Anna Christie
by Clarence Brown, Jacques Feyder
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Greta Garbo, James T. Mack, Marie DresslerDirector: Clarence Brown, Jacques Feyder
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; German (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 174 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Anna Christie
Movie Review: this story isn't stingy, baby
Summary: 5 Stars
Anna Christie is an excellent early "talkie" film. The film stars Greta Garbo in her first speaking role on film; and we get great performances from Charles Bickford, George F. Marion and Marie Dressler. The plot moves along at a good pace and I never felt bored; indeed, it was tough for me to take my eyes off Garbo! She gives a stunning performance. The choreography worked well although the cinematography was somewhat limited by the technology of the day.
When the action starts, we meet Chris Christofferson (George F. Marion) and his friend Marthy Owens (Marie Dressler) who pal around and get drunk quite a lot at the local bar near the harbor where Chris works on a barge. It's been fifteen years since Chris sent his daughter Anna to the Midwest so that she "could be safe inland;" and they have had very limited contact since that time. Chris hasn't exactly tried to live up to being a good father; he never once in fifteen years traveled west to see his daughter.
One day Chris and Marthy are at the local bar when Chris gets a letter from Anna that says she's coming home. He and Marthy wonder what she'll be like; and it isn't long before Anna (Garbo) makes her grand entrance when the bartender opens the ladies door entrance to the pub. Anna and Marthy strike up conversation and when Anna's father Chris soon comes he is happy to see Anna. He wants Anna to try to live with him on his barge although Anna has her doubts. In addition, Anna says she's been ill but she doesn't reveal too many details of her illness.
For a while Anna and her father Chris travel on the barge; and after a very bad storm they rescue some sailors--including Matt Burke (Charles Bickford). Matt almost instantly falls in love with Anna; and she feels the same way about him. However, even after a some time and an especially magical day at New York's Coney Island amusement park, Anna is reluctant to marry Matt--and this causes a great deal of tension. The tension mounts even higher when Anna's father Chris wants her to remain with him.
One powerful scene comes when Anna's father has her by one arm and Matt Burke has her by the other arm; they are both trying to pull Anna in their direction as if she were property! This leads Anna to reveal to them the truth about what she's really been doing for the last few years to make ends meet as well as what she "truly" had to do to earn her keep at her relative's home in the Midwest.
What will Anna's father Chris and Matt Burke say when they realize what Anna has been doing? Will they still love Anna or will they both want to be rid of her? What about Marthy--how does she figure into all of this? Will Anna marry Matt after some type of reconciliation? No plot spoilers here, folks--watch and find out!
Anna Christie remains one of the best early talkie films; and it's one of the most well known films Greta Garbo ever made. I highly recommend this film for fans of the actors in this movie; and classic movie buffs will want to have this in their collections, too.
Summary of Anna Christie
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/06/2005 Run time: 175 minutes Rating: NrIt's one of the most highly anticipated entrances in movie history: Greta Garbo slinking into a sleazy waterfront bar and ordering whiskey. Well, "visky." A huge silent star, Garbo was speaking her first lines in her first talking picture, Anna Christie, and audiences were breathless with anticipation. As The New York Times put it, "The low enunciation of her initial lines, with a packed theater waiting expectantly to hear her first utterance, came somewhat as a surprise yesterday afternoon in the Capitol, for her delivery is almost masculine." Her sultry tones were nevertheless a hit, and anyway the Swedish accent fit the character.
Anna Christie is adapted from Eugene O'Neill's play, a piece of gloom about prostitute Anna returning to her seafaring father (George F. Marion) and falling for a sailor (Charles Bickford). The movie's fascination as a Garbo milestone and slice of early-sound Hollywood easily outstrip its actual value as a work of art, for it has not aged especially well. Under the direction of Garbo regular Clarence Brown, the dialogue tends to fall on long, dead pauses and creak with early-sound-era uncertainty. But the print for the DVD release looks very good, and despite her sometimes dodgy approach to English, it's still Garbo--odd, sexy, uncategorizable. The DVD also includes the German-language version, directed by Jacques Feyder, with Garbo and a German cast; the print quality is not as felicitous as the American version but it's an intriguing contrast, and Garbo looks slightly more comfortable in speaking. --Robert Horton
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