This is an amazingly well-filmed early talkie adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play. Its major drawback is a static camera, and as a result it comes off much of the time as the filmed play it is, which is a pity, for it's a good piece of primitive moviemaking, made at a time when sound was posing all kinds of technical problems, and as a result most films were experimental whether or not this was their maker's intention. Garbo is as mysterious and charismatic as she was in her silent films, and her entrance is still classic. Her voice is strangely deep, almost boyish, which only enhances her already seductively eccentric persona. As her boyfriend, Charles Bickford is appropriately virile,--he was apparently born craggy--and a perfect counterpart to the divine Garbo. His Irish brogue is not bad at all, and he seems always a natural man of the sea, very O'Neill-like in his independent, brooding nature. As Garbo's (very) confused father, George Marion seems truly from another time. He has the sort of face and voice,--open, unmannered, totally without guile--that has vanished from the earth. Marie Dressler is also in the O'Neill swing of things. Her blank expression and intensity around the eyes speaks volumes, as she plays her boozy character as a woman at times bordering on psychosis. Poetic license, perhaps, as this is not in the script, but we can forgive Miss Dressler's excesses; she is too good at it not to. The story ends with a movement to the next thing, as distinct from resolution, which isn't the author's cup of tea; and those who like their films neatly worked out in the end will be disappointed by the absence of any real surprise. In Anna Christie we are in O'Neill country, a place of sea, storms and fog, a feeling of all-pervading and damnable uncertainty, which we would now call ambivilance, or anxiety neurosis. Rather than analyze this mood the author simply and wisely presents it, as weather, land, ocean and people intertwine and address one another in a unique language we feel priveleged to have heard.
57 Reviews
Skaal Greta Garbo! Skaal Marie Dressler!
marcin_kukuczka20 January 2008
78 years ago...the premiere of "Anna Christie" advertised by the slogan "Garbo Talks!" The film runs for 16 minutes and the viewers reach the climax of curiosity: Greta enters the bar and gets through a long awaited transfer from silence into sound: a few seconds closing her silent era and, at last, Greta Garbo says a historic line: "Gimme a whiskey, ginger ale on the side and don't be stingy, baby!"
"Anna Christie" (1930) is the movie by Clarence Brown that introduced a great silent star Greta Garbo to talkies. Nowadays, we can only imagine what serious transfer it was for actors and actresses. The careers of many were bound to end - something we hardly or not at all see at present. And it was no coincidence that it was Clarence Brown who directed the first talkie with the Swedish beauty. Garbo trusted the director after two of his great silent productions, FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1926) and A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (1928): movies that achieved a smashing success at the box office, both with Garbo in the lead.
But we are in 2008 and that fact about the movie, now purely historical, appears to be of minor importance. The question for today's viewer is not what Garbo's voice sounds like but if the movie is still watchable after these 78 years. In other words, we all strive to answer the question if the movie has stood a test of time. Has it?
When I recently watched it, I came into conclusion that, except for some minor technical aspects, including static camera, "Anna Christie" is still very entertaining. It's, on the one hand, a wonderful story of a life, of a reality that the young woman faces (being based on Eugene O"Neill's play), and, on the other hand, an artistic manifestation of true magnificence in the field of direction and acting. Let me analyze these two aspects in separate paragraphs.
CONTENT: Chris Christopherson (George F Marion), a heavy drinker, lives a life of a sailor, on a barge. Although his days are filled with sorrows, he is consoled by a letter from his daughter Anna (Garbo) whom he hasn't seen for 15 years. She says that she will come back to him. He starts to change everything for better; however forgets that his daughter is no longer a child lacking experience but a 23 year-old woman who has got through various sorts of things on a farm in Minnessota where she lived and worked. Moreover, he forgets that she has a right to accept another kind of male love in her life... This brief presentation of the content not from the perspective of the main character but the one which is introduced to us sooner than Anna (her father Chris) makes you realize how universal it is. Simply no letter from the whole text that life appears to be has been erased after all these years. Cases discussed here in 1930 are still meaningful and valid...
