A little over a decade ago, I sat in a crowded Berkeley auditorium watching NINOTCHKA (1939), Greta Garbo's second to last film. After the screening, the audience was introduced to an elderly gentleman named Walter Reisch, one of the three writers who had collaborated on the screenplay. Mr. Reisch announced that he did not wish to make a speech and invited the audience to ask questions. The first ones were tentative and awkward, but finally someone voiced what was on everyone's mind: "Tell us about Greta Garbo!" Mr. Reisch's eyes lit up, and for the next two hours he told story after story about the woman who had so affected him so many years ago. It was a remarkable tribute to an extraordinary individual.

Greta Garbo was born Greta Gustafsson on September 18, 1905. From 1921 to 1923, she appeared in two film commercials for a Stockholm department store and an obscure feature film. She was discovered by the great Swedish director Mauritz Stiller, who cast her in one of his greatest films, THE SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING (1924), immediately establishing her international reputation. After Garbo appeared in G.W. Pabst's great "street" film, THE JOYLESS STREET (1925), Stiller brought her to Hollywood, where his discovery soon became the brightest star of them all.

When we think of Garbo's Hollywood films, we tend to think of vehicles--films whose primary (and sometimes only) interest derives from her presence. This is largely a consequence of her management by MGM, a studio that was unfortunately committed to Wholesomeness and High Art. Moreover, Irving Thalberg was obsessed with "type", and so Garbo was condemned to a career of costumers in which she sinned, suffered, and finally achieved redemption. At the same time, it must be noted, all of MGM's formidable resources were devoted to making Garbo's presence in these films as beguiling as possible. She had close and continuing relationships with MGM art director Cedric Gibbons, famed dress designer Gilbert Adrian, and cinematographer William Daniels, who photographed all but four of her Hollywood films. If MGM was responsible for the weaknesses of Garbo's films, then it was also responsible for their strengths.

It is sometimes alleged that Garbo rarely had first-rate directors, but the record shows otherwise. Clarence Brown directed Garbo in five mediocre (or worse) sound films, but their two superb silents, FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1927) and A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (1929) are evidence of Brown's talents. Jacques Feyder, who directed her in MGM's last silent film, THE KISS (1929), Victor Seastrom, who directed her in THE DIVINE WOMAN (1928), unfortunately lost, and Ernst Lubitsch, who directed her in the marvelous NINOTCHKA, were among the finest directors of their time. If a judgement is to be made, then it must be that Garbo's films were as good as the material that she was given. How else can one explain that her disastrous last film, TWO-FACED WOMAN (1941), was directed by George Cukor, who had extracted Garbo's greatest performance in CAMILLE (1937)?

The issue of studio control must also be raised in connection with QUEEN CHRISTINA, the sixth film by Rouben Mamoulian. Mamoulian's first film, the musical APPLAUSE (1929)--to screen in this series two weeks from tonight--was one of the most innovative and influential early sound films. His second, CITY STREETS (1931) was a cinematically brilliant foray into the gangster genre, as DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1932) was into the horror genre. His fourth film, the delightful LOVE ME TONIGHT (1932) is still regarded as one of the greatest of all musicals. Yet his next two films, while certainly entertaining, were merely competent in comparison. Why? Perhaps because SONG OF SONGS (1933) was primarily a vehicle for Marlene Dietrich (her first Hollywood film not directed by Josef von Sternberg) and QUEEN CHRISTINA was primarily a vehicle for Greta Garbo?

If it is true that QUEEN CHRISTINA is more a Garbo vehicle than a Mamoulian film, then it is also true that it provides some of her most memorable moments. Mamoulian called Garbo "a wonderful instrument", and he made superb use of her. The film's unforgettable final shot, the enormous closeup of Garbo as her ship sets sail, is one of the most celebrated images in all of cinema. (It has also acquired a certain notoriety because the wind appears to simultaneously be blowing the ship and her hair in opposite directions!) Mamoulian's directions to his star make clear his perfect understanding of her mystique: "I want your face to be a blank sheet of paper. I want the writing to be done by every member of the audience. I'd like it if you could avoid blinking your eyes, so that you're nothing but a beautiful mask."

It has been said that all of Garbo's greatest love scenes were played alone, and QUEEN CHRISTINA also contains the most persuasive evidence of that claim. In the film's most famous scene, she "memorizes" by touch all of the artifacts in the room in which she has spent her first and only night of love. Just as Garbo's films were vehicles, so were their casts, including her romantic leads.

In QUEEN CHRISTINA, Garbo's lover is played by John Gilbert, one of the most popular movie actors of the Twenties and for some time Garbo's lover in real life. They had previously starred together in FLESH AND THE DEVIL, LOVE (1927) (MGM couldn't resist advertising "John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in LOVE"), and A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS. Unfortunately, the coming of sound had exposed audiences to Gilbert's somewhat reedy tenor and they hadn't liked what they heard. MGM had tested Franchot Tone, Nils Asther, and Laurence Olivier for the role, but Garbo insisted on Gilbert. Sadly, QUEEN CHRISTINA failed to revitalize his career; he died three years later in ignominious obscurity.

More than anything else, QUEEN CHRISTINA is a startling metaphor for Garbo's own career: the unmarried Swedish queen who abdicated her throne. Perhaps the most eloquent insight into Garbo's life was offered by Christina: "All my life, I have been a symbol--a symbol of eternal changes--an abstraction. A human being is mortal and changeable, with desires and impulses, hopes and despairs. I'm tired of being a symbol, Chancellor. I long to be a human being. This longing I cannot suppress." Garbo effectively retired in 1941 and lived nearly five more decades alone, her life shrouded in mystery. Although she contemplated other films, none were ever made. Yet she remains today what she was and probably always will be: the most mesmerizing presence ever to grace the silver screen.

Michael Trosset
Associate Programmer
Arizona Media Arts Center