Greta Garbo
Oh, why couldn't I have met you just once. You could have taught me so much about being a superstar...
She who wants to be alone - lived a highly public life. Her reputation as being a recluse seems (to me) unfounded as she went for hour-long strolls around Manhattan daily. Documentaries abound, celebrating the myth surrounding this Hollywood icon. The woman who created screen glamour for the entire golden age - Greta Garbo. The most beautiful woman to have ever lived.
Starting her career on film nearly at the birth of film itself - Garbo first appeared as a teen in silent films in Sweden. The Saga of Gosta Berling almost made the list - but Garbo's screen time is slender, the film is eternally long - and it's in Swedish (not for everyone). Growing up lusting over the alabaster goddess - it wasn't easy to see her old silent stuff. I opted instead for the wall of VHS choices that were available so it wasn't until much later into my Garbo fixation that I viewed most of her work in silent cinema. TCM has a nice box set of a few of her earlier films. While not the quintessential Garbo - they're still worth owning. I just really like my Garbo to speak. That sultry, syrupy accent just drives me insane.
**Honorable Mention** "JOYLESS STREET" (1925): The film Garbo made following Gosta Berling, The Joyless Street (The Street of Sorrow) was a German film directed by the amazing G.W. Pabst. The film established the "New Objectivity" movement and is a fantastic time capsule of life between the two world wars. The plot is simple - two women from poor beginnings try to take advantage of the new wave of prosperity in Austria; one does well ... one does not. Guess which of the two female leads plays the tragic victim? No! It's not Garbo this time! She actually plays Grete who goes on to be the more optimistic of the two (and the one not arrested for murder, woops - spoiler!) This is a timeless example of a youthful Garbo, a master director at the helm and a riveting tale that 8 out of 10 people on Rotten Tomatoes agree - is one of the finest films of the silent era.
5) "CAMILLE" (1936): Time magazine named this one of the 100 best films of all time. American Film Institute placed this at #33 on it's list of 100 Years...100 Passions. Nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards and winner of the NY Film Critics Circle Award - this is a keystone in classic cinema. Hell, even the final scenes are featured in the musical Annie. Everyone knows Camille - and if you don't know the whole film, you've definitely seen the last few moments where Garbo succumbs to tuburculosis in the arms of Robert Taylor (dolled up so swanky, I swear he's a mannequin). The story (by now in 2013) has been done to death. The gist is - girl from the bad side of town falls for a rich boy, makes the rich boy change his life and then just as they fall passionately in love - one of them has to die. What makes this different is that this was one of the first times that such exquisite melodrama was acted out on film with such sublime slow pacing that no one in the audience escapes without the sense that they've just sat through the death of a close, personal friend. It's heart wrenching. You care so much for these two characters you really shouldn't care about - it's magical, it's hypnotic, the cinematography is gauzy, foamy and keeps you in a dream-like state. Drifting through every frame like a whisper is Garbo at the height of her power. You'll see this movie one way or another. It's truly inescapable.
4) "FLESH AND THE DEVIL" (1926): This was the film that made her a star. After her hits in Europe, Louis B. Mayer invited Garbo to make a few movies for MGM. This was her first starring vehicle and boy...did she ever drive Flesh and The Devil right into the heart of American consciousness. The world wasn't ready for Garbo. Her stunning features erupt off the screen. Her acting abilities - all done mostly through glances, smirks and a weighted eyelid...is some of the greatest you'll ever witness. Once again, mired in one of the typical doomed romances, Flesh and The Devil was all kinda popular when it originally appeared toward the end of the silent era. Childhood friends who are separated by life come together, reunite and fall in love. Dum, dum, dummmmmm. It's dramatic and as cliche as anything you'll ever see. It's almost schlocky - but none of that matters because every once in a while Garbo comes on screen, you forget everything and just sit there staring. Imperative Garbo viewing, Flesh and The Devil is a classic of the highest caliber.
3) "SUSAN LENOX (HER FALL AND RISE)" (1931): Garbo and Gable. This is what I consider to be a bad-ass Garbo film. MGM shoved her in so many films once she started becoming a screen star, some of her small films get overlooked. This is one classic example. Far better than a lot of other films, Susan Lenox tells the story of a woman who just can't seem to get her life together. She jumps from relationship to relationship (scandalous for a lady in 1931), travels the world and eventually ends on a happy note far, far away in "exotic" South America. In this movie, you truly get a sense of who Garbo was as a person. She seems happy, enjoying her role in the movie - her cast of stars are some of the best in world cinema and she was working once again with a director she loved. The joy radiates off her face in nearly every hazy shot. This is one of the best of the best - while many consider it easily dismissed, I would advise ignoring that and giving Susan Lenox a shot. It's not even 90 minutes long. Just do it.