PERFORMANCES. There are not many characters in the movie, but there are two that really shine in the roles. It is of course Greta Garbo herself who did something extraordinary in her 15 year-long phenomenon, the presence that strongly marked the history of early cinema (something I have already discussed in many of my earlier comments on her films). But here, Garbo is slightly different. I admit that there are moments in this movie when she does not feel very comfortable with her role. That seems to be caused by her new experience with sound in English; however, her performance is, as always, genuine and unique. But that is what everyone has expected from Garbo. The true surprise of the movie for the 1930 viewers and also for us is Marie Dressler as Marthy. She is excellent in her facial expressions, in her accent, in the entire portrayal of a drinking woman who looks at life from the perspective of "hitting the bottle." Her best moments include the conversation with Anna Christie in the bar preceded by her hilarious talk with Chris. The rest of the supporting cast are fine yet not great whatsoever (here the German version makes up for it). Particularly Dressler, except for Garbo herself, constitutes an absolutely flawless choice.
If you asked me what I like about "Anna Christie" nowadays, that's what I would tell you: it's a classic movie. However, there is one more thing that I must mention at the end. It is humor, wonderful wit that is noticeable throughout. Although the content is quite serious and "Anna Christie" in no way carries a comedian spirit (the only Garbo's comedy was NINOTCHKA), there are such moments when you will split your sides. Don't skip, for instance, Anna and Matt's visit in the fun park, particularly at the restaurant where he orders milk for her thinking how virtuous and innocent she is, beer for himself and where suddenly Marthy joins them by chance...
"Anna Christie" is a perfect movie for classic buffs and a must see for all at least a bit interested in the true magnificence of performance. If you are fed up with many of those modern starlets, seek such movies out and you shall be satisfied. Very worth your search!
Skaal Greta Garbo! Skaal Marie Dressler! Let us drink a toast to the great jobs you did in the movie! Skaal after all these years when wine tastes much better and your spirits are with us in a different sense...
"Anna Christie" (1930) is the movie by Clarence Brown that introduced a great silent star Greta Garbo to talkies. Nowadays, we can only imagine what serious transfer it was for actors and actresses. The careers of many were bound to end - something we hardly or not at all see at present. And it was no coincidence that it was Clarence Brown who directed the first talkie with the Swedish beauty. Garbo trusted the director after two of his great silent productions, FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1926) and A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (1928): movies that achieved a smashing success at the box office, both with Garbo in the lead.
But we are in 2008 and that fact about the movie, now purely historical, appears to be of minor importance. The question for today's viewer is not what Garbo's voice sounds like but if the movie is still watchable after these 78 years. In other words, we all strive to answer the question if the movie has stood a test of time. Has it?
When I recently watched it, I came into conclusion that, except for some minor technical aspects, including static camera, "Anna Christie" is still very entertaining. It's, on the one hand, a wonderful story of a life, of a reality that the young woman faces (being based on Eugene O"Neill's play), and, on the other hand, an artistic manifestation of true magnificence in the field of direction and acting. Let me analyze these two aspects in separate paragraphs.
CONTENT: Chris Christopherson (George F Marion), a heavy drinker, lives a life of a sailor, on a barge. Although his days are filled with sorrows, he is consoled by a letter from his daughter Anna (Garbo) whom he hasn't seen for 15 years. She says that she will come back to him. He starts to change everything for better; however forgets that his daughter is no longer a child lacking experience but a 23 year-old woman who has got through various sorts of things on a farm in Minnessota where she lived and worked. Moreover, he forgets that she has a right to accept another kind of male love in her life... This brief presentation of the content not from the perspective of the main character but the one which is introduced to us sooner than Anna (her father Chris) makes you realize how universal it is. Simply no letter from the whole text that life appears to be has been erased after all these years. Cases discussed here in 1930 are still meaningful and valid...
