Greta Garbo’s second Talkie was another adaptation from ‘a play of quality.’ So too her third, all three directed as if walking on egg shells by otherwise talented/underrated Clarence Brown.* The big difference is that the first, Eugene O’Neill’s ANNA CHRISTIE, really is quality goods; not so Edward ‘Ned’ Sheldon’s ROMANCE; cut-rate CAMILLE at best. Though it still made a mark on B’way (three runs, the last musicalized by Sigmund Romberg). Garbo, who made a CAMILLE for the ages (the real one) with George Cukor in ‘36, might as well be part of the demimonde here, too. No courtesan, but opera soprano; nearly as bad in 1880. And once more she’s torn between a wealthy old lover (Lewis Stone), burnt out at 51 he tells us, and virgin-pure Rector Gavin Gordon (well out of his league) who comes to reform, only to be aroused into a passion he’s never known. Flaccid moviemaking, with Garbo’s accent at its most impenetrable and the men acting to the back row. Dull as it is, Sheldon really does seem to be on to something (‘love’s truth and the horny heart’) he doesn’t quite know how to handle as drama. At the least, it’s better than the third in the series INSPIRATION/’31, if still mainly for Garbo completists. Everyone else feel free to jump ahead to GRAND HOTEL/’32. Garbo swapping opera for ballet with M-G-M, at last, figuring out how best to use the legend in The Talkies.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Brown did far better by Garbo in silents and in ANNA KARENINA/’35. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/anna-karenina-1935.html
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