Como me Queres

This film is almost forgotten but remains one of the most unusual in Garbo's career. It was daring to use a Pirandello play (what remains of it) and the stylistic inconsistencies are actually absolutely right for the theme that nothing is what it seems (but could be, if we so desired it). Compare it to "Two faced Woman" ten years later, also with Douglas and also about confusions of identity. You will see how much better is the earlier film and how much more beautiful Garbo was, even in a fright wig. George Fitzmaurice was a talented director with a great sense of style. Like most early sound films you have to see a good copy. Much of what we see now is just a travesty of the original and makes it very hard to appreciate its real quality.

Pirandello's play is brilliant, but this script, and story, bears only a passing resemblance.

Lena is NOT a servant, she is the woman's aunt, who brought her up. The woman does NOT hang around in the play, she leaves them all with the mad woman, who, in my opinion, DOES turn out to be the long-lost Maria.

Why change the names? They were perfectly suitable for the screen.

This was a case of scriptwriting for its own sake, not a screen adaptation.

Performances were typical of all really, but the faithless destruction of the original material lets this down terribly.

In an otherwise uninspiring film, the Pirandello drama seems to be tailormade for the Garbo mystique. I wonder if any Hollywood director would attempt a Pirandello play today. I salute the director for picking up the play to make a film--but unfortuntely the combination of Pirandello and Garbo could have been wonderful had it had been creatively handled. Eric von Stroheim's role is again colorless for actor-director who made memorable films.

As You Desire Me (1932)

*** (out of 4)

A woman (Greta Garbo) suffering from amnesia isn't in love with her husband (Erich von Stroheim) and wants to escape and finds a way when someone shows up claiming that she was married to another man (Melvyn Douglas) ten years earlier. As Garbo and Douglas try to reconnect their love another woman shows up who could be the real wife. The actual mystery behind the story is actually pretty good, although the short 70-minute runtime doesn't give the film enough time to fully play it out and it comes off somewhat watered down. The stupid happy ending hurts the film somewhat but the performances from Garbo, Douglas and especially von Stroheim makes this a must see.

Garbo puts in a strong lead performance but this film suffered with poor support from Douglas and Von Stroheim. Douglas was a particularly bad choice and Bruno comes across as absurd.

Garbo shows great range deftly transforming from drunken diva to redeemed believer in the power of love, even if she can't remember who she is.

Interesting... Garbo appears to flub a line in the last scene at approx 1:07

"oooh Lena, help me! You must know? The others, the other woman women who were here that night. Who were they?"