PERFORMANCES. There are not many characters in the movie, but there are two that really shine in the roles. It is of course Greta Garbo herself who did something extraordinary in her 15 year-long phenomenon, the presence that strongly marked the history of early cinema (something I have already discussed in many of my earlier comments on her films). But here, Garbo is slightly different. I admit that there are moments in this movie when she does not feel very comfortable with her role. That seems to be caused by her new experience with sound in English; however, her performance is, as always, genuine and unique. But that is what everyone has expected from Garbo. The true surprise of the movie for the 1930 viewers and also for us is Marie Dressler as Marthy. She is excellent in her facial expressions, in her accent, in the entire portrayal of a drinking woman who looks at life from the perspective of "hitting the bottle." Her best moments include the conversation with Anna Christie in the bar preceded by her hilarious talk with Chris. The rest of the supporting cast are fine yet not great whatsoever (here the German version makes up for it). Particularly Dressler, except for Garbo herself, constitutes an absolutely flawless choice.
If you asked me what I like about "Anna Christie" nowadays, that's what I would tell you: it's a classic movie. However, there is one more thing that I must mention at the end. It is humor, wonderful wit that is noticeable throughout. Although the content is quite serious and "Anna Christie" in no way carries a comedian spirit (the only Garbo's comedy was NINOTCHKA), there are such moments when you will split your sides. Don't skip, for instance, Anna and Matt's visit in the fun park, particularly at the restaurant where he orders milk for her thinking how virtuous and innocent she is, beer for himself and where suddenly Marthy joins them by chance...
"Anna Christie" is a perfect movie for classic buffs and a must see for all at least a bit interested in the true magnificence of performance. If you are fed up with many of those modern starlets, seek such movies out and you shall be satisfied. Very worth your search!
Skaal Greta Garbo! Skaal Marie Dressler! Let us drink a toast to the great jobs you did in the movie! Skaal after all these years when wine tastes much better and your spirits are with us in a different sense...
"Give me a whiskey, ginger ale on the side, and don't be stingy, Baby."
blanche-23 May 2015
Garbo's first speaking line, and it must have been thrilling to have such a tremendous foreign star able to make that transition from silent to sound.
The movie is "Annie Christie," the year is 1930, and it is an adaptation of the play by Eugene O'Neill. It concerns a young farm woman, Anna, from Minnesota who comes to New York to find her father, whom she hasn't seen in 15 years. Molested some time earlier, she hates men and has prostituted herself.
Her father takes her on his barge, and she comes to love the sea. One day, they rescue a young man (Charles Bickford), and he and Anna fall in love. However, neither he nor her father know anything of her past.
Garbo is very beautiful and her command of English is amazing. You can tell that she understands every word she is saying, just as you can tell when some actors have learned their role by rote. She acquits herself very well.
Marie Dressler as Marthy, a friend of her father's whom Anna meets in a bar, is marvelous, playing each scene as a drunk. And you really think she is. As someone wrote, you can smell the alcohol on her breath.
That's the good news. The bad news is that this is a very difficult film to watch. Sound and dealing with the camera when you have sound was all very new. The camera didn't move around so it is a very static movie. The actors have several scenes where they all talk at once.
An acting teacher once said, "Eugene O'Neill was our greatest novelist." The actors don't just talk at once, they talk incessantly. There is no action to be had.
I love Eugene O'Neill, I have seen his plays on stage. This film is 85 years old, and it shows.
Definitely worth seeing, however. After all, "Garbo talks!"
The movie is "Annie Christie," the year is 1930, and it is an adaptation of the play by Eugene O'Neill. It concerns a young farm woman, Anna, from Minnesota who comes to New York to find her father, whom she hasn't seen in 15 years. Molested some time earlier, she hates men and has prostituted herself.
Her father takes her on his barge, and she comes to love the sea. One day, they rescue a young man (Charles Bickford), and he and Anna fall in love. However, neither he nor her father know anything of her past.
Garbo is very beautiful and her command of English is amazing. You can tell that she understands every word she is saying, just as you can tell when some actors have learned their role by rote. She acquits herself very well.
Marie Dressler as Marthy, a friend of her father's whom Anna meets in a bar, is marvelous, playing each scene as a drunk. And you really think she is. As someone wrote, you can smell the alcohol on her breath.
That's the good news. The bad news is that this is a very difficult film to watch. Sound and dealing with the camera when you have sound was all very new. The camera didn't move around so it is a very static movie. The actors have several scenes where they all talk at once.
