Greta Garbo: A Lone Star (2001 TV Movie) User Reviews (3)

A documentary that Garbo's genius deserves

[marcin_kukuczka · 9/10 · 31 August 2005]

Even though more than 60 years have passed since the last screen production with Greta Garbo was released (TWO FACED WOMAN by George Cukor), a lot of people are still amazed by the mysterious personality of this Swedish actress. There are some documentaries about this person but Steve Cole's appears to be a unique presentation of the star. It turns out to be interesting for all kinds of viewers, the ones who have not much read about Garbo, the ones who know something but want to know more as well as her real true fans.

The wide range of original archives is one of the most significant aspects of the film. The pictures and archive recordings make a wonderful journey to the 1920s and 1930s when Garbo was the top Hollywod star. By the use of these materials, a viewer gets a clear idea of chronological events from Greta Garbo's life, including her films in Europe (SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING, PETER THE TRAMP and THE JOYLESS STREET), 1925 arrival in Hollywood with the director Mauritz Stiller, her first roles in silent movies, like THE TORRENT (1926), FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1927), THE KISS (1929), etc through the sound films the top of which were Queen Christina (1933), CAMILLE (1936) and NINOTCHKA (1939), finally to her retirement from screen and generally a lonely and melancholic life till her 1990 death in the New York apartment.

Throughout the movie, a lot of people who either knew Garbo personally or write biographies about her tell very interesting stories. Actress Luise Rainer says for instance about her interesting meeting with Garbo in the 1930s and stresses a striking beauty all of the people noticed in the Swedish Sphynx. Director George Sidney refers to wonderful skills that Garbo had while playing. Biographers, like Karen Swenson and Hugo Vickers, tell amazing stories of Garbo's relationship with Salka Viertel and Mercedes de Acosta. Finally, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, the daughter of John Gilbert, tells tear jerking stories from Garbo-Gilbert relationship. Indeed, John Gilbert was a person whom Garbo deeply loved and after listening to Leatrice, you will surely draw this conclusion. The stories from their private life are presented in relation to the films they made together from their first film, silent FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1927), to their last one, sound Queen Christina (1933), soon before Gilbert's sudden and early death in January 1936. This helps a viewer get a clear idea why Garbo insisted on Gilbert play Antonio instead of Laurence Olivier. She simply felt most comfortable on screen with him because she deeply loved him.

If you are interested in the personality and life of Greta Garbo, this documentary is a must see. 50 minutes supply you with so many interesting facts from her life and such a number of amazing stories that you will not find elsewhere. Although Garbo would be 100 this September, her phenomenon is still amazing. And let it be so...as she is a quintessential prototypical myth of glamorous classic actress in cinema. 9/10 for the documentary!

Unravelling the mystery of Garbo

[jem132 · 11 June 2006]

The woman behind the face and films contained a certain quality of mystique that made her an undefinable image of Hollywood beauty and glamour. The most compelling thing about Greta Garbo was her early retirement from the screen that left us only with beautiful, haunting black and white images to remember her by.

This great documentary runs through Garbo's life and films in chronological order in an attempt to reveal the 'real' Garbo. This is never achieved, as so many conflicting stories of her personality and life work to undermine each other, yet it is a fascinating portrait nevertheless. We see some great footage from her early silent work with John Gilbert (their relationship is also discussed in some detail here), her first line in the talkies (The fabulous 'Gimme a viskey with ginger ale on the side...and don't be stingy, baby' from 'Anna Christie') her glamour MGM talkies where she played tragic women such as Anna Karenina, Camille and Queen Christina, and that magic moment where Garbo 'laughed' on screen in 'Ninotchka' (not the first time she laughed, as the film posters alleged, but 'Ninotchka' marked her first real comedy).

See it for a fascinating look at a true Hollywood icon.

The difference.

[WOverly04 · 22 September 2005]

Greta Garbo was Swedish, so she wasn't naive about sex. But her movies are not about sex. They are about LOVE. (Remember LOVE?) Today's movies are like modern corporations. They are more interested in the profit (sex) than the product (love). Garbo knew the difference--even then. Every gesture, every emotion, every inflection in her voice, every expression in her beautiful face was a reflection of love. And that is why WE love HER.

In the film CAMILLE, the wealthy Baron de Varville grants Marguerite's request for money to pay her bills, cognizant that she actually wants it for a romantic interlude with another lover. When she gently kisses him on the cheek in gratitude, he slaps her harshly across the face for her deception, then brusquely leaves. Humiliated by his response, ashamed at her own actions, her head slowly drops, a look of scorn and pain crossing her lovely countenance. The she spies the money tightly clutched in her hand and she is reminded that she now has the resources to run away with her one true love. All of these emotions are expressed without any grand gestures or utterances. Just a subtle change of facial expressions.

To those who question her gigantic talent or her timeless beauty, I cite this scene as evidence that she was the greatest and most magnetic actress in film history.