Through the looking glass...

Brave, brave Beatrice Lillie

Charles Boyer

Deanna Durbin

Robert Taylor and Greta Garbo in Camille

Edward Arnold in a movie I have seen but cannot recall. Anyone? 

Henry Fonda in Grapes of Wrath

Ina Claire in The Quaker Girl

Tonight on TCM!
Spend an evening with Esther Williams. Things are sure to go swimmingly!

Anna Karenina (1935)

Oh! Fredric March! How you do make my heart beat faster! Despite wanting to take a break from period films, March ceded to Garbo as she wanted him as her Vronksy (naturally). Accordingly, March played his part perfectly and Garbo was wonderful as well. Having read this 8000 page book, I was happy to see that the film concentrated only on Karenina and Vronsky and got the essence of their struggle even though it did not record everything that happened between them. Karenin, played stoicly by Basil Rathbone, elicits little sympathy and comes off more evil than forgiving.










Though Anna Karenina or more accurately Greta Garbo, puts Fredric March on the backburner so to speak, he does have a few shining moments in the film. The opening scene as he and his military peers get drunk is comical and his anguish and eventual impatience with Anna's behavior is poignant and enriched with realistic sadness. The real star of the film is Garbo but as usual, March holds his own well.

Camera Shot!

Charlie Chaplin most likely on the set of The Gold Rush (1925)

Gary Cooper, Esther Ralston, and Clara Bow on set of Children of Divorce (1927)

Joan Crawford (set unknown)

A very handsome Cary Grant on set of Father Goose (1964)

Harold Lloyd on set of A Sailor-Made Man (1921)

Greta Garbo (set unknown)

Edmund Lowe on set of Dressed to Kill (1928)

Tonight on TCM! Ethel Barrymore!

Ninotchka (1939)

Only the royal suite at the grandest hotel in Paris has a safe large enough for the jewels of the Grand Duchess Swana. So the three Russians who have come to sell the jewels settle into the suite until a higher ranking official is dispatched to find out what is delaying the sale. She is Ninotchka, a no nonsense woman who fascinates Count Leon who had been the faithful retainer of the Grand Duchess. The Grand Duchess will give up all claim to the jewels if Ninotchka will fly away from the count. But can one count on a count? -TCM

Ninotchka was a good film though I preferred Garbo as the stern-faced Communist to the simpering love goddess she displays in most of her films. I have noticed a trend when it comes to Garbo's acting, similar traits that I associate with Katharine Hepburn when it comes to annoying gestures. Garbo throws her head back a lot as she mews a complaint, and wrinkles her nose as she shakes her head in disagreement over something silly, and rolls her eyes when in ecstasy or extreme pain. Gestures that made her the famouse actress she was however redundant, but it makes me wonder if anyone else viewing her movies at the time thought the same thing I did, can't she give us something fresh?
Despite having misgivings about performing in a comedy, Garbo, who was a bigger draw in Europe than the US and needed to be revamped due to the war and dwindling sales. So, with the help of Lubitsch, Ninotchka was a film built around one single, legendary slogan- "Garbo laughs!" A tagline that came about before the screenplay had even been written.
Though Garbo laughs, it's the dialogue that will draw you in. Lubitsch, famous for his sly wit and subtle sexual humor does not fail with Ninotchka. Check out some of the quotes below. It helped much that Melvyn Douglas was delivering most of it.

Prologue: This picture takes place in Paris in those wonderful days when a siren was a brunette and not an alarm - and if a Frenchman turned out the light it was not on account of an air raid!

Swana: It's really a wretched morning, wretched. I can't get myself right. I wanted to look mellow and I look brittle. My face doesn't compose well - it's all highlights. How can I dim myself down, Leon? Suggest something. Oh, I'm so bored with this face. I wish I had someone else's face. Who's face would you have if you had your choice? Oh well, I guess one gets the face one deserves.
Leon: There's one marvelous advantage to your conversation, Swana. However many questions you ask, you never expect an answer.

Ninotchka: We don't have men like you in my country.
Leon: Thank you.
Ninotchka: That is why I believe in the future of my country.

Leon: Do you like me just a little bit?
Ninotchka: Your general appearance is not distasteful.

Ninotchka: Why do you want to carry my bags?
Porter: That is my business.
Ninotchka: That's no business. That's social injustice.
Porter: That depends on the tip.

Ninotchka: The last mass trials were a great success. There are going to be fewer but better Russians.

Leon: A Russian! I love Russians! Comrade, I've been fascinated by your five-year plan for the last fifteen years.

Ninotchka: What have you done for mankind?
Leon: Not so much for mankind... for womankind, my record isn't quite so bleak.

Ninotchka: Let's form our own party.
Leon: Right. Lovers of the world, unite!

Leon: I'll picket your whole country! I'll boycott you! No more vodka! No more caviar! No more Tchaikovsky! No more borscht!

