Die Frau mit den zwei Gesichtern

Two Faced Woman became the unexpected swan song for screen legend Greta Garbo. Though her reasons for retirement had to do with the umbrage she took at getting less than stellar reviews for this comedy, still I've always respected that she made her retirement stick for 49 years and kept her legend and image intact.

Garbo's a Swedish ski instructor who lands magazine executive Melvyn Douglas on a skiing vacation. But away from the winter wonderland, Garbo's not being quite the wife Douglas expected.

Catching Douglas in a compromising position with former flame Constance Bennett, sends Greta on the warpath. She concocts a plan to masquerade as her twin sister, her more glamorous and sexy twin. Suffice it to say, she confuses the rest of the cast for almost the rest of the film.

Garbo's playing a role better suited to such comedy veterans as Myrna Loy or Irene Dunne. Still she gets a few laughs in, getting plastered and doing a mean rumba. And she certainly puts Constance Bennett down quite nicely.

Still Greta was miscast and the film gets less than stellar reviews from the critics at the time and from me. But the legend lives on.

Screen icon Greta Garbo was nearing the age of 36 when she began filming "Two-Faced Woman," a comedy also starring Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, Roland Young, and Ruth Gordon. The world was changing, and it was time for her to come off of her queenly throne, get out of those huge Adrian costumes, and join the land of the common people. Back in those days, when an actress hit the 30-35 range, she was considered over the hill. Crawford was shown the door by Louis B., Norma Shearer smartly retired, and Garbo's costar in this movie, Constance Bennett, at 37 was playing supporting roles after years of stardom.

So in fact, Garbo's days at MGM were probably numbered as the studio sought to find her a new image. Unfortunately, her new image - in a light, fluffy comedy - coincided with the entrance of the U.S. into World War II. Everyone was too distracted to care, including Garbo, who wanted to go home to Sweden.

I come at this film with a slightly different perspective, having transcribed hundreds of hours of Garbo's phone conversations with art dealer Sam Greene for the book "Garbo" by Barry Paris. Any exposure to Garbo the woman is enough to realize that she was a remarkable artist. Though a neurotic, passive, and frightened woman, her beauty and vivid imagination, born of isolation, made her a tremendous star and a great, expressive actress.

In "Two-Faced Woman," Garbo plays a dual role, that of a nature-loving ski instructor, Karin, who marries a guest (Melvyn Douglas) at the lodge where she works, and the twin sister whose existence she fakes, the globe-trotting party girl Katherine. Katherine is invented when Karin comes to New York and sees her new husband with his former girlfriend (Bennett).

"Two-Faced Woman" isn't a great movie - it's pleasant enough, and the cast is terrific, but it suffers from bad timing and the fact that this was such a departure for Garbo. Many people didn't feel it was a particularly successful one. She actually is quite good, particularly in the nightclub scene when she dances the chica-choca, a dance Katherine makes up when her shoe catches in the hem of her dress. In real life, whenever the dance instructor arrived at Garbo's house to give her lessons, the curtains were drawn. Knocking at the door, he would hear Garbo yell, "Go away, rumba! Go away!" Nevertheless, she acquits herself delightfully throughout the scene, culminating with the dance. The other thing that is marvelous in the film is the wild skiing scene at the end - absolutely tremendous, and I'm surprised it didn't kill the stunt double.

The film was controversial because the character of Larry seduces a woman he thinks is his sister-in-law, so the script was changed to be more acceptable. A scene was inserted where Larry calls the ski lodge and learns that Karin is out of town. Realizing Katherine is Karin, he plays along, turning the tables on her. It seems like a silly change now.

"Two-Faced Woman" was not the flop the years have built it up to be; in fact, it made back 5 times its budget. And it's highly unlikely it ended Greta Garbo's career. Had things worked out, she would have returned to films after the war - in fact, she almost did. But when the funding for the proposed film fell through, she was embarrassed, humiliated, and being the kind of woman she was, never took a chance to be put in such a position again. Garbo was part of a world that ended when the bombs started dropping, and she didn't find her place in the one that emerged.

