Garbo
                       
Director: Kevin Brownlow
Year: 2005
Rating: 6.0
A fine documentary about Greta Garbo that runs 90-minutes directed by Kevin Brownlow, narrated by Julie Christie and produced by TCM. It covers all the bases with a few talking heads, a chronological discussion of her life and most importantly lots of clips of her films and her face.  I have never really been a fan of Garbo - the film mentions that her audience was always primarily women and men shied away - or have I made an effort to see her films - more melodramatic than I prefer - with the exception of course of Ninotchka in which she laughs. In fact, the film was promoted as "Garbo Laughs". At the end of this documentary, they show a few minutes of her doing a screen test in 1949 - eight years after she retired at 36 - for a film that was never made because they could not get financing - and she is magnificent - laughing, pulling back her hair, pushing it over her face. That by all indication was the real Garbo.

 

Her allure has existed for over 80-years since her last film - much of it created by the mystique that still surrounds her - retired so young, so famous, lived in NYC till her death in 1990 walking the streets of the city but refusing to do interviews or have her picture taken. The "I want to be alone" legend around her was absolutely true. Born in Sweden to a working-class family, she had a great desire to act - appearing on stage still as a teenager - and considered too plump to make the jump to film till she ate nothing but spinach for weeks and lost pounds. One of her early films made in Sweden was seen by Louis B. Mayer and he saw stardom in those eyes. He signed her up and like all his actresses, he tried to seduce her and she would have nothing to do with him. She was always independent and willing to go back home if things were not done her way. She was a star beginning with Flesh and the Devil in 1926 and fell in love with her leading man, John Gilbert.

 

She was huge and the fans and paparazzi drove her crazy. She had wanted to be an actress, but all that came with it she hated. She was adored and when talkies came, her Swedish accent and low voice went over fine. I admit I don't really get it. To my eyes, she is not a beauty - an interesting face with her sharp angles, thick eyebrows, thin lips - but those eyes made her and the way she could emote with them without saying a word. She demanded certain cinematographers who knew just how to light up her face and had favorite directors who she trusted. By the mid-30s, her popularity in America was ebbing - though still enormously popular elsewhere - and people had seen enough of her dying tragically. Then Ninotchka looked to revitalize her career - Lubitsch wanted to make another film with her but her advisors told her not to even take his calls. So, she made Two-Faced Woman with Cukor who had directed her in Camille and it was a disaster - ripped by the critics and public. And she just said, oh fuck it. And retired. Apparently, enormously wealthy. Good for her.