Greta Garbo is "Camille," in the 1936 MGM film directed by George Cukor and also starring Robert Taylor, Henry Daniell, Lionel Barrymore, Laura Hope Crews, Jessie Ralph, and Rex O'Malley. Based on the Alexandre Dumas fils novel/play LA DAME AUX CAMELIAS, it is the often told story of the tubercular Marguerite Gautier, a courtesan, and the young man, Armand Duval, with whom she falls in love, only to have to give him up so he can fulfill his promise and take a respectable place in society. Verdi based his very famous and constantly done opera, "La Traviata," on the Dumas material. During the film, themes from the opera can be heard throughout.
Though the libretto of the opera sticks closely to the words spoken by Marguerite and Armand, the opera's story is slightly different. One difference is that Armand (Alfredo in the opera) learns from his father the reason that Marguerite (Violetta in the opera) gave him up, where in this version, he doesn't seem to know about it; the other is that in the opera, Duval Sr. asks Violetta to sacrifice her life with Armand for the sake of Armand's sister, who is about to be married.
MGM pulled out all the stops for this film; the production values are glorious. Adrian's costumes are absolutely magnificent, and Garbo is a vision in them. This is Garbo's greatest performance. Though a neurotic, shy, and not a terribly exciting woman in real life (for the book "Garbo" by Barry Paris, I transcribed something like 100 hours of phone conversations she had with art gallery owner Sam Green) she had an amazing, vivid imagination and could transport herself in performance to create effective characters that are larger than life. Added to that ability is her unique beauty, her slim figure, and her beautiful speaking voice. She is a perfect Marguerite - vulnerable, passionate, full of humor, generous, joyous and melancholy. Marguerite's death scene is classic. Her face is never more beautiful or serene as in those last scenes, and even after repeated viewings, it tugs at the heart.
Garbo is surrounded by an excellent cast, including Henry Daniell as the Baron, her cruel lover/financial resource; Laura Hope Crews as a loud, silly old courtesan; Jessie Ralph as Nanine, Marguerite's loving caretaker; and Rex O'Malley, who does a beautiful job as Gaston, a gentle and kind friend to both Marguerite and Armand. This role is very small in the opera. It's a much better part here, and O'Malley makes a great impression.
Lionel Barrymore's performance as Duval Sr. has been criticized as being melodramatic, and it's true that he does refer to Marguerite as "Margaret," but in my opinion, he comes off well and restrained in a role that, unlike Gaston, is actually smaller in the film than it is in the opera.
Robert Taylor was 24 or 25 when he played Armand. Like most of the absurdly handsome men in films, he was dismissed by critics as a pretty boy who had no acting ability. It isn't true. He handles some sappy lines very well because he says them sincerely, and he portrays an innocent and romantic quality in the face of Marguerite's worldly ways. Two things trip him up, neither of which is his fault - he's about two or three years away from true handsomeness, which would have made him a little less callow in appearance; secondly, the makeup man really slipped with the pancake, the powder, and the eyebrow pencil. He's wearing entirely too much makeup, which is a distraction and - I mean, this is Robert Taylor we're talking about - totally unnecessary. The makeup should have been directed toward making him slightly less beautiful and more handsome. A bigger problem than both of those is that when he's in a scene with Garbo, there is very little chemistry between them. As a performer, Garbo often stood alone and wasn't what one would call an ensemble player, and she rather overpowers him.
A gorgeous movie, one of the most romantic films of all time starring an enigmatic woman who was a goddess among the Hollywood goddesses. Once World War II hit, the types of roles she excelled at would no longer be popular, and she would find herself retired at the age of 36 to walk and wander the world, no longer in films, but never forgotten.
