Anna Christie

It has been reported that Eugene O'Neill maintained that this was his favorite among films which had been based on his stage successes. Having seen many of the others, it is easy to believe this. It may be sacrilege to claim that Blanche Sweet's performance surpassed Greta Garbo's("Garbo talks"), but it seems so to me. Garbo comes across as mournful and somewhat pitiful, while Sweet conveys the kind of toughness one would expect from an "experienced"woman. Russell is more convincing as a rather immature "he-man" than is Bickford. The great Marie Dressler arguably brings too much of her own persona to the Marthy role; Besserer conveys the shrewdness that an aging woman survivor, and one can see her struggle over whether to unite Anna with her father, or to take care of herself first. The weakest performance is that of George Marion, who overacts the role of Chris. The production values and photography are serviceable; though expectedly not up to those from MGM, they give perhaps a more realistic view of a run-down waterfront scene.

This silent version of Eugene O'Neill's drama 'Anna Christie', starring Blanche Sweet, is an excellent film in its own right, very faithful to the source material. It also proves a point I've often made about so-called 'lost' films: namely, that a diligent and intelligent search for a specific film can often lead to its recovery. 'Anna Christie' was 'lost' for several decades, but Blanche Sweet initiated an energetic search which led to the discovery of a well-preserved print (with Russian intertitles) in a Soviet archive. Happily, this film is now available with new English-language intertitles.

One serious flaw in O'Neill's play is the extremely crude dialogue spoken by Anna and her immigrant father Chris, written in a wretched "yumpin' yiminy!" Swedish dialect. Apparently the Russian translator made no attempt to preserve this in the Russian-version titles.

Eugene O'Neill did not like actors, probably because he spent so much of his childhood among barnstorming troupers (including his own father). Yet O'Neill actively assisted in the production of this film, and it succeeds as one of the most faithful examples of his vision that I've ever seen. The greatest flaws are the stagebound sets and some howlingly bad footage of Chris Christopherson's ship at the mercy of "dat ol' devil, sea": these shots are obviously images of a miniature boat, bobbing about in a water tank! As Anna's father, George F. Marion gives the worst performance in the film: surprisingly, he repeated this role in the remake starring Greta Garbo. In recent years, Garbo's English-language version of 'Anna Christie' has been subordinated to the German-language version she filmed shortly afterwards. (Same sets, different cast, much more explicit dialogue and racier costumes.) As good as Garbo is in the German version, this silent version is better still.

William Russell, as Anna's rough-hewn seaman lover, is slightly too mannered and slightly too prettified. He utterly failed to convince me that he had any emotional or sexual interest in Blanche Sweet's Anna. I have been reliably informed (by an old-time Hollywood veteran) that Russell's voice was inappropriate for talking films.

I have mixed feelings towards Blanche Sweet. When I see her name in print, I tend to visualise a cloying simpering ingenue in virginal roles, similar to Bessie Love or Lillian Gish. (I think it's Blanche Sweet's annoying name that causes me to perceive her this way.) Yet, when I watch one of her films, I almost always find her attractive and compelling. Beak-nosed, almost anorexically thin, with a nearly nonexistent bustline, Blanche Sweet is unlikely to attract modern film audiences. Yet I found her extremely sexy in 'The Sporting Venus', in which she played a glammed-up heiress in expensive gowns and a tiara. Here in 'Anna Christie', Ms Sweet wears dowdy clothes that are entirely appropriate for her portrayal of a waterfront prostitute. I really dislike films in which a leading actor or actress dresses much more expensively (and more extensively) than his or her screen character could plausibly dress in real life. Fortunately, Blanche Sweet does not indulge such vanities here. I'll rate this excellent film 8 points out of 10.

"Anna Christie" (First National, 1923), a Thomas H. Ince production, directed by John Griffith Wray, from the play by Eugene O'Neill, is a story so relatively known today as Greta Garbo's sound debut for MGM in 1930, and as with most talkies, many were remakes of silent ones. While Garbo played Anna Karenina twice on screen, first in a 1927 silent (as "Love") and again in a 1935 sound adaptation, she did not originate the role of Anna Christie. That honor went to a non-Swedish actress named Blanche Sweet, whose career in motion pictures goes back to its primitive days of 1909. Appearing in a handful of shorts and feature films, almost all virtually forgotten, it's her role as Anna Christie that remains one of Sweet's most notable roles.

Much of the plot is set on a New York waterfront where Old Chris Christopherson (George Marion) receives a telegram from his daughter, Anna, whom he hasn't seen since she her childhood, that she is coming to stay with him. Aside from his sailor pals, Chris's only companion is Marty Owens (Eugenie Besserer), a prostitute as well as his mistress. Upon her arrival, Anna (Blanche Sweet) first encounters Marty at a bar before being reunited with her father. Sometime later, Anna and Chris comes to the rescue of Mat Burke (William Russell), a rough Irish seaman whose ship was destroyed in a heavy rainstorm. Mat and Chris become friends, but their friendship soon turns to rivalry once Mat starts showing romantic interest in Anna, causing Anna to reveal her troubled past that may cause her to lose the love and admiration of them both.

