No, I still do not like Greta Garbo.
Ninotchka is my favourite film (and the first one I watched with her), but ever since that one I've liked her less and less- especially the more I see of her. I saw her make a fool out of herself in Two Faced Woman. I almost turned off Grand Hotel because her performance was so unwatchably overacted (Joan Crawford and Lionel Barrymore prevented me from doing that, thankfully, and she was more watchable the second time). Her interpretations of Anna Karenina and Camille made me wonder how someone could be so physically stiff. And so on.
This film almost made me like her again, but fell somewhat short of the mark.
It's a very well done film- the cinematography is excellent. A little heavy on the closeups of Garbo (there's one of just her eyes darting back and forth), but still excellent. Except for that error at the end. The way the ship is going and the way the wind is blowing means that Garbo's hair should be blowing into her face and not streaming out behind her like she's some kind of "Swedish goddess", and I know you're not supposed to pay attention to that and you're supposed to be all "OH MY QUEEN GARBO", but I can't, and that bothered me.
John Gulbert was never suited for sound movies, and with Garbo's star rising as his was falling, the movies they made together focused more on her and less on him. In Flesh And The Devil, he was billed first, but in Love, A Woman Of Affairs and this one, she is billed first. In this one, the poster is of just her and no one else. He is little more than a background prop in this film, but he and Garbo still have amazing chemistry.
Oh, yeah, I have to do a plot summary now.
Queen Christina was a masculine ruler, having been raised as a boy. She ascended to the throne at a young age, but how it is time for her to marry and produce a male heir. She refuses, saying, "I shall die a bachelor!" But, you know, one day there is a snowstorm and she gets stranded in a tavern with many "other" males. There is only one bed left in the inn, so she volunteers to share a bed with John Gilbert.
Apparently people were blind in the 16th century, because Garbo is a very feminine "man". You see, they put her in men's clothes, but forgot to take off her false eyelashes and her lipstick. John Gilbert's character in the film somehow only finds out she isn't a man when she takes off her jacket and...
OK, this is also kind of funny, because Garbo was rather flat in the chest area, but go on.
So they begin a love affair, and sleep together, and so on.
This is where the famous scene (and best one in the film) of her trying to memorize the room she spent the night in with her lover. Itnis very well done, and is what almost made me like the film.
That, and Greta Garbo left her overacting at home.
So anyways, the people of Sweden do not like that their queen is in love, and she eventually has to abdicate the throne, see. She plans to sail away with her lover, but he gets stabbed in a duel and dies in her arms. Being Garbo, she sails on alone, an almost triumphant look on her face. But her hair is still blowing the wrong way.
So, it's an alright film, but rather overrated, and rather boring. I'd watch it again if forced, but I still don't like Greta Garbo.
Ninotchka is my favourite film (and the first one I watched with her), but ever since that one I've liked her less and less- especially the more I see of her. I saw her make a fool out of herself in Two Faced Woman. I almost turned off Grand Hotel because her performance was so unwatchably overacted (Joan Crawford and Lionel Barrymore prevented me from doing that, thankfully, and she was more watchable the second time). Her interpretations of Anna Karenina and Camille made me wonder how someone could be so physically stiff. And so on.
This film almost made me like her again, but fell somewhat short of the mark.
It's a very well done film- the cinematography is excellent. A little heavy on the closeups of Garbo (there's one of just her eyes darting back and forth), but still excellent. Except for that error at the end. The way the ship is going and the way the wind is blowing means that Garbo's hair should be blowing into her face and not streaming out behind her like she's some kind of "Swedish goddess", and I know you're not supposed to pay attention to that and you're supposed to be all "OH MY QUEEN GARBO", but I can't, and that bothered me.
John Gulbert was never suited for sound movies, and with Garbo's star rising as his was falling, the movies they made together focused more on her and less on him. In Flesh And The Devil, he was billed first, but in Love, A Woman Of Affairs and this one, she is billed first. In this one, the poster is of just her and no one else. He is little more than a background prop in this film, but he and Garbo still have amazing chemistry.
Oh, yeah, I have to do a plot summary now.
Queen Christina was a masculine ruler, having been raised as a boy. She ascended to the throne at a young age, but how it is time for her to marry and produce a male heir. She refuses, saying, "I shall die a bachelor!" But, you know, one day there is a snowstorm and she gets stranded in a tavern with many "other" males. There is only one bed left in the inn, so she volunteers to share a bed with John Gilbert.
Apparently people were blind in the 16th century, because Garbo is a very feminine "man". You see, they put her in men's clothes, but forgot to take off her false eyelashes and her lipstick. John Gilbert's character in the film somehow only finds out she isn't a man when she takes off her jacket and...
OK, this is also kind of funny, because Garbo was rather flat in the chest area, but go on.
So they begin a love affair, and sleep together, and so on.
This is where the famous scene (and best one in the film) of her trying to memorize the room she spent the night in with her lover. Itnis very well done, and is what almost made me like the film.
That, and Greta Garbo left her overacting at home.
So anyways, the people of Sweden do not like that their queen is in love, and she eventually has to abdicate the throne, see. She plans to sail away with her lover, but he gets stabbed in a duel and dies in her arms. Being Garbo, she sails on alone, an almost triumphant look on her face. But her hair is still blowing the wrong way.
So, it's an alright film, but rather overrated, and rather boring. I'd watch it again if forced, but I still don't like Greta Garbo.