La femme aux deux visages

Two-Faced Woman (1941)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

At the age of 36 screen legend Greta Garbo made this MGM comedy, which tried to take her out of the costume drama and place her into a present time comedy. The results were a disaster when the film was first released and depending on which myth you believe, the bad reaction caused Garbo to retire. I've heard a lot of bad things about this film but in the end it isn't nearly as bad as its reputation. In the film Garbo plays a ski instructor who ends up marrying a man (Melvyn Douglas) after a few hours. Later that night he demands she follow him to NYC but she refuses. As time goes on the husband stays away but Garbo decides to go after him only pretending to be her vamp twin sister. This certainly isn't the greatest comedy ever made but it's not nearly as bad as some would make you believe. Yes, Garbo certainly isn't herself here but I really don't see that as a bad thing because seeing her like this is at least interesting. Seeing her smile, act drunk, playing love able and this type of thing isn't exactly what she's known for but I found her act to be quite charming even if that thick accent came off not working too well here. She also struggles during a few scenes but you can't deny that she's giving it her all as she works her way through the material. Douglas manages to be quite pleasant and ends up delivering a fine comic performance. Supporting players Constance Bennett, Roland Young and Robert Sterling turn in some fine work as well. Another plus was some of the subject matter, which certainly wasn't seen in too many films after the Hayes Office went into effect seven years earlier. The stuff is hidden behind the "marriage" but it's still fairly risqué for its time. Apparently the version currently being shown is the "cut" version missing four minutes and alternating one of the subplots. Either way, this film is a minor entertainment but those expecting something great should probably stick to Garbo's earlier films.

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.

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!

... and that is what both Greta Garbo and Constance Bennett are doing here - playing against type. I actually liked this one when I expected to dislike it. I don't think this one was an attempt to turn Garbo into a pin-up sweater girl as much as it was the Americanization of an old soul, and an old soul that people had become accustomed to seeing in a certain type of role for the previous 16 years.

It was great fun to see Greta's character improvising a woman of the world with no real knowledge of exactly what that meant, and it was also great fun to see Constance Bennett's Griselda, a rival for the affection of Larry (Melvyn Douglas), doing what I thought she should have done in all of those precodes where she was so mistreated and yet suffered in such silence - going off in private when things weren't going her way and yelling, throwing things, and having a bit of a temper tantrum, then readjusting her clothes and hair, regaining her poise, and walking right back into the thick of things as though nothing ever happened.

The thing that struck me as odd in this film even in the production code era - Karin (Greta Garbo) and Larry have just married after a whirlwind courtship. It is their wedding night. Both just put on their pajamas, and Larry promptly announces he is tired and lies down to go to sleep like they've been married for ten years and just returned from Black Friday shopping???? And this isn't what bothers Karin at all - it's that he admits being swept up in the moment about saying he wanted to live a simple life, and he now wants to go back to New York and his job as magazine publisher. Otherwise she would have laid down and gone to sleep too??? If this was close to realistic it would be the end of the human race.

But that's the point. The whole thing is a farce from beginning to end and a delightful surprise at that. Highly recommended for the fun of it all.

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.