Greta Garbo Movies
Few who knew Swedish actress Greta Garbo in her formative years would have predicted the illustrious career that awaited her. Garbo grew up in a rundown Stockholm district, the daughter of an itinerant laborer. In school, she did little to distinguish herself; nor was her first job, as a barbershop lather girl, indicative of future greatness. But, even as a youth, she photographed beautifully, a fact that enabled her to get a few modeling jobs with the Stockholm department store where she worked. Her first film was a 1921 publicity short financed by her employers titled How Not to Dress. Garbo followed this with Our Daily Bread, a one-reel commercial for a local bakery. She then played a bathing beauty in a 1922 two-reel comedy, Luffarpetter/Peter the Tramp.Billed under her own last name, Garbo (born Greta Gustafsson) garnered a couple of good trade reviews, and the confidence to seek out and win a scholarship to the Royal Dramatic Theatre. While studying acting, she was spotted by director Mauritz Stiller, who was Sweden's foremost filmmaker in the early '20s. Stiller cast Garbo in The Atonement of Gosta Berling (1923), an overlong but internationally successful film which made her a minor star. The director became her mentor, glamorizing her image and changing her professional name to Garbo. On the strength of Gosta Berling, she was cast in the important German film drama The Joyless Street (1925), which was directed by G.W. Pabst. Hollywood's MGM studios, seeking to "raid" the European film industry and spirit away its top talents, then signed Stiller to a contract. MGM head Louis B. Mayer was unimpressed by Garbo's two starring roles, but Stiller insisted on bringing her to America; thus, Mayer had to contract her, as well.
The actress spent most of 1925 posing for nonsensical publicity photos which endeavored to create a "mystery woman" image for her (a campaign that had worked for previous foreign film actresses like Pola Negri), but it was only after shooting commenced on Garbo's first American film, The Torrent (1926), that MGM realized it had a potential gold mine on its hands. As Mauritz Stiller withered on the vine due to continual clashes with the studio brass, Garbo's star ascended. But when MGM refused to pay her commensurate to her worth, Garbo threatened to walk out; the studio counter-threatened to have the actress deported, but, in the end, they buckled under and increased her salary. In Flesh and the Devil (1927), Garbo co-starred with John Gilbert, and it became obvious that theirs was not a mere movie romance. The Garbo/Gilbert team went on to make an adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina titled Love (its original title was Heat, but this was scrapped to avoid an embarrassing ad campaign which would have started with "John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in..."). The couple planned to marry, but Garbo, in one of her frequent attacks of self-imposed solitude, did not show up for the wedding; over the years, the actress would have other romantic involvements, but would never marry.
In 1930, MGM's concerns about Garbo's voice -- that her thick Swedish accent (tinged with "stage British") would not register well in talkies -- were abated by the success of Anna Christie, which was heralded with the famous ad tag "Garbo Talks." Some noted that the slogan could also have been "Garbo Acts," for the advent of talkies obliged the actress to drop the "mysterious temptress" characterization she'd used in silents in favor of more richly textured performances as worldly, somewhat melancholy women to whom the normal pleasures of love and contentment would always be just out of reach. In this vein, Garbo starred in Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933), Anna Karenina (1935), and Camille (1936), which served to increase her worshipful fan following, even if the films weren't the box-office smashes her silent pictures had been. The actress' legendary aloofness and desire to "be alone" (a phrase she used often in her films, once to comic effect in Ninotchka) added to her appeal, though less starry-eyed observers like radio comedians and animated-cartoon directors found Garbo a convenient target for satire and lampoon.
Always more popular overseas than in the U.S., Garbo became less and less a moneymaker as war clouds gathered in Europe; this was briefly stemmed by Ninotchka (1939), a bubbly comedy which was advertised Anna Christie-style with "Garbo Laughs." But, by 1940, it was clear that the valuable European market would soon be lost, as would Garbo's biggest following. The actress' last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), was a pedestrian domestic comedy that some observers believe was deliberately made badly by MGM in order to kill her career. Actually, it wasn't any worse than several other comedies of its period, but, for Garbo, it was a distinct step downward. She retired from movies directly after Two-Faced Woman, and, although she came close to returning to films with Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (1947), she opted instead for total and permanent retirement.
