Anna Christie
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Movie Reviews of Anna Christie
Movie Review: A favorite Garbo movie
Summary: 4 Stars
If it doesn't match the quality of 'Queen Christina' (my favorite Gabo movie) it does bring an eerie, melancholic, and oniric feeling to the viewer. It must be the excellent script based on Eugene O'Neill's play. It feels like watching a play too, even though there are so many exterior shots, all that fog and the small oppressive rooms contribute to the claustrophobia.
The characters, all of them, are superb. Garbo is just great. But it is a curious thing to flip the disc and view the German version, just to see (and judge) the difference. Completely different in tone. She looks more natural in the German -as if not acting at all-, and more histrionic in the US version.
For history aficionados it is also a little gem to enjoy, since you can see here immigrants from different parts of Europe meeting and contrasting each their own idiosyncrasies.
Whether you watch it as a documentary, a play, or a classic film it is a really enjoyable experience.
Movie Review: o'neill was never better served on screen
Summary: 4 Stars
garbo in her first talkie is marvelous in this adaptation of eugene o'neills pulitzer winning play, as a whore trying to reform. marie dressler is brilliant in a supporting performance as a washed-out drunk, and everyone else is letter-perfect. now the caveat: the technical shortcomings of early talkies are replete here, so you should stay away if stuff like that is what concerns you. as an added attraction, the dvd also includes the simultaneously filmed german language version of the movie with a different (save for garbo, of course) cast: quite a bit darker, tho not (for me) as accessible. and of course one can never forget the magic of hearing gg utter: "Gif me a visky, ginger ale on the side, and don' be stingy, baby."Movie Review: "Garbo talks." In essence, a Eugene O'Neil play.
Summary: 4 Stars
This film is the great Eugene O'Neil in all his dark glory. Moody, dark, slow-paced, and bearing his intense psychology, it is not a film for all audiences or tastes. In addition to the great Garbo, is a magnificent perfomance by the silent film legend Marie Dressler. Before her death, she would make 3 classics with Wallace Beery, one of which was FDR's favorite film of all time: "Tugboat Annie." Her banter with Jean Harlow in "Dinner at Eight," was peerless and hysterical.
This film is a one of those "transition" pieces from the silent to the talking era, and as such, carries aspects of both periods.
Well worth seeing and having in one's collection.
Movie Review: GARBO MAKES TRANSITION
Summary: 4 Stars
.....Hollywoods mystery women passes the talk test. Both the English and German versions were dark and of poor quality with the German version being Garbo's favorite. Garbo was a huge star in Europe and the Foreign market always assured that her films would be moneymakers.
.....I liked the German version because I just couldn't buy Charles Bickford as a romantic lead although the English version did reintroduce Marie Dressler to American audiences and gave her a second career.
.....Either video is worth the price just to watch the magical Garbo in action.
Movie Review: Garbo speaks....and speaks.......and speaks!
Summary: 3 Stars
"Anna Christie" is most famous as the film which released Greta Garbo from the silent era, the last major star to make the transition. The marketing of the film ensured that this was a major cinematic event and the film was a box office smash but it does not really stand the test of time.
Based on a depressing Eugene O'Neill play, this is an unusual piece for Garbo because she plays a contemporary figure surrounded by 3 character actors in demanding parts. She suffers by comparison. George Marion as her father and Marie Dressler as his mistress create incredibly real people. The scenes with Dressler are wonderful; Garbo, the mistress of underacting, with Dressler, the mistress of overacting, and meeting in the middle with genuine rapport. Charles Bickford as the boorish Irish lover is good too but he has no charisma, no screen magnetism. It is just not convincing that Garbo could fall for him. The film has endless talk, little action, a static camera and a soundtrack which is often hard to understand. Garbo's unease with American slang is obvious with some of her line readings emphasising the wrong words. The story has a poor ending, moving from hysteria to rationalisation in the flick of an eye and with what has gone on before, it is easy to speculate that this motley group have got lots of bad times ahead.
The print of the film is surprisingly good and far superior to other Garbo DVDs of later talkies. The package includes the German version of the film too. It is shorter and darker. Garbo looks more seedy and it is obvious that she is more comfortable with the German language.
The DVD is best purchased as part of one of the Garbo collections because only then will you obtain any extras which will tell you more about the star and the film.