Producer David Selznick gave it his usual heavy 'tasteful' gloss with lavish sets, hundreds of extras and Adrian's excellent costumes.
How many people today have seen a Garbo film? She is iconic for heavy-lidded remoteness but I suspect that, probably like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, the image is all people know.
In close-up, she relies on ironic half-smiles, a lifted eye-brow and despairing eye-rolls of silent screen acting - she had already played Anna in 1927 in the silent film LOVE - but it is impossible to watch anyone else when she is on screen.
For an actress known for weary isolation, Garbo comes alive onscreen with other actors especially Basil Rathbone and Freddie Bartholomew's terribly British Sergei. Rathbone gives us an icy, controlling Karenin while suggesting the confused man beneath.
Shelf or charity shop? Madame Karenina will stay in my DVD plastic storage box - a special mention for the excellent supporting performances of Reginald Owen as Vronsky's louche army pal Yashvin and an unbilled Constance Collier as the imperious Countess Lidia. As usual, the role of Vronsky proves too much for the actor playing him, Fredric March is fine in the end-of-the-affair scenes but seems out of his depth in the earlier scenes of grand passion.
No comments:
Post a Comment