A millionaire many times over, Garbo had no need to act, nor any desire to conduct an active social life. She traveled frequently, but always incognito -- which didn't stop photographers from ferreting her out. A solitary woman, but not really a recluse, Garbo could frequently be spotted strolling the streets near her New York apartment; in fact, "Garbo sightings" became as much a topic of conversation in some icon-worshipping circles as "Elvis sightings" would be in the 1970s, the major difference being, of course, that Garbo was alive to be sighted. Even after her death in 1990, the legend of Greta Garbo was undiminished. Few of her fans talk of her in human terms; to her devotees, Greta Garbo was not so much film legend as film goddess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Velma (Eva Novak) is unhappily married to Sam (Leonard Shumway), a user of demon alcohol and a notorious womanizer. He invites Velma and his mistress to take an afternoon trip on his sailboat. Sam tries to force Velma to drink a cocktail, and the virtuous Velma recoils in horror. Sam suffers a debilitating stroke after a booze binge, and a sudden storm puts Velma on a remote island all alone. A plane piloted by Lieutenant Paul Mack (Jack Perrin) makes an emergency landing for fuel. Velma and Paul fall in love with each other but are captured by a gang of vicious bootleggers led by Red Calvin (Jack Curtis). The duo manages to escape, and Paul brings Velma back home. They arrive to discover Sam has survived but is confined to a wheelchair. Velma vows to stand by her man, but Sam kills himself with a final, fatal swallow of whiskey. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eva Novak, Jack Perrin, (more)
Known under a variety of titles, The Atonement of Gosta Berling is an excellent representation of the Swedish silent cinema. Long, complex, and elaborately produced, the film nonetheless never loses sight of the human elements which motivate the story. Lars Hanson stars as Berling, a defrocked priest whose rebellious attitude hides a greater sense of idealism than most of his "pious" contemporaries. Among the women in Berling's life is a supposedly married countess, played with instinctive brilliance by a young, awkward, chubby Greta Garbo. Overflowing with betrayals, revenge, and regeneration, Atonement of Gosta Berling has enough plots for ten films. American audiences generally saw a severely truncated version, running approximately half the film's original length. What was left was enough for MGM to invite director Mauritz Stiller and star Greta Garbo to Hollywood, though in typically callous big-studio fashion, Garbo was retained while Stiller was permitted to wither on the vine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Lars Hanson, (more)
- 1925
G. W. Pabst's The Joyless Street (Die freudlose Gasse) is an unvarnished study of post-World War I Vienna. Plagued with skyrocketing inflation, the Austrian metropolis becomes the domain of every scurrilous form of profiteering. The central character is a crooked butcher, whose negative influence dominates the lives of virtually everyone on a single Viennese street. The supporting characters include a poverty-stricken professor, his beleaguered daughter, an idealistic American Red Cross worker and a slinky harlot. Each character is photographed in a symbolic manner underlining his or her basic personality: the domineering butcher is photographed from a low angle, emphasizing his corrupt power, while the professor is lensed in long shot, highlighting the bareness of his apartment-and by extension, his life. The stars of The Joyless Street include Asta Nielsen and Werner Krauss, but latter-day audiences will find more interest in the supporting part played by young Greta Garbo. Incidentally, despite the claims of many film historians, Marlene Dietrich does not appear as an extra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asta Nielsen, Greta Garbo, (more)
- 1926
