Garbo (2005)

Garbo is a documentary that tells the story of the life and career of one of the former biggest stars of Hollywood, Swedish-born actress Greta Garbo, which first premiered in 2005 on Turner Classic Movies, and later released on DVD as part of the TCM Archives Collection. The film features interviews from close family members who knew her all too well, as well as biographers, historians, and film directors that have worked with her via archive footage, including the grandson of MGM founder Louis B. Mayer.Narrated by famed actress Julie Christie, Garbo is a rather informative film documenting the Swedish actress' first steps into stardom when she first worked in advertising, which would lead her to starring in many silent motion pictures released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer, with films like The Mysterious Lady (1928), Love (1927) and Flesh and the Devil (1926), all released in the late 1920s. It was here that all of her films were smash hits and that she was the go-to actress for a guaranteed hit when it came to drama and romantic love stories told on the silver screen. In fact, her success as a motion picture actress got to where she couldn't go anywhere without paparazzi and the press getting in her way (now you know where shows like TMZ and Extra get their image). But it was when the industry decided to transition to sound pictures that things began to take a rocky turn, eventually leading to an early retirement. While her career in Hollywood was short-lived, ending with the 1941 flop Two-Faced Woman, she did leave a large enough impact on the industry all together, and her career as a whole, is illustrated by all of the films she made.Along with many interviews from relatives, filmmakers, and biographers, we are given a glimpse of her magnificent and flawless talent as an actress through clips of various films, a majority of them from the silent era of MGM. In each one of her films, she dedicates herself to the role she plays on screen, as if this was how she acted outside of the studio dealing with the drama that is real life. Garbo wasn't another no-name screen floozy that came out of the woodwork, and her legacy proved that. The film is a study on one of the greatest actresses who ever lived, and an insight on what life was like when Hollywood was rising to become the entertainment capital of the world, and is definitely a must watch for anyone who loves classic movies, myself included.

I don't think any film star so totally dictated the term's of their career than Greta Garbo. Once she obtained international stardom after the film Torrent the direction she moved was determined by her and her alone. Even Louis B. Mayer the autocratic boss of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a wide berth and treated her as an equal. And when she left the screen abruptly in 1941 she made her retirement stick.Her mystique was intact and stayed intact. I recall several stars in their retirement years like Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, James Cagney, Randolph Scott who quit the field on top. Occasionally you would read small items about them, a stray photograph or two would appear. They would say thanks, but I'm enjoying my leisure. Of the four I mentioned only Cagney made a comeback and I think it was a mistake.Garbo whose image was one of aloofness never looked back. Instead we looked for her if our travels took us to the island of Manhattan. She'd walk around Manhattan doing her window shopping, avoiding stares and cameras and we gave her a wide berth.One of the best tributes I ever read about her came from one of her co-stars Robert Taylor. He had never even spoken to her on the lot before Taylor was cast as Armand in Camille. He was in awe of her, but she put him at ease and worked with him ceaselessly. She demanded excellence in herself more than any director could demand. She made him and others around her better performers, reaching for depths of emotion they never thought they possessed.After the film was over she was aloof again. But Taylor in appreciation for what she did for him just gave Garbo her space and never thought of her as snobbish in any way. It was her way to be alone and he like so many of the public as well as her fellow players gave her what she wanted.Kevin Brownlow did a wonderful assembling the film and the interviews to capture the aloof spirit that was Greta Garbo. From 1941 until 1990 she held us fascinated right up to when she died. That's quite an impression she made.

Obviously this documentary is essential viewing for anyone with an interest in Garbo. It presents amazing clips from the legendary long-lost 1949 screen-tests for "La Duchess de Langeais" which of course was never made. These clips show a noticeably mature, radiant, slightly more human 43-year-old Garbo - although to me she almost always has the feeling of an ethereal creature who has time-warped in from some higher plane to mingle for a while with mere mortals.The reality, as she herself knew better than anyone, was that she was extremely mortal, earth-bound, and was aging fast (heavy smoking and too much sun). The fact that she could no longer maintain the illusion of youth was one of the main reasons why she didn't want to work again, in addition to the fact that she mostly hated making films anyhow, and had become rich and did not have to ever work again. Note that "Two-Faced Woman" was not nearly the disaster legend makes it out to be; in spite its being such a mess, of the bad reviews, and the loss of the European market, it grossed quite well and almost broke even financially - a strong indication of the public's continued interest in her. Also note that MGM had dumped pretty much all of their female stars from the silent era by 1942 (i.e Shearer, Crawford et al); Garbo went down in good company, as generational tastes shifted to pin-ups of Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable. Personally, I've always wished that she had ended up making films in Swedish with Ingmar Bergman in the 1950s-60s. She could have done something completely different and quite stunning under his direction, however it appears that no one in the industry - Bergman and Garbo included - was able to conceive of her appearing as a decidedly middle-aged character.This documentary is also extremely defensive about Garbo's famous reclusiveness and focuses a lot of time and energy on it. However this was only true rather late in her life; for much of her life she was actually somewhat active and social, but in private and very much out of the public eye, as she circulated in an international A-list jet-set.

This is a brilliantly done documentary about one of film's great enigmas, Greta Garbo. For me, watching this was very personal, as I was privileged to research the biography written by Barry Paris (who appears in this documentary). There are interviews with another biographer, Karen Swenson, with Garbo's friends, Sam Green, Gore Vidal, and others, a big fan, the marvelous Charles Busch, family members, John Gilbert's daughter Leatrice Fountain, Daniel Selznick, and footage of an interview with Clarence Brown. The photographs and film clips speak for themselves, for Garbo's tremendous beauty and unique acting ability. She was a totally intuitive actress.It's a pity that, as independent as she was, that she took some bad advice, and a bigger pity that she never returned to the screen after 1941. A 1949 screen test shows her beauty untarnished, yet the producers were unable to raise money for the film they wanted to do, which devastated her.In my own research and transcription work, I have to admit I never experienced the Garbo that her friends and family describe. The woman I got to know through transcription of taped telephone conversations and various stories about her seemed neurotic, passive-aggressive, and, frankly, kind of dull. But she was so magical on screen. This is a wonderful documentary, highly recommended.