An acting teacher once said, "Eugene O'Neill was our greatest novelist." The actors don't just talk at once, they talk incessantly. There is no action to be had.
I love Eugene O'Neill, I have seen his plays on stage. This film is 85 years old, and it shows.
Definitely worth seeing, however. After all, "Garbo talks!"
And Don't Be Stingy, Baby
drednm25 March 2005
Garbo's first spoken words in this 1930 film electrified audiences and became part of Hollywood legend. Garbo had become a star in her first American film, The Torrent, in 1926. And audiences waited til this film to see if Garbo could make the transition to talkies. She did. And while Pola Negri, Vilma Banky, and Renee Adoree fell by the wayside because of their accents, Garbo sailed on for another decade. Despite the staginess of this film, Garbo is really excellent, especially in the opening scene with the equally great Marie Dressler as Marthy. The two great stars trade dirty looks and sharp words as they size each other up while they have a few drinks and set the tone for the remainder of the film. Garbo was 25; Dressler was 60. Charles Bickford is OK as Matt, and George F. Marion is good as Old Chris. Marion originated this role on Broadway in 1922 and also played it in the 1923 silent version with Blanche Sweet. This Eugene O'Neill play is a true classic yet, oddly, was never filmed again. Anna Christie ranks as one of Garbo's greatest performances. And despite the staginess of the film and the grimness of the story, she is truly a marvel. See this one for Garbo and Dressler!
Redemption Through Love
claudio_carvalho4 November 2012
In New York, the alcoholic skipper of a coal barge Chris Christofferson (George F. Marion) receives a letter from his estranged twenty year old daughter Anna "Christie" Christofferson (Greta Garbo) telling that she will leave Minnesota to stay with him. Chris left Anna fifteen years ago to the countryside to be raised by relatives in a farm in St. Paul and he has never visited his daughter.
Anna Christie arrives and she is a wounded woman with a hidden dishonorable past since she had worked for two years in a brothel to survive. She moves to the barge to live with her father and one night, Chris rescues the sailor Matt (Charles Bickford) and two other fainted sailors from the sea. Soon Anna and Matt fall in love with each other and Anna has the best days of her life. But when Matt proposes to marry her, she is reluctant and also haunted by her past. Matt insists and Anna opens her heart to Matt and to her father disclosing the darks secrets of her past.
"Anna Christie" is the first talkie of Greta Garbo and a heartbreaking story of a young woman that finds redemption through love. I bought the DVD with both versions of 1930 and 1931, and the version in English is restored and has additional scenes in the beginning and in the ending; however, Jacques Feyder's version in German is better than Clarence Brown's. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Anna Christie"
Anna Christie arrives and she is a wounded woman with a hidden dishonorable past since she had worked for two years in a brothel to survive. She moves to the barge to live with her father and one night, Chris rescues the sailor Matt (Charles Bickford) and two other fainted sailors from the sea. Soon Anna and Matt fall in love with each other and Anna has the best days of her life. But when Matt proposes to marry her, she is reluctant and also haunted by her past. Matt insists and Anna opens her heart to Matt and to her father disclosing the darks secrets of her past.
"Anna Christie" is the first talkie of Greta Garbo and a heartbreaking story of a young woman that finds redemption through love. I bought the DVD with both versions of 1930 and 1931, and the version in English is restored and has additional scenes in the beginning and in the ending; however, Jacques Feyder's version in German is better than Clarence Brown's. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Anna Christie"
Garbo glows...the play by O'Neill is Ibsen Lite
secondtake14 December 2009
Anna Christie (1930)
Anna Christie has some terrific parts, and some amazing performances, and yet it should be even better than it is. It has drama. Some of the scenes are really atmospheric, and if the interior shots around the table are a bore, other shots at night and at sea are really pretty exciting. Then there are the nearly historical, lively scenes set in Coney Island (even a brief jittery roller coaster ride), and the episode where two women are behind a netting in separate beds, and visitors to the midway can throw balls to try to tip them over, and the women (scantily dressed) egg the men on is weirdly sexual come-on kind of way. All the while Garbo (at the front of the crowd) watches.
