The classics of Russian literature don’t tend to have
definitive film versions, though it may be that Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of
Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina changes
that – for a while anyway. There was a Hollywood version in 1948 starring
Vivien Leigh, but it has not stood as an important work of cinematic
adaptation. Generally speaking, the literary adaptations from Hollywood in the
Golden Age offered little in making the works cinematic. They were so often
(and still are, for that matter) like filmed stage plays with sumptuous sets
and intricately patterned costumes and British actors donning an air of
pomposity. These films feel stifled by a desire to be ‘true’ to the material,
making for very boring viewing experiences. To read Anna Karenina should not be the same experience as it is to view
it.