Anna: Oh, that Burganoff. You never know if he's on his way to the washroom or the secret police.

Ninotchka: I should hate to see our country endangered by my underwear.

Comissar Razinin: This anonymous report was sent to me. They're dragging the good name of our country through every cafe and nightclub. Here: How can the Bolshevik cause gain respect among the Muslims if your three representatives Bujlianoff, Iranoff and Kopalski get so drunk that they throw a carpet out of their hotel window and complain to the management that it didn't fly?

Iranoff: We can say whatever we want. We can shout! We can complain! Look: THE SERVICE IN THIS HOTEL IS TERRIBLE! See? Nobody comes, nobody pays any attention! That's freedom.
Buljanoff: That's bad management.

Ninotchka: Must you flirt?
Leon: Well, I don't have to, but I find it natural.
Ninotchka: Suppress it.

Leon: A radio's a little box that you buy on the installment plan, and before you tune it in, they tell you there's a new model out.

Leon: Pardon me, are you an explorer?
Ninotchka: No. I'm looking for the Eiffel Tower.
Leon: Good heavens, is that thing lost again? Oh, are you interested in a view?
Ninotchka: I'm interested in the Eiffel Tower from a technical standpoint.
Leon: Technical? No, no, I'm afraid I couldn't be of much help from that angle. You see, a Parisian only goes to the tower in moments of despair to jump off.
Ninotchka: How long does it take a man to land?
Leon: Now isn't that too bad? The last time I jumped, I forgot to time it.

Leon: What kind of a girl are you, anyway?
Ninotchka: Just what you see. A tiny cog in the great wheel of evolution.
Leon: You're the most adorable cog I've ever seen.

Russian Visa Official: To an unseen caller: "Hello! Comrade Kasabian? No, I am sorry. He hasn't been with us for six months. He was called back to Russia and was investigated. You can get further details from his widow."

And the best quote of all! Though Adrian was costumier to many great MGM screen legends, Garbo was the clotheshorse, the inspiration. In fact, when she left MGM, so did he. "It was because of Garbo that I left MGM. In her last picture they wanted to make her a sweater girl, a real American type. I said, 'When the glamour ends for Garbo, it also ends for me. She has created a type. If you destroy that illusion, you destroy her.' When Garbo walked out of the studio, glamour went with her, and so did I."

So when I heard this line, I thought it was hilarious!

Ninotchka [Looking at a hat in a shop]: How can such a civilization survive which permits their women to put things like that on their heads?

Although Greta Garbo's famous hat in the film was made by her regular costumier Adrian, it awas actually based on a sketch by Garbo herself.


Tonight on TCM! Sweet!
Notorious (1946)A U.S. agent recruits a German expatriate to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring in Brazil. Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern Dir: Alfred Hitchcock

Mata Hari (1931)

Mata Hari is a film very loosely based on the story of erotic dancer and courtesan Margaretha Geertruida Zelle MacLeod aka Mata Hari and her rumored espionage activities.
Having already seduced the Russian General Sergel Shubin (Lionel Barrymore) into giving her the information she needs, Mata Hari (Greta Garbo) has now set her eyes on Lieutenant Alexis Rosanov (Ramon Novarro) in order to get her hands on secret documents in his possession. When Mata Hari spends the night with Rosanov she secretly acquires the documents she needs and something more, love. However, there is no room for love in a spy’s life and with the secret police already on her trail, a besotted and enraged Shubin discovering her affair with Rosanov, and an innocent man to protect, things are about to get mighty sticky for Mata Hari.

I wasn’t really impressed by Mata Hari despite the powerhouse of actors in it. The storyline was interesting enough but somewhat already done- think The Mysterious Lady (1928) with Garbo and Conrad Nagel. The whole espionage side of the film came off shabby and false due to Garbo playing an indifferent spy who makes her own rules, the erotic dancing which probably drew the crowds in at the time the film debuted was short, choppy and not at all stimulating, and the ending was filled with so much contrived emotion that it just dragged on. Oh, and Novarro as a Russian? Nice touch. I thought the best part of the film was Adrian’s creations.

Side note:

The story of Mata Hari is an interesting one, she was accused and convicted of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. On October 15, 1917 she was executed by firing squad, at the age of 41. In 2017 the French army is expected to release court documents about Mata Hari's trial and execution, it will be interesting to see if it's proven she really was a spy or a convenient scapegoat by the head of French counter-espionage.