2) "AS YOU DESIRE ME" (1932): Talk about overlooked - this is a freaking stupid-amazing movie. A story of alcoholism, abuse, amnesia and broken dreams, As You Desire Me is an essential Garbo film (to me). If that's not alluring enough - Erich von Stroheim stars as Garbo's husband. Seriously...I can't believe you'd read any further. That would be enough to seduce me into rushing out and grabbing the DVD. You gain clout points for knowing this one. In a heated debate with Garbo snobs, toss out some references from this film and shut the argument down. Nothing beats the sublime, syrupy melodrama in this film. I love Garbo as a semi-bad girl, and only one film shines brighter than this one when it comes to bad girl Greta. She reeks glamour. She drips honey with every slurred line of dialogue. I first caught this at 2am on TCM back in the early 1990's and I've owned it ever since. This is bigger than essential - this is mandatory.
1) "MATA HARI" (1931): KABOOM! All upside your head with the Greta Garbo glamour - Mata Hari is the ultimate of ultimates. Marketed to play off her sultry image, this movie was made for Garbo. No one else could capture the mysterious Mata Hari as well - and no one ever has. Ramon Navarro (her true love at the time), Lionel Barrymore (the king of Hollywood) and George Fitzmaurice (her favorite director) all combine forces to deliver one of the most successful films of Garbo's career. As tragic as anything by Douglas Sirk, this film is timeless, elegant, beautiful, touching, suspenseful, alluring and seductive. This typically ranks fairly high on lots of Garbo lists, but never at the number one spot. People just love Camille, Anna Karenina and Ninotchka so much they forget how bad-ass this one is. I would encourage anyone interested in The Garbo to see her smaller films first. Avoid the biggies - watch her star shine in the little movies she made because it's only there that you will see the sparkle of joy in her eyes because she's still enjoying herself doing what she came to America to do ... before the horror of publicity ruined her life and made her quit acting at the ridiculously young age of thirty-five after only twenty-eight films.
She who wants to be alone - lived a highly public life. Her reputation as being a recluse seems (to me) unfounded as she went for hour-long strolls around Manhattan daily. Documentaries abound, celebrating the myth surrounding this Hollywood icon. The woman who created screen glamour for the entire golden age - Greta Garbo. The most beautiful woman to have ever lived.
Starting her career on film nearly at the birth of film itself - Garbo first appeared as a teen in silent films in Sweden. The Saga of Gosta Berling almost made the list - but Garbo's screen time is slender, the film is eternally long - and it's in Swedish (not for everyone). Growing up lusting over the alabaster goddess - it wasn't easy to see her old silent stuff. I opted instead for the wall of VHS choices that were available so it wasn't until much later into my Garbo fixation that I viewed most of her work in silent cinema. TCM has a nice box set of a few of her earlier films. While not the quintessential Garbo - they're still worth owning. I just really like my Garbo to speak. That sultry, syrupy accent just drives me insane.
**Honorable Mention** "JOYLESS STREET" (1925): The film Garbo made following Gosta Berling, The Joyless Street (The Street of Sorrow) was a German film directed by the amazing G.W. Pabst. The film established the "New Objectivity" movement and is a fantastic time capsule of life between the two world wars. The plot is simple - two women from poor beginnings try to take advantage of the new wave of prosperity in Austria; one does well ... one does not. Guess which of the two female leads plays the tragic victim? No! It's not Garbo this time! She actually plays Grete who goes on to be the more optimistic of the two (and the one not arrested for murder, woops - spoiler!) This is a timeless example of a youthful Garbo, a master director at the helm and a riveting tale that 8 out of 10 people on Rotten Tomatoes agree - is one of the finest films of the silent era.
