Greta Garbo Film Retrospective – Garbo: The Divine Woman

Greta Garbo starred in her last film at the age of 36, and then famously declared “I want to be alone” (or so it was reported) and retired to a reclusive life spent in Manhattan, Switzerland and the Riviera.  But through the 25 films she made in America Garbo attained the status of legend and has remained, for many film lovers, the epitome of Hollywood stardom.  She was certainly one of the most intriguing, enigmatic, mysterious and beautiful women ever to grace the screen, and one of the few who successfully made the transition from the world of silent films to the new realities of sound pictures.

Schedule:

April 8

7:30 PM:

REKLAMFILM PUB GRETA GARBO

(Sweden, 1921) Directed by Lasse Ring

This short is a compilation of two Swedish commercials shown in Stockholm theaters, showing Garbo (still Gustafsson at the time), modeling hats for a department store and eating pastries at a café.

35mm, silent with Swedish intertitles.

Followed by

THE LEGEND OF GÖSTA BERLING (Sweden, 1924) Directed by Mauritz Stiller

A pioneer in the Swedish film industry, Mauritz Stiller discovered the young Greta Gustafsson and effectively initiated her transformation into the screen goddess known as “Garbo.” Based on a novel by Selma Lagerlöf, THE LEGEND OF GÖSTA BERLING features Garbo in her first leading role as a countess whose love for the titular protagonist, a disgraced minister (Lars Hanson), redeems him. Louis B. Mayer apparently saw this breakthrough film and invited both director and ingénue to Hollywood. Garbo flourished at MGM and became a superstar; Stiller struggled and soon returned to Sweden, where he died prematurely in 1928.

Simultaneous translation of Swedish intertitles will be provided Live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla

April 9

7:30 PM

THE DIVINE WOMAN—Fragment

FLESH AND THE DEVIL

(US, 1926) Directed by Clarence Brown

Garbo’s first collaboration with Clarence Brown—he supervised seven of her films and earned a reputation as her “favorite” director—elevated her to bona fide superstar status. The film features John Gilbert (Garbo’s off-screen lover at the time) and Lars Hanson (her GÖSTA BERLING co-star) as boyhood best friends now both romantically linked to Garbo: Gilbert is her former paramour, Hanson her current husband.

Followed by

THE TORRENT

(US, 1926) Directed by Monta Bell

For Garbo’s first stateside effort, MGM cast her in this forbidden love story opposite Latin heartthrob Ricardo Cortez. The two stars play young Spanish lovers whose parents prohibit their pairing. Garbo gets shipped off to Paris, where she becomes a world-class opera singer—when they meet again years later their reunion is tinged with the residue of romantic regret.

Simultaneous translation of Swedish intertitles will be provided.

Live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla

April 10

7:00 PM

ANNA CHRISTIE

(US, 1930) Directed by Clarence Brown

Garbo’s first sound film was famously accompanied by the advertising slogan “Garbo Talks!” ANNA CHRISTIE indeed introduced the low, throaty contralto that would become an intrinsic part of Garbo’s enduring mystique. Clarence Brown directed the adaptation of this early Eugene O’Neill stage play about a young woman (Garbo) who reunites with her long-lost father (George F. Marion) but conceals from him—and new beau Charles Bickford—her unsavory past. Praise for Garbo’s deep voice was virtually unanimous, exemplified by the New York Times’ rave: “The immensely popular Greta Garbo is even more interesting through being heard than she was in her mute portrayals.”

Followed by

MATA HARI

(US, 1931) Directed by George Fitzmaurice

This fanciful espionage melodrama was inspired by the life of the eponymous WWI dancer-cum-double-agent. Set in Paris circa 1917, MATA HARI features Garbo as a glamorous German spy who beds Russian military officers to steal state secrets while they sleep. Trouble starts when she spurns a jealous general (Lionel Barrymore) after falling hard for a handsome aviator (Ramon Novarro). Directed by George Fitzmaurice in an exotic Sternbergian vein, the film was hailed as a sexy romance and “an entertainment of no mean value in which that mysterious actress, Greta Garbo, gives another flawless portrayal” (New York Times).

Simultaneous translation of Swedish intertitles will be provided.

 Live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla

April 15

7:30 PM

QUEEN CHRISTINA

(US, 1934) Directed by Rouben Mamoulian

This sumptuous historical spectacular was conceived to lure Garbo back to MGM after her contract had expired. The studio even gave her considerable control over the production—she apparently selected Rouben Mamoulian to direct and insisted that John Gilbert (rather than Laurence Olivier!) play the part of her lover. In a tailor-made role, Garbo perfectly captures the headstrong, cross-dressing 17th-century Swedish sovereign who ruled on her own terms and chose love for a handsome Spanish ambassador over an expedient political marriage. QUEEN CHRISTINA misfired at the box office and failed to revive Gilbert’s foundering career, but Garbo’s passionate performance has survived the tests of time and become a touchstone of film history.

ANNA KARENINA

(US, 1935) Directed by Clarence Brown

In ANNA KARENINA, Garbo reprised her role as the tragic heroine she first portrayed in LOVE (1927), a silent version of Tolstoy’s classic 19th-century Russian novel. The streamlined story, supplemented by meticulous period costumes and decor, traces Anna’s loveless marriage to the hypocritical Karenin (Basil Rathbone) and her ultimately ruinous affair with the charismatic Count Vronsky (Fredric March). Capably directed by Garbo stalwart Clarence Brown, the film was a popular hit and something of a mini-comeback for its elusive star: “Greta Garbo, after several years of miscasting, is back at last in her own particular province of glamour and heartbreak, of tragic lovely ladies and handsome ruthless men” (New York Sun).