I thought Levin and Kitty were exactly what I pictured when I read the book. I know Anna was supposed to have dark hair, but for some reason in my mind's eye I kept picturing Renee Zellweger.....so a blonde Anna made more sense to me. And Vronsky was the chump boyfriend from Wedding Crashers. It's funny how you picture celebrities in your head when you read a book.
Taking back IMDB message boards....one ignored Troll at a time.
I got half way through the book about a dozen times before I finally finished it, and became very familiar with the characters throughout that time :) Dolly, Kitty and Levin were perfect as you say, Stefan came close, Vivian Leigh came very close although she looked a bit too old in the film perhaps at times.
Karenin has "Raymond Massey" written all over the character, but Vronsky is a bit harder. Maybe a combo of Glenn Ford, Alex Karras, John Lund, and Lawrence Olivier....figure out who that might be :)
Kieron Moore with whom I was not familiar with looked a bit too ordinary IMO.
I do have the Garbo version but have only seen the first few minutes of it. Garbo looked like a perfect Anna in her movie "The Kiss" IMO, but lesser so in the film.
I was dissapointed a bit that the book didn't capture the book as much as I thought it might, but on second thought that would be very, very hard to do. Martita Hunt and Heather Thatcher are two of my favorites and great to see them together. I did think Princess Betsy was supposed to be 'a bit' younger though....
I was expecting a final 'vision' of the 'old man' right at the end, but didn't get it.
"A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five."
Here is my cast:
Anna: Elizabeth Taylor around 1952 when she made "A Place in the Sun."
Kitty: Olivia de Haviland around 1938 when she made "Gone with the Wind."
Levin: This was my favorite character and I can't think of anyone who is perfect, but I guess I would say Montgomery Cliff because he was so serious and introspective in most of his movies.
Karenin: Spencer Tracey about the time he did "Judgement at Neurenburg."
Vronsky: This is another tough one. I guess I'll go with Eroll Flynn because he always looked so good in a uniform. Or possible Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Kitty and Dolly's mother: Helen Hayes
Hummm....Spencer Tracy may work :) but still think Raymond Massey (as in "The Hurricane") would have been perfect.
Either was I couldn't picture Ralph Richardson as Karenin or Kieron Moore as Vronsky.
Oh, No!!!! Am I an Epsilon in an Alpha and Beta world????