5) "CAMILLE" (1936): Time magazine named this one of the 100 best films of all time. American Film Institute placed this at #33 on it's list of 100 Years...100 Passions. Nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards and winner of the NY Film Critics Circle Award - this is a keystone in classic cinema. Hell, even the final scenes are featured in the musical Annie. Everyone knows Camille - and if you don't know the whole film, you've definitely seen the last few moments where Garbo succumbs to tuburculosis in the arms of Robert Taylor (dolled up so swanky, I swear he's a mannequin). The story (by now in 2013) has been done to death. The gist is - girl from the bad side of town falls for a rich boy, makes the rich boy change his life and then just as they fall passionately in love - one of them has to die. What makes this different is that this was one of the first times that such exquisite melodrama was acted out on film with such sublime slow pacing that no one in the audience escapes without the sense that they've just sat through the death of a close, personal friend. It's heart wrenching. You care so much for these two characters you really shouldn't care about - it's magical, it's hypnotic, the cinematography is gauzy, foamy and keeps you in a dream-like state. Drifting through every frame like a whisper is Garbo at the height of her power. You'll see this movie one way or another. It's truly inescapable.
4) "FLESH AND THE DEVIL" (1926): This was the film that made her a star. After her hits in Europe, Louis B. Mayer invited Garbo to make a few movies for MGM. This was her first starring vehicle and boy...did she ever drive Flesh and The Devil right into the heart of American consciousness. The world wasn't ready for Garbo. Her stunning features erupt off the screen. Her acting abilities - all done mostly through glances, smirks and a weighted eyelid...is some of the greatest you'll ever witness. Once again, mired in one of the typical doomed romances, Flesh and The Devil was all kinda popular when it originally appeared toward the end of the silent era. Childhood friends who are separated by life come together, reunite and fall in love. Dum, dum, dummmmmm. It's dramatic and as cliche as anything you'll ever see. It's almost schlocky - but none of that matters because every once in a while Garbo comes on screen, you forget everything and just sit there staring. Imperative Garbo viewing, Flesh and The Devil is a classic of the highest caliber.
3) "SUSAN LENOX (HER FALL AND RISE)" (1931): Garbo and Gable. This is what I consider to be a bad-ass Garbo film. MGM shoved her in so many films once she started becoming a screen star, some of her small films get overlooked. This is one classic example. Far better than a lot of other films, Susan Lenox tells the story of a woman who just can't seem to get her life together. She jumps from relationship to relationship (scandalous for a lady in 1931), travels the world and eventually ends on a happy note far, far away in "exotic" South America. In this movie, you truly get a sense of who Garbo was as a person. She seems happy, enjoying her role in the movie - her cast of stars are some of the best in world cinema and she was working once again with a director she loved. The joy radiates off her face in nearly every hazy shot. This is one of the best of the best - while many consider it easily dismissed, I would advise ignoring that and giving Susan Lenox a shot. It's not even 90 minutes long. Just do it.
2) "AS YOU DESIRE ME" (1932): Talk about overlooked - this is a freaking stupid-amazing movie. A story of alcoholism, abuse, amnesia and broken dreams, As You Desire Me is an essential Garbo film (to me). If that's not alluring enough - Erich von Stroheim stars as Garbo's husband. Seriously...I can't believe you'd read any further. That would be enough to seduce me into rushing out and grabbing the DVD. You gain clout points for knowing this one. In a heated debate with Garbo snobs, toss out some references from this film and shut the argument down. Nothing beats the sublime, syrupy melodrama in this film. I love Garbo as a semi-bad girl, and only one film shines brighter than this one when it comes to bad girl Greta. She reeks glamour. She drips honey with every slurred line of dialogue. I first caught this at 2am on TCM back in the early 1990's and I've owned it ever since. This is bigger than essential - this is mandatory.
1) "MATA HARI" (1931): KABOOM! All upside your head with the Greta Garbo glamour - Mata Hari is the ultimate of ultimates. Marketed to play off her sultry image, this movie was made for Garbo. No one else could capture the mysterious Mata Hari as well - and no one ever has. Ramon Navarro (her true love at the time), Lionel Barrymore (the king of Hollywood) and George Fitzmaurice (her favorite director) all combine forces to deliver one of the most successful films of Garbo's career. As tragic as anything by Douglas Sirk, this film is timeless, elegant, beautiful, touching, suspenseful, alluring and seductive. This typically ranks fairly high on lots of Garbo lists, but never at the number one spot. People just love Camille, Anna Karenina and Ninotchka so much they forget how bad-ass this one is. I would encourage anyone interested in The Garbo to see her smaller films first. Avoid the biggies - watch her star shine in the little movies she made because it's only there that you will see the sparkle of joy in her eyes because she's still enjoying herself doing what she came to America to do ... before the horror of publicity ruined her life and made her quit acting at the ridiculously young age of thirty-five after only twenty-eight films.
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