Garbo of course is what makes this movie more than just another very good early talkie. She plays all sides of her character. She is coy and skeptical and in some kind of inner anguish. She laughs and cries, withdraws and pushes outward. In some ways it's a forward looking, remarkable movie (directed by Clarence Brown, who has a whole series of significant films from this pre-code sound era).
Though based on a successful Eugene O'Neil play, it's the writing that struggles a little as the actors seem to go through the paces at times. Marie Dressler is great in that exaggerated way she almost trademarked. And then there is Greta Garbo, who really does have a natural presence, even if it seems she's overacting, just slightly, at times (but then, so is everyone else). Garbo is of course famous first as a silent actress, and this is her talking film debut. Audiences loved her enough that she made a German language version the following year.
Anna Christie has some terrific parts, and some amazing performances, and yet it should be even better than it is. It has drama. Some of the scenes are really atmospheric, and if the interior shots around the table are a bore, other shots at night and at sea are really pretty exciting. Then there are the nearly historical, lively scenes set in Coney Island (even a brief jittery roller coaster ride), and the episode where two women are behind a netting in separate beds, and visitors to the midway can throw balls to try to tip them over, and the women (scantily dressed) egg the men on is weirdly sexual come-on kind of way. All the while Garbo (at the front of the crowd) watches.
Garbo of course is what makes this movie more than just another very good early talkie. She plays all sides of her character. She is coy and skeptical and in some kind of inner anguish. She laughs and cries, withdraws and pushes outward. In some ways it's a forward looking, remarkable movie (directed by Clarence Brown, who has a whole series of significant films from this pre-code sound era).
Though based on a successful Eugene O'Neil play, it's the writing that struggles a little as the actors seem to go through the paces at times. Marie Dressler is great in that exaggerated way she almost trademarked. And then there is Greta Garbo, who really does have a natural presence, even if it seems she's overacting, just slightly, at times (but then, so is everyone else). Garbo is of course famous first as a silent actress, and this is her talking film debut. Audiences loved her enough that she made a German language version the following year.
Anna chronisti(c)
writers_reign8 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Garbo had retired long before I became a cinema-goer but I heard about her all my life and eventually I caught the odd performance - Queen Christina and Grand Hotel spring to mind - on TV and saw for myself what all the fuss was about. As a Billy Wilder fan I watched Ninotchka over and over but that was about it until this week when I bought a boxed set of six of her talkies. This, of course, was the first one, produced right at the dawn of Sound in 1930 with all the attendant problems connected with new technology and yes, it is static and yes, it is an obvious stage play adapted crudely for the screen but above and beyond this is GARBO, a towering presence, the personification of charisma and yes, she does render everything else inconsequential. O'Neill didn't do happy endings so it's not the faithful adaptation of his Pulitzer prize-winner that it might have been but here again Garbo makes that academic.
Garbo Talks!
Dashiell-7399 February 2021
This is the first talking film with Greta Garbo. It stars Charles Bickford also George F. Marion and Marie Dressler. It surprised me a lot. People don't think that a film they saw about ten times is going to surprise them, but it did. There were certain scenes with Garbo and Bickford where he tries to be really tough, but she puts him in his place. The crazy thing was I never saw someone do that in a film from the 1930s until I saw Anna Christie. I never saw a woman be like that except for Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and now Garbo in Anna Christie. It was surprising to me that she would be that bold. There are a ton of people that like Garbo's movies that are not understood because of their movie preference for older films.
The Girl on the Barge
lugonian4 March 2011
"Anna Christie" (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1930), directed by Clarence Brown, was the motion picture event of the season where "Garbo talks!" Naturally she talked, but was never heard during her days (1926-1929) on the silent screen. With other silent film stars having already made the transition by 1929, the selection in what Garbo was to appear had to be a sound one. Considering Lon Chaney's talking debut being a remake to his 1925 success, THE UNHOLY THREE (1930), the possibilities of Garbo doing the same for any one of her silent screen successes. FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1927) or that of Anna Karenina from LOVE (1927) immediately come to mind. Garbo did play Anna Karenina again, but in 1935. Another Anna did get selected, one that was already filmed in 1923 starring Blanche Sweet. Taken from Eugene O'Neil's Pulitzer Prize winning play that originated on stage in 1921 starring Pauline Lord, considering the title character of Swedish heritage, it seemed natural for the Swedish born Garbo to tackle tat role herself. And so she did, earning an Academy Award nomination in the process. With her accent authentic, George Marion, who originated his role of Chris Christophersen on both stage and silent screen, was not or didn't appear to be. Whether faithful to O'Neill's writing or not really didn't matter for that "Anna Christie" proved to be a critical success.