The Temptress was Greta Garbo's second American film, and while it may strike modern viewers as excessively melodramatic, Garbo is always worth watching. The star plays Elena, the wife of Monsieur Canterac (Lionel Barrymore) -- and the mistress of rich Parisian banker Monsieur Fontenoy (Marc MacDermott). When the banker's Argentine friend Robledo (Antonio Moreno), a dynamic young engineer, pays a visit to Paris, the fickle Elena immediately falls in love with him. Upon learning that Fontenoy has lost his fortune, Elena dumps him and returns to her husband, whereupon the banker kills himself. Evidently not content with ruining one life, Elena heads to Argentina and goes to work on Robledo, leading to a bloody whip duel between Robledo and his rival Manos Duros (Roy D'Arcy). Inevitably, Elena drives Robledo to perdition and indirectly causes the destruction of the magnificent dam upon which he has worked all his life. Banished from Argentina, she returns to Paris, where she spends the rest of her days as a seedy streetwalker. At least, that was the ending of the European version of The Temptress. The American version incredibly ends happily, five years after the above-described events, as Robledo and the reformed Elena triumphantly supervise the opening of his now-repaired dam! Initially, the film's director was Garbo's mentor-lover, the brilliant Mauritz Stiller, but he was replaced halfway through by the competent but uninspired Fred Niblo -- and the finished picture shows this division of interests all too clearly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Antonio Moreno, (more)
- 1926
The Vincent Blasco-Ibanez novel Entre Naranjos served as the inspiration for Greta Garbo's first American film, The Torrent. Garbo plays Leonora, a full-bodied Spanish peasant girl who falls in love with her landlord's son Don Rafael Bull (Ricardo Cortez). To prevent his son from marrying beneath his station, Don Rafael's father banishes Leonora from his property. She relocates in Paris, where she achieves fame and fortune as an opera singer, while back at home Don Rafael becomes a prominent politician. When Leonora returns home, she spurns his offers of marriage, even during a raging flood in which her life is in Don Rafael's hands. After this spectacular sequence, the film's surprisingly unhappy ending seems anticlimactic. Garbo's lover-mentor Mauritz Stiller had originally been slated to direct The Torrent, but at the last minute MGM opted for house director Monta Bell. Whether or not Stiller could have compensated for the script's more ludicrous passages is open to conjecture: Suffice to say that, without Garbo's presence, The Torrent would have been just so much Spanish applesauce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricardo Cortez, Greta Garbo, (more)
- 1926
A bulky, verbose novel by Herman Suderman was the source for the exquisitely silent Flesh and the Devil. On leave from the Austrian army, lifelong friends John Gilbert and Lars Hanson return to their loving families. At a reception in Hanson's honor, Gilbert makes the acquaintance of the hauntingly beautiful Greta Garbo, whom he'd previously glimpsed for a few fleeting seconds at the railway depot. Those few seconds were enough to thoroughly captivate Gilbert, thus paving the way for a feverish sexual liaison with Garbo. Gilbert is shocked to discover that Garbo is married to aristocrat Marc MacDermott, who challenges Gilbert to a duel--on the proviso that the "official" reason for their argument is a disagreement at cards, so that McDermott will suffer no disgrace. Gilbert kills the husband on the field of honor; as punishment for his unmilitary conduct, he is "invited" to accept a post in Africa. Honoring his promise to the late McDermott, Gilbert reveals his love of Garbo to no one, not even his dearest friend Hanson. As he departs for his five-year exile, Gilbert asks Hanson to look after the "bereaved" Garbo. Pardoned after three years, Gilbert returns home, only to discover that Garbo has remarried--to Hanson. Minister George Fawcett, evidently the only person to know of Gilbert's tryst with Garbo, advises Gilbert to give up his friendship with Hanson so as to avoid the temptation of cuckolding his best friend. But when Hanson falls seriously ill, Garbo begs Gilbert to renew the friendship. He does so, not suspecting that Garbo merely wants to trap him in her web again. Gilbert is caught in a compromising position by the distraught Hanson; he regretfully challenges Gilbert to a duel, to be fought on their favorite childhood playing site, "The Island of Friendship". As Hanson nervously aims his weapon at the repentant, unresisting Gilbert, he realizes that he can't go through with the duel. The two friends embrace, begging one another's forgiveness...while Garbo, who has belatedly headed across the frozen lake to prevent the duel, comes to an icy end. While the overly intense "male bonding" between John Gilbert and Lars Hanson tends to evoke knowing chuckles when seen today, Flesh and the Devil otherwise holds up quite well. Clarence Brown's innovative directorial touches still seem fresh after years of imitation by lesser talents. Ostensibly a John Gilbert vehicle (he receives sole over-the-title billing), Flesh is utterly dominated through sheer force of personality by the divine Garbo; in anyone else's hands, her enigmatic, impulse-driven temptress would have been just another cardboard vixen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, (more)