Tonight on TCM!
Road House (1948) A nightclub owner frames a romantic rival for murder. Cast: Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm, Richard Widmark Dir: Jean Negulesco

Two-Faced Woman (1941)

In this romantic comedy, ski instructor Karen Borg (Greta Garbo) meets Larry Blake (Melvyn Douglas) who is instantly smitten. After a minor skiing accident leaves them stranded together, they fall in love and immediately marry. Unfortunately, they lead very different lives and despite Larry promising to leave the magazine business and New York for a quieter life, he is soon sucked back in by his partner O.O. Miller (Roland Young). Karin refuses to go to New York with Larry and he leaves without her, promising faithfully to return within a week. After receiving several telegrams announcing delays, Karin contacts Miss Ellis (Ruth Gordon), Larry’s secretary, and tells her that she is secretly coming to New York.
Made over with a newer, more glamorous wardrobe, Karin tells Miss Ellis that she is going to the theater where a new play that Larry is backing is being rehearsed. Hiding in the back of the theater, Karin eavesdrops on the flirtatious conversation between Larry and his former girlfriend, playwright Griselda Vaughn (Constance Bennett). Hurt that Larry has seemingly forgotten her, Karin determines to go back home immediately, but as she and Miss Ellis, who has just arrived at the theater, they are seen by Miller. Because Karin does not want Larry to know that she has been to New York, Miss Ellis tells Miller that the woman he has seen is not Karin, but her twin sister Katherine. Karin convinces and charms Miller into accepting the twin story and he invites her out to dinner. Knowing Larry’s favorite nightclub Karin sees an opportunity to win Larry back through her deception. She will vamp it up so much so that Larry will be turned off by her kind and want to return to his “real” wife.
Larry, upon meeting “Katherine”, is suspicious, even though she drinks, smokes and dances, none of which Karin does. Karin plays the part of a blatant gold digger who uses men for her own pleasure and advancement to perfection. However, this does not stop Larry from sneaking off to telephone the ski lodge and learn that Karin has left for New York (a move made to appease the censors). Though he now knows who “Katherine” really is, Larry let’s her continue to make a fool of herself going so far as to take a train back to the ski lodge to tell Karin he wants a divorce. This is when the movie goes a little wonky. Larry goes back to Karin and they spend the night together. In the morning, Larry confesses that he has met Katharine and thinks he could be happy with both her and Karin. When Larry pretends not to believe her story of being both sisters, Karin tells him she and Katharine are through with him. This is followed up by a funny ski scene where Larry chases after Karin but ends up in a frozen pond.

Though I have not seen the other two films that Garbo and Douglas did together, I recall that in the documentary I watched on Garbo, Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown, it was said that the type of character Garbo was playing in Two-Faced Woman made her look a like a fool. Having seen Garbo in such dramatic pieces as The Mysterious Lady (1928), Anna Karénina (1935), and Camille (1937), I can see how some may not have taken to her lighter side and I would concur that this film should not have been the film she ended her career with, but I liked her playing at being a vamp who doesn't really know how to be a vamp unless buckets of champagne are involved. I have read that Garbo had a lot of anxiety about this film, was worried about aging, and that some of the scenes had to be re-shot because Constance Bennett was stealing the scenes. Despite this, I admire that Garbo was able to poke a bit of fun at herself and got the feeling that if she didn't let go and just have fun with the part, she at least acted professionally and did a good job of being a bit foolish.
It was a treat to finally see a young Ruth Gordon in action. As for Roland Young, though I like him, I have to wonder if he's ever played a character that isn't a bit of a bumbling old fool?
Overall, I liked the film until the ending, I think things could have been just as easily cleared up in New York. By dragging a confession out of Karin, Larry comes off as a cad. He's the one who left in the first place, he's the one who broke his promises, so it seems foolish to me that Karin should be punished.

Sidenote:

William Powell was considered for the part of Larry Blake. Though I do like Melvyn Douglas, it would have been nice to see Powell and Garbo together. I'm biased, I know.

Tonight on TCM!

East Of Eden (1955) Two brothers compete for their father's approval and a woman's love. Cast: Julie Harris, James Dean, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives Dir: Elia Kazan

Grand Hotel (1932)

At Berlin's most expensive hotel, the Grand Hotel, guests include:

Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone) a hotel regular who observes that life at the hotel is "…always the same. People come, people go, nothing ever happens."
Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo), a beautiful Russian ballet dancer whose career is coming to an end.

Baron Felix Benvenuto Frihern Von Gaigern (John Barrymore), a charming hotel thief.

Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore), who has only a short time to live and is intent on spending his last days in the grandest style possible.

General Director Preysing (Wallace Beery) a textile magnate and Kringelein’s miserly boss who is in Berlin to make an important business deal.

Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford), Preysing's stenographer.

Despite Dr. Otternschlag’s observation, things at the Grand Hotel are about to get very interesting and all the guests will take part.

Some really great screen shots of Grand Hotel!


Tonight on TCM!

Private Screenings: Leslie Caron (1999) Robert Osborne hosts this TCM original series featuring an intimate interview with the exquisite actress Leslie Caron.
Cast: Robert Osborne, Leslie Caron