She has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky. By following her desires, Anna complicates her life.

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Plot Keywords:

tv mini series | based on novel | character name in title | 

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Genres:

Drama | History | Romance

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ana Karenina

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

500 min 572 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of Anna Karénine (1912)

User Reviews

Tolstoy adaptations don't get much better than this

While the best film versions are the 1967 Russian and 1935 Greta Garbo films, the best overall adaptation seen so far of Tolstoy's masterpiece Anna Karenina goes to this mini-series, the only adaptation personally seen so far that doesn't have any major debits.

Visually, it is a real beauty, with some breath taking scenery and sets, opulent costume design and elegant photography with lots of handsome colour. The period detail is not quite as evocative as it is in the 1967 and 1997 (with Sophie Marceau) films, but it is still remarkably authentic for a 70s made-for-TV mini-series. The music is appropriate and hauntingly beautiful, wisely keeping itself to the background in crucial scenes to let the dialogue really register, including a rare chance of hearing glimpses of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony used for a mini-series. The mini-series also has a very thought-provoking, beautifully structured and literate script, that feels and sounds like Tolstoy's writing coming to life from the pages of the novel, covering all the major events and more and with the full emotional impact and more.

The story of Anna Karenina is very faithfully adapted here, one of the most faithful treatments of any adaptation of the novel in fact. In terms of detail, the major events, the subplots, the themes and the characters are all here, and not in Cliff Notes form, this is the real deal. The long length, with the 9 hour plus duration and 10 episodes, was more than appropriate and allowed richer characterisation, more of the story (this adaptation has the most well developed Levin by far for example) and all the material to be fully expanded upon (things that a 2-4 hour film couldn't do as effectively), as was the steady and very measured pacing to allow one to get fully immersed in the atmosphere and let the many nuances of the story and text come through. Anna Karenina (1977) is beautifully directed throughout, and the characters and their situations are always interesting.

Nicola Pagett is outstanding as a particularly passionately vulnerable Anna, which is played with pitch-perfect heartfelt pathos, and Stuart Wilson blows all the Vronskys in the film adaptations out of the water in a portrayal that is much more complex than any of the portrayals in any of the film versions, where half of the cinematic Vronskys make for problematic casting. The chemistry between the two of them is very believable with no sudden transitions and it doesn't feel rushed. Eric Porter's Karenin, a role played to a consistently high level in all the adaptations even in the weaker ones, is more conflicted than most, rather than being too sympathetic or too much of a reptile, more of a man caught in situations that more expose his weaknesses than his strengths, and he plays it magnificently. Robert Swann stands out in support as an ambivalent and multi-layered Levin, in a cast where everybody comes off strongly with few if any weak links.

All in all, a superb adaptation, adapted Tolstoy rarely gets much better than this. 10/10 Bethany Cox