- 1927
This MGM-ized adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was originally titled Heat but was changed to Love when someone at the studio pointed out the possible implications of having the opening title read "John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in Heat." Heavily updated and revised, the film bore scant relation to the Tolstoy original, save for the fact that heroine Anna Karenina (Greta Garbo) is threatened with ruin by her aristocratic husband Karenin (Brandon Hurst) when she falls in love with dashing Russian officer Vronsky (John Gilbert). The story goes that MGM head Irving Thalberg purchased the novel without reading it, only to discover to his chagrin that Tolstoy's heroine "solves" her problems by throwing herself under a moving train. While it's hardly likely that the well-read Thalberg would not be aware of the book's outcome, it is true that Love was shipped out with two different endings. The original tragic denouement was retained for the European prints, while a ludicrous happy ending -- in which the widowed Anna is permitted to marry Vronsky after a respectable five-year period -- was tacked on in America. Nor was this the only change: when it became obvious that the film's original Karenin, Lionel Barrymore, was stealing focus from Garbo, Barrymore was replaced by the less charismatic Brandon Hurst. As a Tolstoy adaptation, Love was a flop; as a lush, quasi-erotic Gilbert-Garbo vehicle, it was a hit. Nine years later, Garbo would co-star with Fredric March in a more faithful cinemadaptation of Anna Karenina, with the doleful ending intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, (more)
- 1928
One of the great directors of the silent era, Victor Sjostrom, teamed with fellow Swede Greta Garbo for this drama. The great Garbo plays Marianne, a young woman from Brittany who was neglected by her impoverished parents. Marianne longs to be an actress and moves to Paris, where theatrical producer Henry Legrand (Lowell Sherman) takes her under his wing; Henry was romantically involved with Marianne's mother years ago and feels a semi-paternal affection for the young woman. Marianne falls in love with Lucien (Lars Hanson), a man who has deserted from the Army and is on the run from the law. To prove his devotion to her, Lucien steals a dress for Marianne, but this only attracts the police and Lucien winds up in jail. With Lucien behind bars, Henry's attentions become less friendly and more romantic, and Marianne must decide if she should wait for the man she loves or devote herself to the man who wants her. Sadly, no complete prints of The Divine Woman are known to exist; one reel of the eight-reel feature was discovered in a Russian film archive, but the remainder of the picture remains lost. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Lars Hanson, (more)
- 1928
Michael Arlen's notorious novel The Green Hat was considered such a hot potato censor-wise that the property's title could not be used when it was adapted to film. Retitled A Woman of Affairs, this tale of a woman destroyed by syphilis was heavily laundered for the screen. Greta Garbo plays an impulsive British lass who, when denied permission to marry John Gilbert, hops from bed to bed with various partners. She marries a man who turns out to be a thief. When her husband commits suicide, Garbo is again wooed by Gilbert, who in the meantime has acquired a spouse of his own. Though she passionately loves Gilbert, Garbo sends him away, rather than ruin his life as she's ruined her own. With that classic enigmatic half-smile on her face, Garbo suicidally crashes her expensive automobile into the tree under which she sat with Gilbert the day he first declared his love for her. Outside of the always fascinating Greta Garbo, the best performance in Woman of Affairs is offered by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Garbo's drunken, dissipated younger brother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, (more)
- 1928