In comparison to the Garbo remake, this 1923 original is more detailed in regards to Anna's background as revealed in a flashback sequence not used in the Garbo movie. The flashback tells of Anna as a child, and her mother being left on a Minnesota farm by her sea loving father in the care of abusive relatives. After her mother dies, Anna, now 15, is disowned and evicted by her brutal cousin (Ralph Yearsley). She settles in Chicago where desperation has her living the life as a prostitute, causing her to become distrustful and bitter towards men to a point in saying, "Gawd, how I hate men - every mother's son of 'em." Veteran actor George Marion, who originated his role of Chris in the 1921 play starring Pauline Lord, would enact the role again in the Garbo version. The only other difference between this and the remake is that in the original, Marion's character occasionally narrates to the audience, looking over to the camera and speaking through the use of title cards. Other members in the cast of "Anna Christie" include: Chester Conklin (Tommy); George Siegmann (Anna's Uncle); Victor Potel (The Bartender); and Fred Kohler Sr (The Shipman).

Rarely seen theatrically since the 1920s, "Anna Christie" was once believed to be a long lost movie with no surviving prints in existence. An extant copy was finally discovered in Yugoslavia and restored by film department staff members of New York City's Museum of Modern Art. Aside from MOMA's sporadic revivals, "Anna Christie" served as the fifth installment on an eight week series titled "Lost and Found", presented on New York's public broadcasting station, WNET, Channel 13, during the summer months of 1978. At the conclusion of the 70 minute feature presentation that premiered July 22, 1978, host Richard Schickel has an interesting interview with its "Anna Christie" star, none other than Blanche Sweet (1896-1986). At one point during their discussion, Sweet revealed how she nearly got to appear in the sound remake before the role was handed over to Greta Garbo in a performance earned her an Academy Award nomination. Unlike Garbo, whose career extended to 1941, Sweet retired from the screen in 1930, shortly after appearing in only three feature-length talkies.

While the story and legend of "Anna Christie" remains in memory as a Greta Garbo character, the original 1923 silent did make it to video cassette in the 1990s. Unfortunately, circulating VHS copies at present does not have a musical track, something that could or should have been acquired from the distributors by licensing the piano scored edition presented on "Lost and Found." If "Anna Christie" should ever show up on television again, possibly on Turner Classic Movies where silent movies have become part of its Sunday after midnight lineup, let's hope that proper re-scoring be equipped for the enjoyment of future generations to view and rediscover the works of Eugene O'Neill and the legend of Blanche Sweet as Anna Christie. (***)

This silent version of the Eugene O'Neill play is much more honest than the Garbo talkie version. Silent star Blanche Sweet is terrific as the fallen Anna who finds love on a barge. The famous bar room scene is pretty much intact here with Sweet saying "gimme a whiskey." You can almost see the bar man ask if she wants it in a pail. As noted, there is more "background material" on Anna here. In the Garbo film it was mostly implied.

Sweet is terrific as the sad and wounded Anna who can't deal with her own past and almost loses the hulking Mat (William Russell) because of her guilt. George F. Marion, who originated the role of Chris on stage with Pauline Lord as Anna, plays the father here and in the Garbo version. Eugenie Besserer (Mama in THE JAZZ SINGER) plays Marthy.

Whle it's impossible to forget the Garbo version of this film, this 1923 version is quite good on its own terms. Sweet claimed she almost landed the talkie version until MGM figured out it was a perfect vehicle for Garbo. Who knows what this film might have done for Sweet's career. She made only 3 early talkies and then retired, only to come back 25 years later for a few small roles in films and TV.

In her talkie career, Blanche Sweet is vivid in supporting roles as Queenie in THE SILVER HORDE and totally excellent as Donnie in SHOW GIRL IN Hollywood. I've not seen THE WOMAN RACKET. She ranked as a major star in the teens (JUDITH OF BETHULIA) and through the 20s.

Sweet's ANNA Christie is closer to O'Neill's play than the 30s version (including a long preamble about village life in Sweden) because of censorship issues. Despite the dour characters, the silent version has some terrific moments, and Miss Sweet is terrific. Marion and Besserer are also solid. I'm not familiar with Russell at all but he kind of grew on me.

The main problem I had with this film wasn't the fault of the film's producers. In the old days of silents, some films had music composed for the film but regardless of whether or not this occurred, music was provided by the movie houses--it only was sent along on an accompanying record with some of the last silent films. Despite this movie being made before this period of recorded music for films, I still expected music on the videotape or DVD--this IS standard when you buy a silent film today. But, the knuckleheads from Timeless Video produced a completely silent film--not even a banjo or kazoo to provide background music! This is really cheap! Plus, the speed of the film was way too slow (silent and sound films need to be played at differing speeds in the machine) and the Timeless folks did nothing to compensate for this,...jerks! The film itself was a completely mixed bag and I really can't say I especially liked it or disliked it.

On the plus side, the cinematography was excellent for 1923. Also, the movie was pretty engaging because the plot was pretty adult and was definitely "pre-code"--i.e., the plot would have definitely violated the standards as set up in the 1930s for films with the Hays Code. Anna Christie was a prostitute and had slept with many men in the Eugene O'Neill play and the film didn't shy away from this, nor did it ignore her having been physically and sexually abused. While it wasn't "sleazy", it sure was pretty adult far.

The negatives were that, at times, the plot was really sappy and "heavy-handed" and the film reminded me of a turn of the century morality play since it seemed awfully contrived and over-acted (wild gesticulations were NOT put into all silent films--just sappier ones like this).

So, you make up your mind. It IS an interesting curio and might be interesting to watch before or after you see its remakes. But, on the other hand, there are better silents out there waiting to be discovered by you.