Yet another of the endless (and needless) versions of this depressing and tedious Tolstoy tale — but Cecil Beaton designed a series of stunning gowns worn by the equally stunning Vivien Leigh. So that’s worth the price of admission for Anna Karenina (1948), especially when the “admission” is free streaming.
While this classic Russian novel was filmed in the U.K., due to lingering wartime shortages, the costumes were made in Paris by Barbara Karinska, and Beaton traveled with Leigh there for fittings. But when filming started, Leigh found the closely corseted gowns painful and went to a doctor thinking she had a broken rib. Then Beaton discovered that the dresser was putting Leigh’s corset on upside down eyeroll Ah yes, corset complaining started early!
The film is gorgeous, though it wasn’t a box-office success, and Leigh regretted it later in life. So let’s ignore the melodrama and focus instead upon Beaton’s fabulous work. Set in the 1870s, the costumes really get that slim bustle line. The hair is elegantly piled with curls, rolls, and ringlets, very much of the period’s style. And each outfit is matched with sumptuous accessories, from hats covered in ostrich plumes to gloves and jewels. Only the makeup is a bit 1940s, but not screamingly so.
Anna arrives at her brother’s Moscow home wearing this velvet gown trimmed in fur — the draping is exquisite!
In Hugo Vickers’s biography, he quotes a June 1947 letter where Vivien Leigh wrote:
“There has been a heat wave during which I have had to pretend I was living in Moscow in deepest winter! — covered in velvets and sables and corseted down to 19 inches. I thought this last would gain me some sympathy when I told Larry [Laurence Olivier] But not a bit of it. He too is corseted and pretending it’s winter in Elsinore! It really does seem a strange way of earning a living sometimes.”
The first big scene is a grand ball where Anna is contrasted with Kitty, and Vronsky falls in love with the former, breaking the heart of the later.
Kitty is all sweet, boring, innocence in white with loads of floral trims. Perfectly appropriate for the character.
Vronsky follows Anna back to St. Petersburg and they have significant meeting after the opera, where Anna wears a pale gown with a deeply fringed neckline.
For the important races scene, Anna wears a beautifully fitted white gown accented by a black velvet collar and cuffs. For this costume and others, Cecil Beaton took promo pix that were used extensively (much like he’d later do with Audrey Hepburn and My Fair Lady).
When Anna runs away to Italy with Vronsky, she wears more pale gowns — apparently this ruched one is lilac, and again Beaton took a ton of photos.
Their return to Russia isn’t very happy, so back to sombre costumes, like this luscious black velvet mantle.
Worn over a dramatic black lace-accented bustle gown.
Anna makes an attempt to rejoin society by attending the opera, and she wears a black gown with floral trim and, of course, furs.
Then they try Moscow one last time. Anna wears a rather dull ensemble, fitting her dark state of mind and restricted circumstances, but she still has an amazing hat with so many great feathers.
The movie sputters on to its sad conclusion without any other interesting costumes. But if you want to skim through for these beauties and a few more I couldn’t get good shots of, that’s not a bad way to spend some time.
Do you find Anna Karenina depressing or not?
Find this frock flick at:
It’s my favorite book! Tied with Middlemarch (which was really a better book than miniseries, I think books with narration/strong author’s voice often lose something in translation to a movie without narration/character’s internal monologues being told to the audience). I dream of a remake of Middlemarch, but with the spunkiness of the 2018 Vanity Fair (which I loved).
I agree that is a wonderful book, but that most dramatizations which I’ve seen don’t do it justice. So if you’ve never read it, but only seen the movies you won’t understand why it’s considered one of the greatest of all novels. One thing is that the Levin story usually gets squished under the Anna/Vronsky story- which makes the movies lopsided.
But my, my, my – wasn’t Vivien Leigh amazingly beautiful! And the costumes are superb. (I did laugh at hearing that Olivier was corseted for Hamlet!)
I saw somewhere that there are over 50 stage and film versions of Anna. The novel is a masterpiece. I was just checking out your review of the Keira Knightly version, and I completely agree with how wonderfully original it is. I thought they chose to film the scenes that are essential to the essence of the novel. The metaphors of horse vs woman. And the cage of her hoops. Of course it’s depressing.
Thanks for these great photos of Vivien. I must try to find this one to watch.
I wish that one day they will colorize these stunning grand scale historical b&w movies (Shearer’s Marie Antoinette as well) to do justice to these amazing costumes
There’s a quite recent Russian version that adds a framing device about Vronsky in later life, and Anna’s son. (It also mostly does away with the Levin/Kitty story – to be honest, I didn’t miss it.) The costumes are really lovely – one intense blue bustle gown in particular sticks in my memory. I wish I could remember where I saw it. Kanopy, perhaps? It was a streaming service but somewhat hidden, if you know what I mean.
Anna Karenina: Vronsky’s Story? I’ve seen that one. It’s free on Tubi, as well.