Based on a lugubrious novel by Ludwig Wolff, The Mysterious Lady is a romance/espionage tailored to the talents of Greta Garbo. The divine Miss G plays an alluring Russian spy, directly answerable to satanic-featured general Gustav von Seyffertitz. While she's accustomed to fomenting suicides and apoplexy amongst her male victims, Garbo cannot help but become romantically involved with Austrian-officer Conrad Nagel. Forced to choose between her love of Russia and her love for Nagel, Garbo decides upon the latter--meaning that there's a bullet in the future for vonSeyfertitz. For all its MGM gloss, Mysterious Lady would be just so much borscht without the ethereal presence of its female star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, (more)
- 1929
MGM's paranoid fear of audience reaction to Greta Garbo's speaking voice must have been the only reason for this plodding courtroom melodrama to have been made as a silent. Released with a synchronized score and two important sound effects, The Kiss would prove to be Garbo's, and Metro's, final silent feature film. Happily, Belgian director Jacques Feyder used both the pantomime format and the aforementioned sound effects -- a gunshot and the incessant ringing of a telephone -- to optimum effect. When ulcer-plagued husband Anders Randolf returns unexpectedly in the middle of a smooch between his wife and 18-year-old Lew Ayres, he naturally jumps to the wrong conclusion. But the kiss is in reality merely Garbo's firm goodbye to an overly anxious admirer. Randolf and Ayres fight, Garbo vainly attempts to reason with her husband, a closed door shields the action from the viewer, and only a muffled shot is heard (yes, heard). Then the telephone rings: It is Ayres' father (Holmes Herbert) wondering why his appointment, Randolf, never showed. To shield the boy, Garbo takes the blame for the killing (she actually did do it but only to save Ayres' life) and is defended in court by the real love of her life, Conrad Nagel. Hans Kraly's screenplay is a bit heavyhanded and certainly nothing special, but Garbo's luminous presence almost saves the film from the doldrums. She plays the kind of society wife who lounges about in Art Deco elegance, keeping a stack of eight-by-ten glossies at the ready to hand out to young admirers like Ayres. It is all completely artificial of course, but Garbo somehow makes it believable. The supporting cast is what you expect: Ayres, handsome and impossibly young, Randolf, all bombast and pomposity, and Nagel, his usual dull self. For now obscure reasons, Conrad Nagel was highly regarded at the time and was by far Hollywood's busiest leading man at the changeover to sound. Garbo enjoyed working with Feyder, who went on to guide her through the German-language version of Anna Christie in 1930; and she was always more relaxed on and offscreen when other Scandinavians were around, in this case the Danish-born Randolf. As the near future would reveal, neither Garbo nor Metro had anything to worry about regarding the diva's accent and in February of 1930, the studio could at long last proudly proclaim that Garbo talks. She was the last major star to do so with the possible exception of Charles Chaplin. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, (more)
- 1929
Worried that Greta Garbo's rich, deep voice and thick Swedish accent would not record properly, MGM executives kept Garbo in silent pictures longer than any of the studio's other contractees. The star's penultimate silent effort (with music and sound effects added) was The Single Standard, based on a 1928 novel by Adela Rogers St. John. Weary of the "good old boy" mentality which dictates that men can flit from girl to girl while women are expected to remain faithful, San Francisco socialite Arden Stuart (Garbo) decides to adopt the "single standard" and play the field herself. She turns down a marriage proposal by millionaire Tommy Hewlett (Johnny Mack Brown) so that she can dally with her family's chauffeur Anthony (Robert Castle), who promptly kills himself when he realizes that Arden doesn't intend to remain exclusively his. The heroine then moves on to athlete-artist Packy Cannon (Nils Asther), eventually tiring of Cannon and returning to Tommy. By this time, Arden has abandoned the notion of sex without responsibility and agrees to marry Tommy and bear his children. Beautifully photographed in the MGM manner by Oliver Marsh, The Single Standard is a prime example of how to tell an essentially "talkie" story within the confines of the silent film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Nils Asther, (more)
- 1929