The story gets underway as Old Chris (George Marion) a Swedish captain of the fishing boat, living on the barge with Marty Owens (Marie Dressler), his drunken waterfront mistress. After coming to the nearby bar for some drinks, Chris receives a letter with news that his daughter, Anna, is coming from St. Paul, Minnesota, for a visit. Chris, who hasn't seen Anna since she was a five-year-old child in Sweden, is a concerned how to handle their meeting after a 15-year separation. While in the next room, Anna, who calls herself Anna Christie (Greta Garbo) enters the waterfront bar where her first encounter being Marty, the woman Anna claims to be herself, "forty years from now." As both women drink some whiskeys, and Anna smoking cigarettes, she reveals her troubled past to Marty, being raised by cruel relatives on the farm, turning to prostitution in order to survive, and hating all men in the process. Having been released from jail and a two week hospital stay, Anna finally meets with her father as Marty secretly moves from the barge where Anna is to stay. As the two venture out to sea, they meet with a terrible storm, later rescuing Matt Burke (Charles Bickford), a tough talking Irish seaman, from a drifting raft where he and others had spent five days. When Matt shows interest in Anna, Chris objects, causing the two stubborn men to become rivals, forcing Anna to come between them.
For its initial 34 minutes, "Anna Christie" is virtually stage-bound, set mostly in a bar. Garbo's star entrance takes its toll 16 minutes into the story. From there she recites these spoken words to the barman in deep throat manner, "Gimme a vhiskey. Ginger ale on the side - and don't be stingy, baby," with occasional end of sentence catch phrases of "Alright, alright." With this, the long wait ends. "GARBO talks!" And does she ever. The voice not only fits her personality, but her character as well. How the story develops in early sound technique is another matter.
During its 88 minute time frame, director Clarence Brown breaks away from its staginess with outdoor scenery of the Brooklyn Bridge, the sea, as well as time away at Coney Island Amusement Park before resorting to stage-bound manner on the barge. There is no underscoring to set the mood but inter-titles ("The next morning - the waterfront of the East River - New York City." "Two days later in town off New England." "At anchor in an outer harbor along the Massachusetts coast.")in the silent film tradition placed between extended scenes.
With the supporting cast a limited few, only four take precedent. Charles Bickford proved way different from the usual Garbo co-stars. Definitely not the John Gilbert romantic type, but that of a roughneck Irishman, a vivid reminder of Victor McLaglen caricature found in John Ford directorial features reciting such typical lines as, "I can lick any man with one hand tied behind me back." The opposites attract combination of Garbo and Bickford gives equal balance to the nature of the story. George Marion, at times, bears a slight resemblance of character actor, Donald Meek. No doubt Meek might have been an interesting prospect to play Old Chris had a remake of ANNA Christie been considered in the 1940s with Ingrid Bergman in the lead. Marie Dressler's performance leaves a lasting impact, enough to have earned a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination had that category been around back then. In fact, her waterfront floozy in second hand clothing was no doubt a dress rehearsal for her upcoming role in MIN AND BILL (1930) for which won Dressler a Best Actress award by the Academy.
