Anna Karenina - The Complete Miniseries

Rating:
Summary: Simply the best Anna ever
Review: I hadn't seen this series for many years when the DVD from Amazon arrived a few days ago. The series was done in 1978 and stars Nicola Pagett of Upstairs Downstairs fame. Seeing it again I am amazed at the accuracy of the presentation and the acting. If you are lucky enough to have this DVD series you will be seeing the best depiction of Russia in the last years of the reign of Alexander II. The interiors, the mode of life and even the way the actors speak is as close as anything has come to the times. The uniforms are incredible because they had a special consultant who made sure they were right; when Vronsky appears wearing the uniform of the Preobrajensky Regiment he has the right one - even down to one appropriate to the time of day and season. I have to say that Stuart Wilson does an amazing job as Vronsky - no one has come within a hundred miles of his presentation of the role. Nicola Pagett is Anna reincarnated, her suicidal descent into darkness and death is almost unbearable to watch. This is a must have DVD for anyone who loves Tolstoy's book and Imperial Russia, get it today. This is a 100%+ review on a great series. Thank you to Time Life Video for bring it back. Let's hope "By The Sword Divided" is next....

Rating:
Summary: Simply the best Anna ever
Review: I hadn't seen this series for many years when the DVD from Amazon arrived a few days ago. The series was done in 1978 and stars Nicola Pagett of Upstairs Downstairs fame. Seeing it again I am amazed at the accuracy of the presentation and the acting. If you are lucky enough to have this DVD series you will be seeing the best depiction of Russia in the last years of the reign of Alexander II. The interiors, the mode of life and even the way the actors speak is as close as anything has come to the times. The uniforms are incredible because they had a special consultant who made sure they were right; when Vronsky appears wearing the uniform of the Preobrajensky Regiment he has the right one - even down to one appropriate to the time of day and season. I have to say that Stuart Wilson does an amazing job as Vronsky - no one has come within a hundred miles of his presentation of the role. Nicola Pagett is Anna reincarnated, her suicidal descent into darkness and death is almost unbearable to watch. This is a must have DVD for anyone who loves Tolstoy's book and Imperial Russia, get it today. This is a 100%+ review on a great series. Thank you to Time Life Video for bring it back. Let's hope "By The Sword Divided" is next....

Rating:
Summary: Perfect casting
Review: I must have watched a different mini-series from the reviewer before me, because I enjoyed this Anna Karenina immensely - so much so that I came here to buy it after watching it via renting it. Nicola Pagett, Eric Porter, and Stuart Wilson were perfectly cast. Nicola as Anna was tremendously touching and vivid in the role of Anna and Stuart as Vronsky was every bit the selfish playboy, caught up and surprised by a love affair that destroys so many lives. Eric Porter as Karenin is perfect, rigid on the outside with a veritable volcano of emotions boiling within.


Yes, the production values leave a lot to be desired, but you have to take into account this was a television show filmed in the 70s. The color of the characters, and the strength of the cast, and the perfect dialogue and almost-perfect rendering of one of the greatest novels of all time makes up for the disappointing sets.


I love this mini-series. If you enjoy acting of the highest order and a perfect ensemble cast, then you will enjoy this Anna Karenina.

Rating:
Summary: One to go!
Review: Over twenty years ago, American TV viewers were treated to five outstanding dramatizations -- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Guinness), Crime and Punishment (John Hurt), The Mayor of Casterbridge (Bates), Anna Karenina (the present miniseries with Padgett and Porter), and Our Mutual Friend, with Leo McKern (star of Rumpole of the Bailey) as Noddy Boffin, and Jane Seymour as Bella Wilfer. Much to my delight, these series have been appearing as videocassettes or DVDs -- except (so far) for Our Mutual Friend. One to go! I do hope it becomes available soon. Surely Ms. Seymour's fans and Mr. McKern's would support that.

This Anna Karenina series is excellent. While there is no substitute for reading -- and rereading -- Tolstoy's astonishing novel, this miniseries stays close not only to Tolstoy's characterizations and plot, but to the book's tone. We are engrossed in the story and in these people's lives, and yet neither Tolstoy nor the TV adaptation attempt to make us "lose ourselves." We are thinking, assessing, questioning. The TV serial, interestingly, eschews soundtrack (aside from opening titles and playout) and tricks of camera angles and lighting. The performers rose to the challenge of carrying the series with integrity.

Anna Karenina was one of television's finest offerings. I've waited for years to see it again!

Rating:
Summary: A Trumped Up Soap Opera
Review: The only thing good about this version of Tolstoy's classic story is that it represents the novel very well. Otherwise this miniseries is a waste of time and entirely aggravating to boot.

Tolstoy's great character "Anna Karenina" is reduced to a porcelain skinned bubble head in this film. Anna as played by Nicola Pagett just doesn't do justice to the original character who is supposed to exemplify all things seductive and selfish and remain aloofly beautiful despite all her faults, Pagett comes across as falsely attractive and lacking in any seductive ability whatsoever. But she is forced to work with Stuart Wilson as Vronsky and he is even worse! Looking like a tenor from a barbershop quartet and acting almost as atrociously Wilson shames Tolstoy's character beyond words. Vronsky is an expert horseman but watching Wilson attempt to ride around Anna's carriage in one scene is almost comical, he could have used the glue on his fake mustache to hold himself in the saddle a bit better!

Some of the actors in this series pulled off their parts well: Eric Porter as Karenin, Caroline Langrishe as Kitty, Robert Swann as Levin (minus the fake beard!) and a few others. The scenery is gaudy and paper-like with doors that shut and almost fall apart. The costumes are often beautiful, especially the ones worn by "Anna Karenina". The film itself is exactly like a daytime soap opera and tends to make the entire production quite cheap and unattractive. More effort should have been paid to this miniseries in all aspects in my opinion. Thankfully the storyline followed Tolstoy's almost to a tee so for anyone looking to place a dramatic interpretation on the classic novel it will be interesting to watch. But I have to say that at the end of 3 hours I was ready to see Anna's end so that I could put an end to my own suffering. Sadly the best part of the novel, Levin's search for faith, is not covered very well. It just goes to show that sometimes the imagination is better than any professional version and in this classic case I believe it to be magnified.