Garbo: Where Did You Go?

A few interesting facts and movie clips.

The documentary basically focused on everything we already know about Garbo and did little to delve into the deeper mystique of the woman and give us insight into the Garbo that was out of circulation for 50 years. Additionally, I found these things problematic:

-- The "voice of Greta" reading her letters sounded like a character out of Downton Abbey rather than a shy Swede.... totally misses that low husky sound.

-- There is a woman with a mask that keeps appearing in the film --- with the mask hiding her and then at times giving a glimpse of the real life. I suppose there is symbolism there with the real Garbo hiding from the public... but the mask is so creepy and so distracting, that I had to quit watching and just listen.

-- The actress billed as "the investigator" consistently interrupts at inopportune moments and is perhaps more distracting than the creepy mask.

Overall, not well-produced and a big let down. Don't invest the 90 minutes. You could tune into a TCM Garbo movie and hear a Ben Mankiewicz pre-film summary that would give you the same level of information (and you could actually watch him and not be creeped out).

The people who were interviewed and the archived footage regarding Garbo were great. The use of the paper mache mask were creepy and unnecessary. Also unnerving was the platinum blonde actress who chewed through every seen she was in. Her acting was way over the top, and did nothing for the film. It appeared as though this documentary was the first professional job for the blonde and she wanted to make a good impression. She failed miserably.

I stopped watching about 3/4 of the way through the film because I couldn't take the mask and the platinum blonde anymore. I wish the film had been solely archival footage and interviews.

The actual documentary portiona of the film are excellent. In a huge Garbo devoté and I learned many things about her. But the bizarre and annoying conceit of the blonde wigged woman reading notes and repeatedly uncapping her pen is extremely annoying. Every time she shows up, balancing on her ballet slippers and reading notes im very annoyed!!! Her dialect and accent are so fake I can't stand it. She's completely affected and self aware and performative and it's truly awful. The actual footage is informative and well edited. I cannot imagine what they were thinking weaving the narrative with the wigged waif. Ugh!

Disappointed. The Garbo mask scenes did nothing for this biography. They were distracting. The narrator was annoying. I'm not sure if she escaped from a mime college to exert her annoyingly stilted lines. I'm also not sure if her hair was supposed to be Garboesque. Made it through half the documentary then put the speed on 1.5. There isn't enough Garbo and there is too much of the mask and the mime. Garbo was alive when I was a kid. She'd show up in a news shot or film on occasion. So she didn't disappear. She out right stated she'd had it with Hollywood. Better to watch a film like Ninotchka to see how Garbo shone.

I love documentaries and was so excited to watch this and learn more about Garbo. This was extremely boring and provided mostly surface level information. More time was spent showing an actor holding a weird fake head in front of her own or flipping through papers than clips of Garbo. And yes, I understood the point of the fake head, I just found it an unnecessary waste of time. The film would touch on something quite briefly but wouldn't explore it deeper and would quickly move on. It left me constantly hoping for more but I was disappointed each time. Surely there is more information out there about a fascinating person like Garbo. Don't waste your time.