‘Spectacular’ BBC period film based on classic novel | UK News

A “spectacular” period film that was once thought misplaced, but recovered in 2010, is now out there to stream on BBC iPlayer. Anna Karenina is a British TV adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s 1877 novel of the same title. It aired a few years after its release on American tv in 1964.

The film’s synopsis reads: “The 1961 BBC adaptation of Anna Karenina is a tv film that starred Sean Connery as Vronsky and Claire Bloom as Anna Karenina. The drama, broadcast on November 3, 1961, tells the story of a Russian socialite’s passionate affair with the dashing Count Vronsky and the tragic consequences of her actions.” Jack Watling, Valerie Taylor, Daphne Anderson, June Thorburn, Albert Lievenand Frank Williams star alongside Bloom and Connery. The film, which was misplaced until 2010, has been hailed by followers.

One wrote on IMDb: “The standard of production from the BBC is top notch with super attention to the detail of the costumes and the studio sets.

“Like many of their embryonic tv dramas, the company managed to recruit an skilled forged adept at stagecraft. That offers us a sense of continuation as the story proceeds without wanting too static.”

Another wrote a rave review and described it as “spectacular”, adding: “This harks back to 1961 and that in and of itself is fairly wonderful!

“Why you may ask is that amazing? Because they were the largest and most revered home television production organisation world wide.

“They clearly wished to make this manufacturing a show case as proof of their manufacturing capabilities! And this Tolstoy alternative was thought of an extraordinarily tough manufacturing, thereby proving BBC values! And thank goodness they succeeded in every one of manufacturing departments with an eye for element in every division!”

However, one reviewer on Letterboxd awared the film three and a half stars, stating: “The loveliest side of the BBC4 broadcast of this once-lost 1961 TV play is that Claire Bloom in 2024 is in a position to introduce and replicate on it.

“She clearly adores the novel and points out several occasions on which this adaptation omits or curtails some of the most dramatic moments but, even without that pointer, I think would have sensed that it’s a bit rushed in parts, particularly in not allowing the attraction between Anna and Vronsky to grow more believably into a passionate bond over time.”

Anna Karenina is accessible to stream now on BBC iPlayer.