Anna Christie
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Movie Reviews of Anna Christie
Movie Review: Garbo talks, I nap
Summary: 2 Stars
"Anna Christie" is a 1930 film of a 1922 Pulitzer prize winning Eugene O'Neill play. This was the second filming of the play, an early silent film having been directed by Thomas Ince in 1923. It stars Greta Garbo with George Marion, Charles Bickford, and Marie Dressler.
This film was Garbo's first talkie. Prior to this Garbo had been in nearly 20 silent films, starting as early as 1920. Her best known silent films were "Flesh and the Devil" (1926) which was directed by Clarence Brown, and "Love" (1927) in which she co-starred with John Gilbert. She was nominated 3 times for an Oscar ("Anna Christie", "Camille", and "Ninotchka") but never won. She is listed #5 on the AFI's list of Greatest Actresses. Her salary for" Anna Christie" was $250,000.
George Marion appeared in the original play and in the silent film of the same name (1923). He reprises his role in the 1930 film. Marion appeared in 35 films, mostly in the silent era. In 1930 alone he appeared in 8 films, including Oscar winning "The Big House". Marion plays Garbo's father.
Crusty Charles Bickford appeared in nearly 100 films. "Anna Christie" was his fourth film. He was nominated for an Oscar three times ("Song of Bernadette" in 1943, "The Farmer's Daughter" in 1947, and "Johnny Belinda" in 1949), and each time, the actress who played opposite him won the Oscar for Best Actress - Jennifer Jones, Loretta Young, and Jane Wyman. Bickford plays a sailor who falls in love with Grabo, unaware she was a prostitute.
Marie Dressler was a major star of the silent era. She started in films in 1910 at the age of 42 and was famous for her Tillie films (1914, 1915, 1917) and later won the Oscar for her role as Min in "Min and Bill" (1930) opposite Wallace Beery, and was nominated in 1932 for "Emma". Her final film performance was as "Tugboat Annie" (1933) opposite Beery again. Dressler plays the girlfriend of Garbo's father.
Clarence Brown directs. Brown was a well known silent film director ("Last of the Mohicans", "Flesh and the Devil"). He was nominated for an Oscar 5 times ("Anna Christie", "A Free Soul", "The Human Comedy", "National Velvet", and "The Yearling") but never won. His films earned 38 Oscar nominations and 9 wins, but never for Director. This was his second film with Garbo and they would work together on 4 more films. He loved working with actresses, and also worked with Joan Crawford 6 times.
Williams Daniels is the cinematographer. Garbo insisted he shoot all her films, which he did, except for 2 ("Conquest", "Two-faced Woman") which turned out to be flops at the box office. When not working with Garbo, Daniels was a favorite of Erich von Stroheim, who was Garbo's favorite director (even though she made 6 films with Brown). Daniels lensed more than 150 films. He was nominated 3 times ("Anna Christie", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "How the West was Won") and won once ("Naked City" in 1948).
Irving Thalberg produced. Known as "The Boy Wonder", Thalberg transformed MGM into the powerhouse it became. He sponsored the Marx Brothers as well as films such as "The Big Parade" (1925), "Grand Hotel" (1932), "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), "San Francisco" (1936), and "Romeo and Juliet" (1936).
Although the staging for Garbo's entrance is great, with the audience waiting to see her saunter up to the bar and say "Gif me a viskey, and don't be stingy baby", by today's standards it's a little too long to wait for the headliner to appear. Nonetheless, the public and critics were excited. The New York Tribune called her voice "deep, husky contralto that possesses every bit of that fabulous poetic glamour..." BTW - her husky voice was part of her act. In real life her voice was quite high, but she practiced for years to develop a deep voice so that she could make the transition to sound films.
The film received 3 Oscar nominations (Actress, Director, Cinematography) but didn't win. As was common in 1930 films, the camera is relatively static and rather than film oriented, this is more of a filmed play. As well, many of the actors came from the silent film era, so the acting tends to be exaggerated. Although there are some early 30s films that resemble more modern film techniques (e.g., "Public Enemy", "Grand Hotel"), this is not one of them.
The film has historic value as the first Garbo talkie, and there is another great performance from Marie Dressler. It's also great to see photos of the New York skyline in 1930. But otherwise the film fails to hold up by more modern standards.