Friday, August 31, 2012

Beautiful Women of the Silver Screen: Greta Garbo

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

NINOTCHKA was my favorite.

Jeff M.

7:10 PM
David Cranmer said...

Been a long time since I've seen a Garbo film.

8:33 PM
Deb said...

I forget who said it, but someone made the comment that Garbo "was absolutely beautiful without a touch of prettiness." I think that sums it up.

10:04 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

Yes, she was too sculpted looking to be pretty. Or maybe it was the makeup.

10:10 PM
Anonymous said...

Patti - Such a compelling presence on film...

7:48 AM
Anders Engwall said...

But did she ever make a good movie? I have a vague memory that NINOTCHKA was enjoyable, but it was decades ago I saw it and I was only a kid at the time. I tried QUEEN CHRISTINA a couple of years ago but had to give it up after 20 minutes - it was just so incredibly stiff & dull and about as historically accurate as ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER. In a better world she would have gone back to the old country and teamed up with Ingmar Bergman. Just imagine!

2:33 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

I can't remember her being much of an actress either. More a beautiful presence.

2:41 PM
Deb said...

In her defense, I don't think MGM really knew how to use her and shoved her in a lot of costume dramas because of her 'exotic' accent and formidable beauty. She was excellent in Two-Faced Woman and Susan Lennox, and she was heartbreakingly good as a prostitute in Anna Christie where she uttered her immortal first words in talkies (she was in silent movies for years): "Give me a whiskey, with ginger ale on the side...and don't be stingy, baby."

5:31 PM
SteveHL said...

Patti:

I couldn't disagree more about Garbo not being a good actress. In addition to the films others have mentioned , watch her in Camille or Conquest. It's true that most of her films were less than great, but of how many actors is that not true?

And, of course, she was not just a fine actress. As Kenneth Tynan put it, "What, when drunk, one sees in other women, one sees in Garbo sober."

8:15 PM

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