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<blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 297701" data-attributes="member: 7">Garbo&#039;s image as a screen actress seems to be built around her work in a handful of films: GRAND HOTEL, ANNA KARENINA, CAMILLE, and NINOTCHKA. In the first three, she plays reclusive, dying, or suicidal women. Her form of sacrificial melodrama wasn&#039;t necessarily popular with average American moviegoers of the 1930s. Garbo had been the biggest film star on the planet in the late 1920s and early 1930s. ANNA CHRISTIE, her first talkie, was one of the biggest hits MGM had in 1930. Her husky and accented voice only added to her reputation as the &quot;Mysterious Lady&quot; (which, ironically enough, served as the title for one of her silent hits in 1928). 

Garbo&#039;s friendship with screenwriter Salka Viertel shifted her on-screen image. Viertel had an idea of Garbo that was vastly different from the Garbo that had proven very popular in silent movies and early talkies. Viertel pushed her towards projects like the 1933 hit QUEEN CHRISTINA, which is basically the turning point in Garbo&#039;s career towards her playing more sad, tragic characters in her films. MGM even got worried as Garbo&#039;s popularity with the public tapered off in the late-&#039;30s. CONQUEST was a big flop in 1937, and theater owners branded Garbo &quot;box office poison&quot; as a result. I&#039;ve heard that the powers-that-be at the studio orchestrated a new contract for Garbo around this time, with a considerable drop in her salary. NINOTCHKA briefly changed her image in 1939, but once the studio tried to go &quot;all the way&quot; with Americanizing Garbo in TWO-FACED WOMAN in 1941, her audience completely abandoned her. It pushed her towards an early retirement, and it made her fearful of tackling another movie thereafter. 

I like Garbo. I must admit that I&#039;m not a major fan, but there are times that I wouldn&#039;t mind dusting off my copies of GRAND HOTEL or NINOTCHKA to watch them. She was certainly beautiful, and it is quite easy to see why she was the huge star she was. I personally like the film TWO-FACED WOMAN, even though I can admit that it has big flaws and plot holes. George Cukor practically takes the bad wrap for making that movie bad, but it was Garbo&#039;s career that stopped because of it. Rumors has it, she told MGM she&#039;d return when WWII was over, but she never gained the courage to do so. In hindsight, I seriously doubt Garbo missed acting at all. She preferred being alone, and spent the rest of her years walking the streets of New York, avoiding &quot;Garbo watchers&quot;. 

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[QUOTE="ClassyCo, post: 297701, member: 7"] [JUSTIFY]Garbo's image as a screen actress seems to be built around her work in a handful of films: GRAND HOTEL, ANNA KARENINA, CAMILLE, and NINOTCHKA. In the first three, she plays reclusive, dying, or suicidal women. Her form of sacrificial melodrama wasn't necessarily popular with average American moviegoers of the 1930s. Garbo had been the biggest film star on the planet in the late 1920s and early 1930s. ANNA CHRISTIE, her first talkie, was one of the biggest hits MGM had in 1930. Her husky and accented voice only added to her reputation as the "Mysterious Lady" (which, ironically enough, served as the title for one of her silent hits in 1928). Garbo's friendship with screenwriter Salka Viertel shifted her on-screen image. Viertel had an idea of Garbo that was vastly different from the Garbo that had proven very popular in silent movies and early talkies. Viertel pushed her towards projects like the 1933 hit QUEEN CHRISTINA, which is basically the turning point in Garbo's career towards her playing more sad, tragic characters in her films. MGM even got worried as Garbo's popularity with the public tapered off in the late-'30s. CONQUEST was a big flop in 1937, and theater owners branded Garbo "box office poison" as a result. I've heard that the powers-that-be at the studio orchestrated a new contract for Garbo around this time, with a considerable drop in her salary. NINOTCHKA briefly changed her image in 1939, but once the studio tried to go "all the way" with Americanizing Garbo in TWO-FACED WOMAN in 1941, her audience completely abandoned her. It pushed her towards an early retirement, and it made her fearful of tackling another movie thereafter. I like Garbo. I must admit that I'm not a major fan, but there are times that I wouldn't mind dusting off my copies of GRAND HOTEL or NINOTCHKA to watch them. She was certainly beautiful, and it is quite easy to see why she was the huge star she was. I personally like the film TWO-FACED WOMAN, even though I can admit that it has big flaws and plot holes. George Cukor practically takes the bad wrap for making that movie bad, but it was Garbo's career that stopped because of it. Rumors has it, she told MGM she'd return when WWII was over, but she never gained the courage to do so. In hindsight, I seriously doubt Garbo missed acting at all. She preferred being alone, and spent the rest of her years walking the streets of New York, avoiding "Garbo watchers". [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER] [ATTACH type="full" width="556px"]31353[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]

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