ANNA KARENINA **

Much abridged and much altered Hollywood version of Tolstoy's novel, this would be of little consequence were it not for the fact that Garbo is playing "Anna Karenina" and she is close to magnificent. She completely transcends material you would never guess is taken from the book often called the greatest novel ever written. Vronsky is Fredric March; he isn't terrible but he's hardly someone a woman like Garbo's Anna would leave home and family for while Basil Rathbone is a superbly petulant Karenin. Perhaps the film's sweetest surprise is Maureen O'Sullivan's Kitty; it's a lovely performance and may be the best thing she ever did even if her part has been cut to nothing. Production values are, of course, splendid in the high gloss fashion of MGM. Director Clarence Brown was no Cukor but he kept things galloping along for all of the film's 90 or so minutes.