Garbo Lives

My favorite actress is Greta Garbo and I've recently viewed all of her available films on DVD. She began her career in her native Sweden, with The Saga of Gosta Berling (1924) being her first major role. It marked both the culmination and the end of the Swedish golden age of cinema. The director, Mauritz Stiller, and Garbo were wooed by Hollywood and were enticed to come to America in 1926. Stiller's career stalled because his exacting techniques were ill-suited to American sensibilities, while Garbo's took off and she became one of Hollywood's greatest stars.

Torrent, currently unreleased, is her first American film and it established her as someone to watch. Stiller didn't direct, but still had a hand in production. Her second, The Temptress (1926), is the earliest of her MGM films to be enshrined on DVD. Originally Stiller directed, at Garbo's insistence, but he was soon replaced after creative clashes with the studio, and the film was finished by Fred Niblo. It's a wild ride, done with exceptional taste, and is a stunning example of Garbo's luminous ability to convey the deepest emotion with just a glance or gesture. She could do it with her eyes, without even moving.

Flesh and the Devil (1926) was next and it was the first to pair her with John Gilbert, an actor she was also romantically involved with offscreen. Their romance was so well publicised that it was eventually doomed by its own inevitability. The film itself was a huge hit at the time and solidified both their careers. Next was Love (also with Gilbert), a silent version of Anna Karenina that is currently unavailable. The Divine Woman (1928) followed, and only nine minutes survive, but they are worth seeing. The Mysterious Woman (1928) was her first undercover spy movie; it's a tour-de-force. The rest of her silent films, A Woman of Affairs, Wild Orchids, The Single Standard, and The Kiss are all presently out of print.

Her first talkie, Anna Christie (1930), was much anticipated and is notable for the world getting to hear her speak onscreen for the first time. Garbo Talks! was the cry. The studio was a bit nervous about how audiences would react to her thick accent; but instead she was astounding, and blew away the naysayers. In fact, she turned out to be one of the few to make a successful transition to sound. "Gimme a visky and don't be stingy, baby" was her first line. A German version was shot at the same time and released a year later. Romance, Inspiration, and Susan Lennox (Her Fall and Rise) are currently unavailable.

Mata Hari (1931) was the first to fully capture the mystique of Garbo, and her persona catapults the film. Also, the costumes were elaborate and set the tone for the rest of her career. Grand Hotel (1932) is one of her most renowned films and exemplifies her image as the inexplicable recluse. She is sublime as the moody Russian ballerina, Grusinskaya, who doesn't appear for the first 20 minutes of the film; typical for Garbo, as her entrance, or the camera finding her, are used for the utmost dramatic affect. "I want to be alone" is her most famous line, and perhaps unfairly contributed to the public's image of her after her retirement. It's an excellent film that holds up well today, with an all-star cast including John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, and Joan Crawford in a star-making role.

As You Desire Me is unavailable, but her next film, Queen Christina (1933), is among her very best. She is reunited with John Gilbert (at her insistence), in his last performance; he was one of the actors that had a hard time adjusting to the sound era. It's a wonderful pairing, and the resultant film is one of the classic historical dramas of all time. The Painted Veil is out of print, but her second attempt at Anna Karenina (1935), this time as a talkie, followed and is a spectacular rendition of the story. To my mind she is Anna Karenina. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast was unable to rise to her level, a common malady.

Camille (1936) is one of her finest roles, and the film represents the peak of her career. Based on the novel by Alexander Dumas, everything clicked in this exquisite romance for the ages. Conquest followed and is unavailable. Ninotchka (1939), however, is her last hurrah. Garbo Laughs! was the tag, and it's true. The outfits weren't as dazzling this time, as it's a more modern story than usual for her; and for once she plays against type, as a non-tragic figure. It was her first comedy and it works on many levels, and stands as her last great film. Ernst Lubitsch directed, and he wanted to do another with her in the same vein, but the studio had other ideas. They wanted to push their luck even further by having her play a character completely unlike anything she had done before.

Two-Faced Woman was roundly panned by the critics and was released two weeks before Pearl Harbor. Over the last half decade, she had become more of a draw in Europe than America, especially with her series of costume dramas, but the European audience was shrinking due to the encroaching war. When the U.S. entered World War 2, she went to Louis B. Mayer's office at MGM and asked to be let out of her contract, offering to return after the war. Alas, it was never to be. At least she was able to recognize what her strengths were, and avoided the sad decline that shadowed many actors of her time.

Garbo epitomized the grandeur of Hollywood's golden age, harkening to a mythical utopia that was becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. It was 1941, and she retired at age 36 after approximately 25 films. She lived another 48 years, not in seclusion as is commonly believed, but living a quiet life, gardening, shopping, and visiting with friends. Often there would be Garbo sightings on the streets of Manhattan, but her avoidance of photographers became legendary. Sadly, she had a reputation for being reclusive only because she wanted to be out of the spotlight.

Greta Garbo remains one the greatest actresses of her era or any other. She dominated every film she was in, and this was both natural, and perhaps a drawback to her desire to make a great film in and of itself. Some of what she attained was artistry for its own sake, transforming even simple melodrama into timelessness. All of her films deserve to be preserved for her presence alone, and a handful represent a pinnacle of achievement in filmmaking. She is more than an icon, and her legacy will live forever as each succeeding generation discovers her inimitable charm and mysterious, unfathomable beauty.


Links:

http://imdb.com/name/nm0001256/

http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~lenin/garbo.html

http://www.classicmovies.org/articles/aa091700a.htm

http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/garbo.html