Adapted from a 1925 play by Patrick Kearney, A Man's Man was popular MGM leading man William Haines' final silent film (albeit released with a musical score and sound-effects track). Haines is his usual bright-and-breezy self as Mel, a likable soda jerk in love with would-be actress Peggy (Josephine Dunn). Her head filled with the false words of self-styled talent agent Charlie (Sam Hardy), Peggy heads to Hollywood, leaving Mel behind. Our heroine manages to break into the movies and becomes a major star, but her heart remains with down-to-earth Mel. Greta Garbo and John Gilbert make "guest appearances" via clips from their previous MGM vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Haines, Josephine Dunn, (more)
- 1929
In this silent film, the beautiful Lili Sterling (Greta Garbo) meets up with the enchanting Prince de Gace (Nils Asther) while on a trip with her husband, John (Lewis Stone), and the two find themselves impossibly drawn to one another. However, when John begins to suspect his wife of infidelity, his jealousy could have deadly results. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Lewis Stone, (more)
Filmed simultaneously with the English version, this German-language film is considered by many to be technically superior. Greta Garbo, who was discovered by Louis B. Mayer in Berlin, spoke German well and her performance was highly praised. As the old lush Marthy, actress-writer Salka Steuermann (later Viertel) was perhaps not as striking as Marie Dressler, but her performance was highly praised. Veteran German star Hans Junkermann, in his only Hollywood film, took over from George F. Marion as Chris Christofferson, Anna's sailor father, and Theo Shall replaced Charles Bickford as the virile Matt Burke. The latter became famous in his native Germany as "the man who kissed Garbo." Completing the small cast, Herman Bing appeared unbilled as Larry, the bartender who serves Garbo her "viskey." The star herself often admitted to favoring this film over the English-language version and felt a great kinship with Belgian director Jacques Feyder. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo
- 1930
Greta Garbo appears here (in her second talking film) as an Italian singer who seduces a young priest into falling for her. She admits that she had been the kept woman of an older man, and when she returns to her former lover (to tell of her new love), her visit is misinterpreted by the priest as a liaison, prompting the priest to cast her affections aside. The film is told in narrative fashion, through the eyes of the priest when looking back to an early portion of his life. Garbo and director Clarence Brown earned Oscar nominations for their respective roles in the making of the film. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Gavin Gordon, (more)
- 1930
Accompanied by one of the most successful advertising campaigns in Hollywood history, Greta Garbo made her "talking picture" debut in this carefully chosen vehicle, the second screen version of Eugene O'Neill's 1922 play about the Minnesota-raised Swedish girl who desperately attempts to keep her unsavory past from her long-lost father, Kris (George F. Marion). But when she falls for a charming Irish sailor, Matt Burke (Charles Bickford), Anna can keep her secret no longer. Learning that the girl used to be a prostitute, Matt is at first repulsed, but quickly realizes that he cannot live without her. Working overtime, Garbo filmed both Swedish and German versions under the direction of Belgian Jacques Feyder. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, George F. Marion, (more)
- 1931
Not every Greta Garbo film is an imperishable classic; this was seldom truer than in the case of her repetitious 1931 vehicle Inspiration. A modernized adaptation of Alphonse Daudet's Sappho, the film casts Garbo as Yvonne, a Parisian belle with "a history." When her past returns to haunt her, she decides to walk out on her sweetheart Andre (Robert Montgomery), even though she still loves him. Eventually she returns to Andre, but this time he leaves her. Worried that Yvonne will take drastic action over his defection, Andre returns, whereupon Yvonne breaks up the romance a third time, "all for the best." Had there been a fourth breakup, the audience probably would have walked out. No matter: Garbo illuminates every scene she's in, and that's all anyone could possibly ask for. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Robert Montgomery, (more)
- 1931
