Queen Christina
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Movie Reviews of Queen Christina
Movie Review: Garbo Glares
Summary: 4 Stars
There was a brief time and place when the silent films had faded and talkies had begun, yet the people who survived the transition brought to the screen a sensitivity and level of emotion that has not been equaled since. Such is the value of Garbo's performance in "Queen Christina". Christina was Garbo's 8th 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.
John Gilbert co-stars, but his name appears in small print under the title. Quite a difference from the first time he and Garbo worked together. Their last film together had been in 1928 ("A Woman of Affairs") and in that time Garbo had become one of the top screen personalities and Gilbert's career had declined, partially due to his soured relationship with MGM head Louie Mayer. But Gilbert never managed to make the transition to talkies complete. Even in Queen Christina you'll find his performance and even his appearance to be more appropriate for the silent screen.
There are some talented actors in this film, though most of them are wasted. C. Aubrey Smith and Akim Tamariff play aides. Smith was a marvelous actor known for his roles as an aristocrat, though he plays an aide to Garbo here. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1915 to 1949. He gave us memorable roles in a host of films, including Major Hamilton in "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" (1935), Lord Capulet in "Romeo and Juliet" (1936), and Colonel Zapt in "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1937). I remember him best as Col. Williams in "Wee Willie Winkie" (1937) with Shirley Temple.
Tamiroff is best remembered for his role as the Uncle Joe in Orson Welles "Touch of Evil" (1958) and twice was nominated for Best Supporting Actor ("For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "The General Died at Dawn"). He plays an aide to Gilbert. Does an adequate job, but his talents are wasted.
Lewis Stone plays Garbo's court adviser. He was a major star in the 20s and 30s and was nominated for an Oscar for "The Patriot" (1930). Between 1914 and 1953 he made more than 150 films; his memorable roles were as the warden in "The Big House" (1930), Doctor Otternschlag in "Grand Hotel" (1932), Commissioner Smith in "The Mask of Fu Manchu" (1932), and "Doc" in "Three Godfathers" (1936). He's probably best known for his continuing role as Judge Hardy in the Andy Hardy films (1937-46).
Reginald Owen gives his usual good performance as Garbo's cousin and a military leader, but he's on screen far too little and barely says a word. He's best known as Ebenezer Scrooge from "A Christmas Carol" (1938) and made nearly 100 films including "Mary Poppins" (1964) and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971).
Rouben Mamoulian directs. Mamoulian made only 20 films, most of them in the 30s. Queen Christina was his 6th film. Prior to this he'd had success with "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1931) and Marlene Dietrich's "Song of Songs" (1933). Mamoulian was known for his agile camera work and this style is amply demonstrated throughout the film. Visually the film is a treat, although at times the narrative does lag.
Walter Wagner produced this lavish film, complete with many outdoor scenes. In Wagner's 34 year career he was responsible for more than 60 films, such as the Marx Brothers first talkie "Cocoanuts" (1929), Fritz Lang's "Scarlet Street" (1945), Ingrid Bergman's "Joan of Arc" (1948), Susan Hayward's "I Want to Live" (1958), and Elizabeth Taylor's "Cleopatra" (1963). Cleopatra was his last film and the only one for which he was nominated for an Oscar.
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).
The film received good reviews and was a box office hit. For Garbo fans it is certainly a must see and I think it's her best performance, although her presence in virtually every scene does get overpowering. The final shot is a long close up of Garbo's face. It took nearly 50 years for any actor to match the power of this final scene (Klaus Maria Brandauer in "Mephisto").
Movie Review: KING Christina
Summary: 4 Stars
Set in the 1600s, Rouben Mamoulian's QUEEN CHRISTINA is considered by many to be Greta Garbo's best film. It is if one accepts this as a total work of fiction, perhaps.
The real Christina was mistaken for a boy at birth, and when this error was discovered was still raised as a son and called "prince." She had her father's homely looks and was proficient in such manly activities as horseback riding, fencing and shooting. Crowned "king" at age six, Christina's education was tailored for a male royal, with tutoring in religion, philosophy, Greek and Latin. Her teachers said she had a male temperament.
Christina's autobiography reveals she never wished to marry and that the usual concerns of women were foreign to her. Contemporaries believed her to be gay-- more likely Christina was transgendered. She courted beautiful women, wore a mixture of male and female attire, moved, spoke and behaved as a man, having many male comrades (not lovers).
After abdicating the throne at age 28 in favor of her cousin Charles, Christina traveled extensively for many years in France and Italy.
