Friday, September 16, 2005
GARBO TALKS
It is almost always difficult for me to plow through 'old movies'.
I know that there are people who are fascinated by them and collect and sift and do all the obsessive things that you can do with a film. I am not that even with new ones. But, the old are tough to handle.
There is the 'style' of it all and the dated dialogue. There are the stars who do not even look like contemporary theater people let alone Hollywood types. Hell, they don't even look like the people down the street.
It is a time machine with not every trip a happy one.
is one of those less happy trips.
The contemporary review, at the link, is almost all about Ms. Garbo's voice; 'although the sound was too loud'. Not a lot has changed at the movies. Loud sound.
We are on a Garbo kick because they have just released her films all together on DVD; nice Criterion restorations. We saw Grand Hotel and tomorrow there will be Camille. There is no underestimating her screen power at the time. It is not surprising that her 'talking' debut was a matter of breathless anticipation.
The thing that I noticed is that when we first see her coming in the 'ladies entrance' of the waterfront bar, we learn all we need to know about her. She has not uttered a word. She is an astonishing actress and no more need be said about it. That she had a thick accent was a problem in other films but not in this play since she is playing a Swede; her home base. Nevermind that her character was born in the US and has lived in Minnesota. Well, they do have some accent in MN.
Anna is one of Eugene Oneill's early plays. Some consider it the first feminist play. I would not go that far. The theme of the double standard, as it applies to sexual mores, is not really resolved. The people just go on with their lives of separation. The film also boils the thing down to 90 minutes from 4 acts. There is a lot left on the cutting room floor.
An odditie. After filming this, they turned around and did the whole thing again on the same sets in German. Garbo with different actors.
Here in the English, Marie Dressler does her thing as a seaside drunk and Charles Bickford who became a formidable 'serious' actor is sailor Anna's suitor.
I will give this exercise in cinematic archeology a 3 out of Netflix5. Hard going for some good nuggets.