It was once theorized by critic Andrew Sarris that this 1931 Greta Garbo vehicle was subtitled "Her Fall & Rise" rather than the expected "Rise & Fall," because Hollywood--and by extension, the public--could not tolerate a failure. Whatever the case, modern audiences will latch onto Susan Lennox not because of its cumbersome title but because of its one-time-only pairing of Garbo and Clark Gable. Fleeing an arranged marriage with Alan Hale, Sr.,, Swedish farmer's daughter Garbo takes temporary refuge in a cabin in the woods, occupied by engineer Gable. Though it is love at first sight, Garbo hastily runs out of Gable's life when her uncle and her betrothed show up. Again a fugitive, Garbo joins a seedy carnival, becoming the kept woman of carney owner John Miljan. By chance, she is reunited with Gable, who spurns her because of her tawdry station in life. Years pass: Garbo has worked her way up the courtesan ladder, becoming the mistress of politician Hale Hamilton. This relationship comes to a sudden halt thanks to Hamilton's muckraking enemies, so it's back to the road for Garbo, who by now will settle for no man but her long-lost Gable. The protagonists finally manage bury the past in the jungle community where the drink-sodden Gable has retreated to "lose himself." Greta Garbo's performance in Susan Lennox: Her Fall and Rise is up to standard, but Clark Gable seems extremely uncomfortable, almost as if suffering an impacted molar. The film was adapted by four screenwriters from a novel by David Graham Phillips. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, (more)
- 1932
This complex '30s film is based upon a play by Pirandello which involved a hapless amnesiac. In As You Desire Me, the legendary Greta Garbo plays a down-in-the-dumps amnesiac (she can't recall who her husband is) who ends up singing in a low-life nightclub and putting up with the advances of a cruel and crude novelist (Eric von Stroheim). She'd have remained in this miserable state were it not for the fact that she's recognized and returned to her true husband, who's a nobleman loyally in love with her. Her former suitor von Stroheim shows up trying to expose her as a fraud and regain her as his captive. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
"So much for Carlotta" muses the head of German Espionage (Lewis Stone), shortly after secret agent Karen Morley is put to death. Morley's successor is exotic dancer Mata Hari (Greta Garbo), an enigmatic woman of Javanese-Dutch ancestry who seldom thinks twice about luring some poor swain to his doom. Assigned to intercept allied war messages, Mata Hari romances garrolous-general Lionel Barrymore. She falls in love for the first and only time in her life when she meets dazzlingly handsome lieutenant Ramon Novarro. Barrymore finds out about the affair and threatens to expose both Mata and Novarro as spies, whereupon Ms. Hari shoots Barrymore dead. She arranges for Novarro to leave the country lest he be implicated in the murder. He is subsequently blinded in an airplane crash, setting the stage for Garbo's now-famous "Let me be your eyes" scene. Mata Hari is tried and sentenced to death, but is permitted a few final precious moments with Novarro, allowing him to go on believing that he is in a military hospital rather than a prison cell, and that his beloved is dying of a mysterious ailment rather than facing a firing squad. The debate still rages among film buffs as to whether Greta Garbo does her own dancing in Mata Hari, or whether that's her double in the long shots. There is no question, however, that the condemned prisoner in the first reel who refuses to betray Mata to his captors is none other than Mischa Auer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, (more)
Based on Vicki Baum's novel and produced by Irving Thalberg, this film is about the lavish Grand Hotel in Berlin, a place where "nothing ever happens." That statement proves to be false, however, as the story follows an intertwining cast of characters over the course of one tumultuous day. Greta Garbo is Grusinskaya, a ballerina whose jewels are coveted by Baron von Geigern (John Barrymore), a thief who fancies Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford), a stenographer and the mistress of Preysing (Wallace Beery), businessman boss of Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore), a terminally ill bookkeeper who is under the care of alcoholic physician Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone). Grand Hotel won Best Picture at the 1932 Academy Awards. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, (more)
- 1933
