Queen Christina
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Movie Reviews of Queen Christina
Movie Review: Greta Garbo
Summary: 4 Stars
I am so glad these old Greta Garbo movies are coming to life again. Being Swedish and an old Greta Garbo admirer I very much enjoyed all her old movies but especially Queen Christina. I only wish that a sequel of Queen Christina's life after abdication would have been filmed because she was quite an extraordinary woman and I would have loved seing Greta Garbo in that role. Queen Christina defied the stuffy rulers of Sweden, abdicated and went on her journey to Rome in order to practice catholosism which at that time was a crime punished by execution in Sweden. In Rome, she accomplished great things and lived a very interesting life.
Movie Review: Heavy Hangs Garbo's Head
Summary: 3 Stars
As I continued my quest through Greta Garbo's career I came across this film, a big sweeping historical romance that has a pure heart but a very dry tongue. The story involves the Queen of Sweden (Garbo) who rules over a people that are not too bright and advisors that are constantly clamoring for war. Early on Christina calls off the war in the name of the peasants which leaves the warmongers frothing at the mouth. Decisions like this serve to make her character more likeable and little else as the political landscape she presides over has no real consequences. The romantic part of the story kicks in one night when Christian is out and about and gets marooned inside a cabin thanks to a massive snowfall. Also in the cabin are a bunch of drunken Spaniards, and one, Don Antonio (John Gilbert) who is especially attractive. The catch is that this guy believes she is a he, and since he believes it she seems to magically morph into a male. I know that if you need a she to play a he Garbo is your girl, but she makes no effort to hide her femininity so I found this scene to be extremely unlikely. But no matter. Once they are alone she is outed as a female but not as a queen, they fall in love and then must separate.
The thing about historical romances is that it is always the history driving the wedge between the lovebirds, be it a sinking ship or King Charles. So of course Don Antonio is the advisor to King Charles, and of course he has his royal eye on Christina. This all comes to pass when Don Antonio pays a visit to Christina's castle not knowing that she is queen. His presence has negative effects almost immediately. The masses, never known for their smarts, start riots outside over the thought of their queen doing it with a foreigner (who even knew Swedish nationalism existed?). Then, like now, the people were only able to take an interest in politics if it involved a sex scandal that they could be outraged (!) about. Her other lover around the castle gets jealous and we see lots of squabbling, an aspect that was reminiscent of the "Elizabeth I" movie from earlier this year. The ending of the film is actually quite refreshing. For once we see a person look around and realize that the cost of her position is more than she is interested in paying. We humans love to sell out without thinking, here Christina does the opposite. It was not enough to save the film for me. The dealings for castle politics got to be a drag fairly quickly. I also simply don't believe Garbo in this role. She always seems mysterious and haunting, not powerful and appealing. So while the film is perfectly enjoyable I'm giving it a mild thumbs down. I didn't believe the filmmakers when they told me that Christina rose above her position, but I did believe them when they told me she was leaving it. The sad thing is that there is a good movie in here somewhere, just director Rouben Mamoulian couldn't get the story engine humming fast enough to find it. ***
Movie Review: Maybe Garbo's best but print poor
Summary: 3 Stars
Many of the films of the great Greta Garbo are a trial because so often she was the luminous centre in absurd stories with unworthy costars. "Queen Christina" is one of the handful of films which rise to her level.
The films tells of the abdication of Christina of Sweden when she fell in love with a Spanish nobleman. The film starts slowly and not very well establishing Christina's persona as a peace maker surrounded by a court of ambitious war mongers. When it shifts into romance and the usual problem of royalty in films, loyalty and responsibility to country versus personal needs, it improves immeasurably. Garbo is subjected to a barrage of close ups by the director Rouben Mamoulian but they are carefully placed and she survives magnificently, superbly conveying her changing emotions. The object of her love is John Gilbert, a giant silent screen star and ex-lover of Garbo, but here towards the end of his career. He is not completely convincing as a worthy object of her desires. He looks popeyed and weedy. The film has 2 very famous scenes - when Garbo "remembers", filmed to the rhythm of a metronome, the room where she and Gilbert slept together and the ending at the bow of the ship when her blank face is scrutinised and the audience fill in the blanks. The film is sumptuously made in the MGM manner and there is an excellent supporting cast, particularly C Aubrey Smith.
The film's print is dirty and obviously unrestored. There are no extras except the original trailer so if you want to learn more, you will have to purchase it in one of the Garbo Collections which contain documentaries.
Movie Review: An overrated chapter in Garbo's oeuvre
Summary: 3 Stars
It's pretty unanimous that the hypnotism of Garbo's acting and charisma were consistent even in her lesser films where nothing else made the films worth watching. Queen Christina, however, is always touted as an excellent MOVIE with perfect casting and bristling dialogue. I'm an old movies fan and a Garbo fan, but I guess I'm alone in feeling Queen Christina is OVERRATED. I'm not knocking Garbo's acting or anything, because as always, it's of the highest caliber. But the script is dry and crawls with all the gourmet taste of a mouthful of sawdust. John Gilbert, once a dashing hero of the screen, looks about a hundred and twenty years too old for the part of Antonio. Oh, if I only had a thaler for every wrinkle on his face...(sigh)
The most awkward pill of all for me to swallow whenever I trudge through this cranky old costumer is that Garbo fools everyone at the inn into thinking she is a man. What the hell? I have tried squinting my eyes every way I know how, turning the sound down, and shotgunning a hearty grog, but I just can't see it. She walks like a man okay, but Adrian, that elusive costume guy who always turns up in the credits, OR SOMEONE, should have put her in more convincing clothes and nixed the lipstick and eyelashes.
This movie reminds me of Hitchcock's WORST films - even they have a few really riveting scenes, cinematography-wise, but the rest of the film is a cotton-dry bore.
Movie Review: Perhaps OK as a "star vehicle"
Summary: 3 Stars
I have to be a contrarian about this film. As a "star vehicle" I suppose it's OK -- Garbo is in practically every scene & certainly displays all the qualities of a glamour queen. But the film itself is otherwise pathetic -- where to begin? Ham-fisted direction, uniformly awful supporting cast (who was their dialogue coach? They all speak in the same wooden, portentious tones), out-of-period make-up, poor camera angles, curiously truncated scenes (why is the fatal sword fight so short??). Surprisingly, I thought John Gilbert was not too bad, though he is clearly too old for the part & his eye-liner makes him look like a silent film actor who wandered onto the set by mistake -- but that's mostly because the rest of the supporting players are so bad.