Anna Karenina (1948) parents guide

Anna Karenina (1948) Parent Guide

Like tragic literary heroines before, "Anna Karenina" commands attention -- the kind demanded from a crowd waiting for an inevitable train wreck.

Overall B+

While journeying alone to her brother's home, Anna Karenina (Vivien Leigh) meets the attractive Count Vronsky (Kieron Moore). Swept up in his offer of passion, the married woman soon abandons her husband (Ralph Richardson), family and position in society.

Release date April 27, 1948

Violence C+
Sexual Content B-
Profanity A
Substance Use C+

Why is Anna Karenina (1948) rated Not Rated? The MPAA rated Anna Karenina (1948) Not Rated

Run Time: 139 minutes

Parent Movie Review

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” wrote Leo Tolstoy at the beginning of his novel Anna Karenina. And unhappy families are abundant in the 1948 film adaptation of Tolstoy’s work.

The story opens with Anna (Vivien Leigh) on a journey to visit her brother’s family. His indiscretions with another woman have caused an understandable rift between Stefan (Hugh Dempster) and his wife Dolly (Mary Kerridge). Anna swoops in to set things right and restore matrimonial bliss by encouraging her sister-in-law to forgive her husband’s foibles.

However Anna is about to fall prey to the same weakness as her brother. After traveling on the train with Countess Vronsky (Helen Haye), Anna meets the woman’s charming son, Count Vronsky (Kieron Moore), who is immediately smitten with her. Despite the fact she Anna is a married woman, the Count follows the aristocrat to numerous social events in St. Petersburg like an overeager puppy. Finally, he convinces Anna he has eyes for her only. The admission breaks the heart of the young Kitty Shcherbatsky (Sally Ann Howes) who hopes to marry the Count. As well, it disturbs Anna’s husband Alexei Karenina (Ralph Richardson) who sees his wife’s affair as an embarrassment and distraction to his political career.

With the Count’s affections known, Anna soon tires of what she considers a loveless marriage to a much older man. Throwing off her marital commitments and leaving her son behind, she runs away to Italy with the Count, becomes pregnant and nearly loses her life. However, Alexei still refuses to grant her a divorce and keeps Anna from doing the one thing she thinks she wants more than any other—to marry the Count.

Adapted numerous times for the big screen, Anna Karenina opens with tragedy when a moving train crushes a worker caught on the tracks. His death foreshadows what follows when the headstrong woman gives into her passions. Along with the painful results of her infidelity and the emotional instability she causes others is the devastating effect Anna’s choices have on her own life.  Even in the arms of her lover, she broods over being an outcast among her social peers, yearns for lost friendships and is given to moments of jealousy and suspicion when the Count goes away on business.

Warned from the start about the impending unhappiness of this capricious character, audiences can’t expect a cheerful outcome. Yet like tragic literary heroines before, Anna Karenina commands attention—the kind demanded from a crowd waiting for an inevitable train wreck.

Directed by Julien Duvivier. Starring Vivien Leigh, Ralph Richardson, Kieron Moore. Running time: 139 minutes. Theatrical release April 27, 1948. Updated

Anna Karenina (1948)
Rating & Content Info

Why is Anna Karenina (1948) rated Not Rated? Anna Karenina (1948) is rated Not Rated by the MPAA

Violence: A moving train runs over a man. Characters attempt to commit suicide; one succeeds. A married couple argues and struggles briefly. An unmarried couple also argues. A woman nearly loses her life following childbirth. A man lies to his child about the boy’s mother. Characters gossip about others.

Sexual Content: A woman leaves her husband to begin an illicit affair. An unmarried couple kisses on several occasions. A woman becomes pregnant with her lover’s child. Infidelity is repeated discussed.

Language: None noted.

Alcohol / Drug Use: Characters frequently drink and smoke. One man is portrayed as drunk.

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Anna Karenina (1948) Parents' Guide

How does the director use snow in this movie to depict the coldness of the relationships and the dreariness of the circumstances?

Should love trump every other commitment or duty that a person has? What does Alexei mean when he says there is a proper way to carry on an affair? Do you agree with Alexei’s decision to tell his son that the boy’s mother had died? Is that less harmful to the boy than knowing his mother abandoned him?

How do Anna’s self-centeredness, jealousy and emotional insecurity weary the men (and women) in her life? How do those traits impact her ability to have a stable and enduring relationship?

Anna Karenina is based on a novel by the Russian author, Leo Tolstoy.

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Anna Karenina (1948) movie is April 24, 2007. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: Anna Karenina (1948)

Release Date: April 24, 2007

The 1948 version of Anna Karenina released to DVD with the following extras:

- Full Screen Feature (Black & White)

- Tolstoy: The Man Behind Anna

- The Tolstoy Legacy

- Restoration Comparison

- Still Gallery

Related home video titles:

Actress Vivien Leigh also stars as Scarlett in the film classic Gone With the Wind. Actress Sally Ann Howes, who plays Kitty, is the love interest of Dick Van Dyck’s character in the fantasy film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.