If Queen Christina is not the best of Greta Garbo's films (as many Garbo fanatics insist), it is certainly the most luxuriously romantic of her talkie features. The star is cast as 17th-century Swedish queen Christina, who feels that she can best function in a male-dominated world by adopting men's clothes and attitudes (this cross-dressing element adds a subliminally gay subtext which curiously makes the subsequent events all the more poignant). Fiercely devoted to her country and the welfare of her people, Christina has long since abandoned all thoughts of pursuing any kind of a romance -- but changes her mind when she meets and falls in love with Spanish envoy Antonio (John Gilbert). After an idyllic night together, Christina and Antonio are compelled to part, but the Queen vows then and there to relinquish her throne in favor of marriage to the envoy. Alas, the complex political machinations between their two countries permanently separate the two lovers, leaving Christina more alone in the world than ever. The chemistry between Garbo and Gilbert -- who as the whole world knew in 1933 had once been real-life lovers -- is positively mesmerizing, especially in the classic scene wherein Christina, after consummating their passion, walks dreamily around their room, touching and memorizing every detail (so persuasive is her pantomime in this scene that her last-minute explanation as to what she is doing is not only unnecessary, but downright jarring). Equally unforgettable is the final shot of Garbo staring enigmatically past the camera, allowing the viewer to "fill in" her thoughts (director Rouben Mamoulian always claimed that he ordered Garbo to think about "absolutely nothing," but one wonders). While some of Garbo's earliest talkies tend to creak a bit, Queen Christina is as fascinating today as it was nearly seven decades ago, and will undoubtedly continue to remain just as fascinating for the next seven decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, (more)
- 1934
A W. Somerset Maugham novel was the source for the fair-to-middling Greta Garbo vehicle The Painted Veil. In a situation comparable to the plotlines of most of her silent films, Garbo is lovelessly married to Herbert Marshall, but carries a flaming torch for George Brent. (Also harking back to Garbo's silent days is the fact that neither one of the men in her life is particularly interesting!) Marshall, a brilliant physician, is compelled to go into the interior regions of China to quell a cholera epidemic. He knows that Garbo has been having an affair with politician Brent, and chivalrously gives her the choice of remaining with Brent or accompanying him. Fearing a scandal, Brent bids farewell to Garbo. Once they're in the midst of the epidemic, Garbo tirelessly works by her husband's side; eventually she falls in love with him for the first time. Seriously injured in a peasant uprising, Marshall hovers near death. Brent reappears, offering to take Garbo back with him. She refuses, electing to stay with her husband no matter what the future brings. Among the supporting players in The Painted Veil are Warner Oland and Keye Luke, one year away from their memorable pairing in Fox's Charlie Chan films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Herbert Marshall, (more)
This second filmization of Leo Tolstoy's novel is widely regarded as the best version. Greta Garbo plays the title character, the sheltered wife of Czarist official Rathbone. Intending to dissuade Rathbone's brother (Reginald Owen) from a life of debauchery, Garbo is sidetracked by her own fascination with dashing military officer Fredric March. This indiscreet liaison ruins Garbo's marriage and position in 19th century Russian society; she is even prohibited from seeing her own son (Freddie Bartholomew). In keeping with the censorial strictures of 1935 Hollywood, Anna Karenina is extremely careful in the staging of its final suicide sequence, allowing the audience to determine for itself whether or not Garbo's desperate act of throwing herself under wheels of a train is intentional. Outside of the expected superb performances of Garbo and March, the film's most fascinating characterization is offered by Basil Rathbone, whose cold cruelty in banishing his wife is shown to be the by-product of his own broken heart (though Rathbone never allows himself to descend into cheap sentiment). The first film version of Anna Karenina was the 1927 silent feature Love, also starring Garbo, which substituted an imbecilic happy ending for Tolstoy's bleak denouement (there would be an acceptable third version in 1948, starring Vivien Leigh. The 1935 Anna Karenina is arguably the finest accomplishment of the felicitous 1930s alliance between star Greta Garbo, director Clarence Brown and cinematographer William Daniels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Fredric March, (more)