I liked Garbo in this. It's not much of a film but she is wonderful to behold. She's certainly up there with Claudette Colbert, Jean Arthur, Carole Lombard and Irene Dunne. Personally Babs Stanwyck and Myrna Loy are the absolute stars of screwball but it's a shame Garbo didn't make a few more comedies to attest to her versatility, in the same way that Dietrich proved herself so much more than Von Sternberg's mannequin. If you look at the comedy of the era - the classic screwball - it's a very modern type of comedy and even some of the lesser entries play quite well now, especially as we are so used to American TV's sitcoms re- popularising the genre (Frasier being one of the best). I find screwballs of the 35-42 period are funnier now than most current comedies, Two-Faced Woman included.

The legends surrounding Geta Garbo were like so many deifications, partly true, partly fiction. When Garbo was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was only average. In "Two-Faced Woman," Garbo assays comedy one more time following her success in Ernst Lubitsch's classic farce, "Ninotchka." This time she nearly falls flat. Garbo's one redeeming feature in the film is the outlandish dance she performs midway through the show. It is indeed a marvel to behold and worth the price of admission.

Almost all the other Thespians in "Two-Faced Woman" out shine the star, especially Constance Bennett, giving a wonderful personification of an acerbic bitch determined to keep her hooks in fresh meat. The gifted actor Melvyn Douglas shows his flare for comedy in a Cary Grant-type role, fun to watch in a slap-stick finale down a ski slope. The indomitable Ruth Gordon makes the most in a small role as Douglas' secretary. Bennett's former "Topper" colleague, Roland Young, is perfect as, again, a lecherous old man. Future TV "Topper" star Robert Sterling shows why he was chosen to portray George Kerby over a decade later.

Another problem with "Two-Faced Woman" is the hackneyed story and script. Director George Cukor hoped to strike pay dirt a second time with a screwball comedy along the lines of his brilliant "The Philadelphia Story," utilizing a title similar to his recently successful "A Woman's Face." Unfortunately, he was let down by the writers, who gave him a theme already old hat. Bedroom farces involving mistaken identities, twins and lookalikes, etc., were passé by 1941. The popular Fred Astair, Ginger Rogers musicals of the 1930's employed such gimmicks in a fresh and original manner. The twins ploy of "Two-Faced Woman" just doesn't work.

Karin Borg (Garbo), a ski instructor, meets and falls in love with Larry Blake (Douglas), a magazine writer. Following a whirlwind courtship that lasts only a few days, the two decide to tie the knot. Once married, however, their varied lifestyles clash. Larry spends most of his time in New York City away from Karin, who refuses to follow him, enjoying the life she already has. Distraught by visions of being two-timed and having her marriage canned, Karin heads for New York City, ending up incognito as her non-existing twin sister, Katherine. That Larry tends to be a philander becomes more evident as Karin sees her husband with other women, one in particular, Griselda Vaughn (Bennett). Katherine finds herself in the dubious position of competing not only against Griselda but against her own alter ego, Karin.

Perhaps the shortcomings of "Two-Faced Woman" helped Garbo in deciding to retire from motion pictures. She never made another film. Though "Two-Faced Woman" is not a dud, it is below standards Garbo had set for herself.

While this film is hardly the classic that Ninotchka is, it can be hardly faulted for it, as even Garbo could hardly be expected to top her stellar performance in that great comedy! I was actually quite surprised how good this film is, especially given the volume of negative press it has received through the years. Garbo, even in a slightly lesser effort, is still leagues ahead of most actresses of her day (I find Joan Crawford to be especially overrated!). Besides her forever enigmatic image, she was, perhaps surprisingly, quite adept at comedy. This film actually did very well in its day.

The reasons of Two Faced Woman ultimately being Greta Garbo's last film are a bit complicated and multi-faceted. A big reason why she didn't make any films after this one was the especially strong European Box Office returns that her films enjoyed during the 20's and 30's were, with few exceptions stopped dead in their tracks by the coming of the Second World War in 1939. No doubt, the U.S. entry near the end of 1941 also impacted in a number of ways, effectively keeping Greta out of films during the remaining war years.

Garbo was actually coming out of retirement in 1949 to do a film for MGM. Sadly, the project got cancelled, and Greta was apparently humiliated by the experience, and didn't wish to be in that position ever again.

There are likely other details that I have missed. Suffice it to say, the film itself had nothing to do with Garbo's permanent retirement from film! If you haven't seen Two Faced Woman and get the chance to do so, check it out!