Romance

As a Garbo fan, many of her earliest “vamp” or “fallen women” roles are to be endured as they eventually gave way to gloriously rich and textured characters she would play in films like Queen Christina, Camille and Ninotchka. Anna Christie, which came out in the same year, at least presents a film that has atmosphere and a strong supporting cast. Anna Christie also has a character that is romatically haunted by her past, but refuses to remain a chastised victim of it. Here, she breaks his heart and is filmed in a saint-like way as the romance dies because he cannot overcome his high-mindedness and dis-proportioned naivety. Romance is without a doubt the weaker of the two films.

The problems are too numerous to mention, like with many early-sound films the pace and length of shots are problematic as the filmmakers don’t seem to know when to yell “Cut!” and transition to the next scene. The whole thing is rather stodgy and a frightful bore to look at. And our morally sound hero is a tremendous hypocrite and is no match for Garbo in the acting department. Gavin Gordon is an indifferent film presence, and even when Garbo is not operating at full-capacity, like she is here, she still manages to wipe him off of the screen by just being in the frame.

Gordon plays a young devout man who falls for Garbo’s opera singer, she’s a worldly and more experienced woman, and for this he renounces her and their romance. His petty arguments against her are doubly ironic given that he is studying to become a bishop, and doesn’t God want us to forgive ours and others trespasses? Gordon’s young man is highly unlikeable for much of the film, and when they don’t wind up together I was relived. He isn’t worthy of a woman as graceful, intelligent, sensual and passionate as Garbo. English is clearly a barrier for her performance, but she does what she can given the circumstances of the poor script and terrible supporting players. By no means a classic, or even really a good movie, but it offers another chance to stare at Garbo’s face in all of its luminous mysteries.