Friday, April 15th, 2005

Garbo Talkies—and thoughts on John Gilbert

QUEEN CHRISTINA (1934) MGM
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian

By this point in her career Garbo had a considerable amount of power.  She personally chose Rouben Mamoulian as her director and insisted that her ex-lover John Gilbert be cast in the male lead over Laurence Olivier no less.
The result is a lavish and entertaining historical drama that showcases the MGM artisans at their peak.  From spectacular costumes, ornate sets to perfect lighting, this was a first class production all the way.

I’d like to go off topic for a moment and discuss John Gilbert instead of Garbo.  I’ve fallen madly in love with him in the past few months and so has one of my close friends.  We’ve seen him in THE MERRY WIDOW a few months back at LACMA and in THE BIG PARADE which had a recent showing at the Academy.  This man has an amazing presence and is a flat out excellent actor.  He is so handsome and charming and likeable.  I’ve started reading up on him and it is so tragic that his career fell apart with the dawn of sound.  There have been many reasons and theories as to why this is.  This has been blamed on a variety of things from his bad relationship with Louis B. Mayer, his voice, his drinking and the changing audience tastes.  I agree with historian Jeanine Basinger who said that sound simply diminished him.  His romantic image when put with words….all of the sudden seemed silly and was ultimately rendered powerless.  He certainly wasn’t the only one.  Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Buster Keaton and Clara Bow all suffered greatly and were ultimately undone by sound.  Gilbert wasn’t alone by any means.  What saddens me is that he has become such an underappreciated and underrated actor and often times is regarded as a mere footnote in Hollywood history, particularly when one is discussing Garbo.  In truth he starred in many silent masterpieces, worked with the top directors and actresses of his day and deserves to be much more highly regarded than he is.

He was by far the BEST leading man Garbo ever had.  That was driven home very clearly watching Frederic March star opposite her in ANNA KARENINA. Don’t get me wrong, March is a fine actor, but he didn’t have the chemistry with Garbo that was really needed to make the story take flight. 

Watching QUEEN CHRISTINA made me realize that there was nothing wrong with Gilbert’s voice.  It was a fine voice and he is great in the film.  His final death scene seemed almost like a foreshadowing since this was to be his second to last film….and his last as a romantic lead.  When he closes his eyes and dies in Garbo’s arms….it seemed like more than just his character died.  His inner fire, his passion and his romantic screen presence died too. 


ANNA KARENINA (1935) MGM
Directed by Clarence Brown

This was Garbo’s second time to play ANNA KARENINA (her first time was in the silent film LOVE in 1927).  This retelling of Tolstoy’s classic 19th-century Russian novel once again gets the full MGM treatment.  From amazing costumes, decor and technical elements, the film is lovely to look at, but for me something was missing.

The story tells of Anna’s loveless confining marriage to Karenin (Basil Rathbone) and her doomed affair with Count Vronsky (Fredric March).  The problem for me with this film was the chemistry between Garbo and March.  I didn’t buy it.  As I said earlier, I love Frederic March as an actor…but I felt he was miscast in this.  I may sound petty here but he really didn’t look good in his uniform.  You just can’t have a romantic lead who is in the military who DOESN’T look good in his uniform.  March just looks shapeless and out of his element.  In order for a romantic film to work, it is CRUCIAL that you believe the chemistry between the two leads.  Otherwise, you have nothing.  Think of all the romantic films past and present and why they do (or in many cases don’t) work.  It is all about chemistry.  Of course that chemistry is hard to create and even more impossible to clearly define.  It is either there or it isn’t.  When it’s there….my gosh…how it works.  When Garbo and Gilbert first meet in FLESH AND THE DEVIL, you know there is chemistry.  It is palpable.  It is undeniable.  That can’t be forced or manufactured. 

In spite of the problem I had with the film, it was still great to look at on the big screen. 

3 Comments:

1. I just wanted to thank you for your comments and say I appreciate everything you have to say about John Gilbert.  I’ve become obsessed with him and now bristle whenever he is overlooked in speaking about the stars of the silent era, or his movies’ successes are attributed to Garbo alone.  I’m smitten with him and cannot seem to get enough (which is how I found your site).

   I finished Dark Star last night and had a tear in my eye. I guess I’ve fallen in love with him, too.

   Posted by Karie (site owner)  on  01/12  at  01:11 PM

2. Yes, I love John Gilbert.  Last year I got to see THE BIG PARADE on the big screen.  That is such a beautiful film!  I can’t believe how few of John Gilbert’s films are available on DVD.

   I’m actually bugging the Home Video head at Warner Bros. (which owns the early MGM stuff) to please put out THE MERRY WIDOW, THE BIG PARADE and LOVE on DVD.

   There is also another article on FilmRadar you might be interested in reading:

   click HERE to check it out.

   You can also join a John Gilbert Society if you are interested.  The site for that is:

   http://www.johngilbert.org/

   Posted by Karie (site owner)  on  01/12  at  01:36 PM

3. Hi, Karie.

   You have some comments in your reviews of Gilbert’s film posted on your Web site. I was wondering if I could quote you in the fall JGAS newsletter? I especially like what you said about John Gilbert vs Fredrick March.  The chemistry between Gilbert & Garbo was electric. 

   Nice Web site.

   Sheryl

   Posted by Karie (site owner)  on  07/11  at  12:16 PM