This feature-length television play adapts Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel of a tragic adulterous affair in Imperial Russia.
Anna Karenina (Claire Bloom), the elegant wife of senior statesman Karenin (Albert Lieven), attends a ball in Moscow where she meets the dashing cavalry officer Count Vronsky (Sean Connery). Their instant and powerful attraction develops into a passionate affair that scandalises St. Petersburg high society. As Anna chooses to abandon her husband and son for her lover, she finds herself increasingly ostracised and isolated, a situation that pushes her towards desperation and a tragic end. A parallel story follows the courtship of the young Princess Kitty (June Thorburn) by the rural landowner Levin.
This lavish, single-play production was a major television event for the BBC, distinguished by the casting of its two leads. Claire Bloom was an established international film actress, while her co-star, Sean Connery, was just one year away from the role of James Bond that would define his career. Adapted from a French stage play by Marcelle-Maurette, the script condenses Tolstoy’s epic novel into a tense, theatrical chamber piece. Director Rudolph Cartier, a pioneer of ambitious television drama, opts for psychological intensity over grand spectacle, using the studio setting to amplify the claustrophobia of a society that punishes a woman for seeking personal happiness.
Broadcast: BBC, 1 Episode, 3 November 1961
Adapted by: Donald Bull, from a play by Marcelle-Maurette based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy
Director: Rudolph Cartier
Main Cast: Claire Bloom (Anna Karenina), Sean Connery (Vronsky), Albert Lieven (Karenin), Jack Watling (Stiva), June Thorburn (Kitty), Daphne Anderson (Dolly), Patricia Laffan (Betsy), Valeria Taylor (Countess Vronsky), Campbell Cotts (Grand Duke), Frank Williams (Korsunsky)
