In 1930, Greta Garbo and director Clarence Brown collaborated on two films, "Anna Christie," Garbo's sound debut, and "Romance." Garbo was nominated as Best Actress at the 1929-30 Academy Awards for both films, as was Clarence Brown for Best Director. This was back in the day when Oscar nominations could cite a body of work over a given year rather than achievement in any one specific film. Though "Anna Christie" was the bigger sensation, because it was the film that introduced audiences to Garbo's husky baritone, I enjoyed "Romance" more.
Garbo seemed a bit unsure of herself in "Anna Christie," like she wasn't quite sure how to let both her voice and body act at the same time. But that unsureness is gone in "Romance," and she gives a performance that feels perfectly at home in sound. "Romance" also feels more sophisticated than the other film, a bit ironic since "Anna Christie" was based on a play by legendary playwright Eugene O'Neill. But "Anna Christie" is full of silent film histrionics while "Romance" is more subdued and mature. Garbo plays a world weary opera singer who becomes the infatuation of a young clergyman. He begins to struggle when his moral ideals collide with details about Garbo's impure past. The film's tone -- which is to shrug at the naivete of religious idealism and to basically say that the clergyman's moral standards are the result of inexperience of how the world actually works -- stamps it as undeniably pre-code. It's one of countless examples of movies that a modern day audience would dismiss as too creaky and old fashioned but which are actually more modern in their sensibilities than films from decades later.
Grade: B+
Garbo seemed a bit unsure of herself in "Anna Christie," like she wasn't quite sure how to let both her voice and body act at the same time. But that unsureness is gone in "Romance," and she gives a performance that feels perfectly at home in sound. "Romance" also feels more sophisticated than the other film, a bit ironic since "Anna Christie" was based on a play by legendary playwright Eugene O'Neill. But "Anna Christie" is full of silent film histrionics while "Romance" is more subdued and mature. Garbo plays a world weary opera singer who becomes the infatuation of a young clergyman. He begins to struggle when his moral ideals collide with details about Garbo's impure past. The film's tone -- which is to shrug at the naivete of religious idealism and to basically say that the clergyman's moral standards are the result of inexperience of how the world actually works -- stamps it as undeniably pre-code. It's one of countless examples of movies that a modern day audience would dismiss as too creaky and old fashioned but which are actually more modern in their sensibilities than films from decades later.
Grade: B+