The movie version of this unusual royal gives only a couple of hints as to her gender identity and sexuality. The script instead chooses to center around a fictional love affair with a Spanish ambassador. It's well done but historically VERY unsatisfying. The real Christina was far more interesting than Garbo's. A great opportunity to tell her fascinating story was squandered in this pre-Code motion picture.
As for Greta Garbo, she was a fine actress with a hard, angular face that's especially noticeable in her portrayal of the manly Christina.
John Gilbert was often paired with Garbo in silent photoplays and he's with her here for the last time. Gilbert's acting career was not (as is claimed) destroyed by his voice --which was fine-- but from a severe case of alcoholism, plus quarrels with MGM directors and their bosses who then actively sabotaged him. He made one more movie after "Christina" and died in 1936 of an alcohol-induced heart attack. John Gilbert was 36 years old at time of death.
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Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.
(8.0) Queen Christina (1933) - Greta Garbo/John Gilbert/Ian Keith/Lewis Stone/Elizabeth Young/C. Aubrey Smith/Reginald Owen (uncredited: Akim Tamiroff/Tiny Sandford/Edward Gargan/Hooper Atchley)
Movie Review: Garbo's most sensitive screen performance
Summary: 4 Stars
QUEEN CHRISTINA (1933) was the first movie which Greta Garbo made as part of a secret development deal with MGM studios. Other stars like Clark Gable had campaigned without success to head their own production units inside the MGM gates. When it became clear that Garbo wouldn't submit to the same rules and restrictions as other contract players, a deal was brokered so that she would continue--under a reduced workload--as one of MGM's most valuable box office attractions during the lean years of the Depression.
With a script tailored by good friend Salka Viertel and sensitive direction from Rouben Mamoulian (with whom she'd later have a torrid affair), QUEEN CHRISTINA is one of Garbo's most effective and personal films, the story of Sweden's legendary Queen Christina, a woman renowned for her affairs with both sexes. The character's bisexual leanings--painted so blatantly in Garbo's scenes with Elizabeth Young (as Christina's lady-in-waiting)--leave precious little doubt as to their true relationship.
QUEEN CHRISTINA also marked the end of Garbo's screen partnership with John Gilbert. Although the two had enjoyed a long-standing relationship off the screen (exploited to tremendous effect in such silent classics as "Love" and "Flesh and the Devil"), it had ended by the time that Gilbert played Don Antonio to Garbo's Christina. He sadly passed away three years after his performance.
Regarded by most as Garbo's greatest performance, QUEEN CHRISTINA deserves a place in every classic movie collection.
Movie Review: Garbo in her most enigmatic role
Summary: 4 Stars
An irregular, though in the end, definitely great Garbo vehicle.
It is shocking to note how our impression of a film changes along with the time. Ten or fifteen years ago I considered "Queen Christina" Garbo's best work. Today I am not so sure, to my regret and disappointment.
The failure, in my opinion, stands in the over-presence, idolizing of the Garbo image, so much so that the plot, script, everything else practically becomes irrelevant. Can the weight of the great, (wonderful, I must admit) Garbo balance neatly with the quality of the picture? No. The movie starts weak, pretentious, a little theatrical, then it grows in tone, more ambition and a little more depth; towards the end one feels you have been watching a wonderful movie all through and can't get your eyes off the screen. And that's when she acts her greatest scene: on the ship, facing the mysterious horizon, with the sea breeze on her sphinx face, and her eyes... oh, her eyes!
Yeah, folks. This is classic cinema, and I'm not whistling dixie here. It's all worth it, only for those culminating minutes. And as one cannot separate an arm from a body and expect to grow from it another body, one cannot separate the end from the rest of the film. That is why this is a great classic movie.
N.B. I wonder if Christina ever made it to the "house on the cliff" in Spain. Sad and beautiful Spain.
Movie Review: A Great Vehicle for Garbo
Summary: 4 Stars
Garbo is Garbo here, and that's really all that needs to happen. She is splendid and it's worth sitting through this otherwise rather silly film to see her. Historically, it's not at all accurate but if you are more interestd in Hollywood glamour than reality, then this shouldn't bother you.
John Gilbert really does look awful, and it's very hard to imagine that anyone would fall instantly in love with him. But then it's even more difficult to believe that Garbo as Christina, dressed in man's clothes could convince anyone that she was a man. Maybe if they had removed her lipstick and eyeliner...but that's show business.
It's a great film for die hard Garbo fans who overlook all these flaws just to see her. Others, beware.