Greta Garbo - Einsamkeit einer Diva

TCM has to be congratulated by the magnificent documentary about Greta Garbo it presented recently. As directed by Kevin Brownlow, the film concentrates in presenting a balanced portrait of one of the strongest personalities that graced the screen during the XX Century: Greta Garbo. The narration by Julie Christie, is excellent.

"Garbo" presents a vivid picture of the mythical figure of Greta Garbo, from her humble origins, to the height of her fame, to the years of oblivion. One thing that comes clear in the film is that contrary to what one might think, Ms. Garbo was not a recluse, on the contrary, she filled her days roaming the streets of her adopted city, New York.

The director is to be commended in that he takes us everywhere, covering the life of the actress. He even takes us where no one else has dared to go, Greta Garbo's inner sanctum, the apartment where she lived on the upper east side of Manhattan. We get glimpses of how the great Garbo lived in her elegant place overlooking the East River, where we see some of the paintings she collected.

For a woman with humble origins, Ms. Garbo deserves a lot of credit for making herself the exquisite figure she became. One has to put oneself in her shoes to realize that she just wanted to live like anyone else did, shunning the limelight and being the down to earth woman she was.

Some of the people interview in the film, like her several family members, the great Clarence Brown, who directed her in some of her best films, George Cukor, and Charles Busch expand on what really comes across that she was an honest human being who had her feet on the ground and had no pretensions or vanity. Her glamorous past was history and all she wanted was to stay away from all the glitter.

Congratulations to Kevin Brownlow for his perceptive take on the woman and the myth.

To fully comprehend the mystique, one must witness the early silent films.

The moment she enters the picture as a woman in her early twenties, the viewer is deluged with a face so overwhelmingly beautiful there is no way to detach one's vision from the screen.

Her acting is the same way. Each gesture and facial expression is flawless, as if a precursor to the "method."

Surely, observing from whatever star on which she presently resides, she must be amused by the irony. One hundred years after her birth, sixty plus years after her last film and well over a decade beyond her passing, we are still transfixed by her image and captivated by her mystery. Clearly, she was born to the manner.

CAMILLE was her signature film, the evidence that she was a star of unequaled magnificence. And she was surrounded by a great cast.

One of the most interesting and mystical facets of Garbo are the rumors that she dismissed her co-star in that movie, Robert Taylor, as being unimportant. In fact, there is considerable evidence to indicate she liked him very much. I cite an article written by Eric L. Ergenbright in a 1937 edition of MOVIE MIRROR magazine: describing Garbo's delight at having recently returned from Sweden where she was treated by a doctor for an ongoing illness, and was now cured. She was apparently outgoing and friendly to everyone on the movie set. Among them was her co-star, Robert Taylor. According to Ergenbright, "Robert Taylor...played an important role in the transformation of Greta Garbo...between scenes of CAMILLE witness Bob Taylor, the ex-farm lad from Nebraska, and Greta Garbo, the ex-milliner from Sweden chatting and laughing like cronies of many years standing. Garbo, it seems, was particularly interested in the Great Middle West because to her way of thinking it is the real America. She asked Bob question after question about his childhood, about life in a small town, about the farms in the Middle West." Another story reports that Garbo was extremely moved when Taylor bought her mother flowers for the premiere of CAMILLE at Stockholm, which the three of them attended.

When she was making a movie, she tended to live her roles. It was a device she used to make her part "live." But she was not insensitive nor haughty. And she always recognized the importance of her co-stars and the stagehands.

Chronological documentary of the great Swedish actress Greta Garbo and her struggles to have a private life. Good analysis, great footage from many of her films, well produced and crafted. Narrated by Julie Christi. For anyone who wants to get a solid overview of the life of this extraordinary actress, this is a good place to start. Probably not the definitive biography, but for those of us who are still mesmerized by the persona that we saw on the screen, this will do just nicely. From comments made by those who new this lady in her post-Hollywood life, it would appear that the person that we saw on the screen was nothing like the real person that was molded and sold to the public. The documentary shows Garbo as a highly talented actress that had a true and unique gift that was captured for us to enjoy today. Highly recommended.

Very well done doc that does a good job of de-mystifying its subject, especially her decision to leave Hollywood and films for New York and privacy. The simple and, to me, utterly convincing explanation put forward by Kevin Brownlow and Christopher Bird in this film is that of a talented actress who simply could not endure being a Star, especially the non stop attention. That this, of course, puts her at odds with about 99.9% of those in her profession who make it big is an irony to be savored along with that other Garbo irony that this dramatic actress' best film, by far, is her only comedy.

I also like that she didn't take any crap from Louis B. Mayer. A minus.

Obviously this documentary is essential viewing for anyone with an interest in Garbo. It presents amazing clips from the legendary long-lost 1949 screen-tests for "La Duchess de Langeais" which of course was never made. These clips show a noticeably mature, radiant, slightly more human 43-year-old Garbo - although to me she almost always has the feeling of an ethereal creature who has time-warped in from some higher plane to mingle for a while with mere mortals.

The reality, as she herself knew better than anyone, was that she was extremely mortal, earth-bound, and was aging fast (heavy smoking and too much sun). The fact that she could no longer maintain the illusion of youth was one of the main reasons why she didn't want to work again, in addition to the fact that she mostly hated making films anyhow, and had become rich and did not have to ever work again.

Note that "Two-Faced Woman" was not nearly the disaster legend makes it out to be; in spite its being such a mess, of the bad reviews, and the loss of the European market, it grossed quite well and almost broke even financially - a strong indication of the public's continued interest in her. Also note that MGM had dumped pretty much all of their female stars from the silent era by 1942 (i.e Shearer, Crawford et al); Garbo went down in good company, as generational tastes shifted to pin-ups of Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable. Personally, I've always wished that she had ended up making films in Swedish with Ingmar Bergman in the 1950s-60s. She could have done something completely different and quite stunning under his direction, however it appears that no one in the industry - Bergman and Garbo included - was able to conceive of her appearing as a decidedly middle-aged character.

This documentary is also extremely defensive about Garbo's famous reclusiveness and focuses a lot of time and energy on it. However this was only true rather late in her life; for much of her life she was actually somewhat active and social, but in private and very much out of the public eye, as she circulated in an international A-list jet-set.