Seldom revived until its 1985 distribution to home video by MGM/UA, followed by occasional public television showings, "Anna Christie," along with Garbo's German-language version, can be found on cable TV's Turner Classic Movies. While the English version of 'Anna Christie" now available on DVD, is better known, many claim the German edition to be better and much more forthright. Though this "Anna Christie" may not hold up as well as Garbo's most notable assignments as CAMILLE (1936) or NINOTCHKA (1939), it's noteworthy, if nothing else, as the one where that term "Garbo talks!" started. (*** vhiskeys)
The story gets underway as Old Chris (George Marion) a Swedish captain of the fishing boat, living on the barge with Marty Owens (Marie Dressler), his drunken waterfront mistress. After coming to the nearby bar for some drinks, Chris receives a letter with news that his daughter, Anna, is coming from St. Paul, Minnesota, for a visit. Chris, who hasn't seen Anna since she was a five-year-old child in Sweden, is a concerned how to handle their meeting after a 15-year separation. While in the next room, Anna, who calls herself Anna Christie (Greta Garbo) enters the waterfront bar where her first encounter being Marty, the woman Anna claims to be herself, "forty years from now." As both women drink some whiskeys, and Anna smoking cigarettes, she reveals her troubled past to Marty, being raised by cruel relatives on the farm, turning to prostitution in order to survive, and hating all men in the process. Having been released from jail and a two week hospital stay, Anna finally meets with her father as Marty secretly moves from the barge where Anna is to stay. As the two venture out to sea, they meet with a terrible storm, later rescuing Matt Burke (Charles Bickford), a tough talking Irish seaman, from a drifting raft where he and others had spent five days. When Matt shows interest in Anna, Chris objects, causing the two stubborn men to become rivals, forcing Anna to come between them.
For its initial 34 minutes, "Anna Christie" is virtually stage-bound, set mostly in a bar. Garbo's star entrance takes its toll 16 minutes into the story. From there she recites these spoken words to the barman in deep throat manner, "Gimme a vhiskey. Ginger ale on the side - and don't be stingy, baby," with occasional end of sentence catch phrases of "Alright, alright." With this, the long wait ends. "GARBO talks!" And does she ever. The voice not only fits her personality, but her character as well. How the story develops in early sound technique is another matter.
During its 88 minute time frame, director Clarence Brown breaks away from its staginess with outdoor scenery of the Brooklyn Bridge, the sea, as well as time away at Coney Island Amusement Park before resorting to stage-bound manner on the barge. There is no underscoring to set the mood but inter-titles ("The next morning - the waterfront of the East River - New York City." "Two days later in town off New England." "At anchor in an outer harbor along the Massachusetts coast.")in the silent film tradition placed between extended scenes.
With the supporting cast a limited few, only four take precedent. Charles Bickford proved way different from the usual Garbo co-stars. Definitely not the John Gilbert romantic type, but that of a roughneck Irishman, a vivid reminder of Victor McLaglen caricature found in John Ford directorial features reciting such typical lines as, "I can lick any man with one hand tied behind me back." The opposites attract combination of Garbo and Bickford gives equal balance to the nature of the story. George Marion, at times, bears a slight resemblance of character actor, Donald Meek. No doubt Meek might have been an interesting prospect to play Old Chris had a remake of ANNA Christie been considered in the 1940s with Ingrid Bergman in the lead. Marie Dressler's performance leaves a lasting impact, enough to have earned a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination had that category been around back then. In fact, her waterfront floozy in second hand clothing was no doubt a dress rehearsal for her upcoming role in MIN AND BILL (1930) for which won Dressler a Best Actress award by the Academy.
Seldom revived until its 1985 distribution to home video by MGM/UA, followed by occasional public television showings, "Anna Christie," along with Garbo's German-language version, can be found on cable TV's Turner Classic Movies. While the English version of 'Anna Christie" now available on DVD, is better known, many claim the German edition to be better and much more forthright. Though this "Anna Christie" may not hold up as well as Garbo's most notable assignments as CAMILLE (1936) or NINOTCHKA (1939), it's noteworthy, if nothing else, as the one where that term "Garbo talks!" started. (*** vhiskeys)
Kind of old-fashioned but still worth seeing
planktonrules4 January 2007
This version of Anna Christie is better than the earlier silent version starring Blanche Sweet, though it is not a huge improvement. Unlike the earlier film, this one has expanded the father's mistress' role into a larger and comedic one starring Marie Dressler and the production values are a bit better overall. This isn't to say that I loved this movie--mostly because the story just seems very old-fashioned and corny but also because Dressler's comedic performance in some ways detracts from the focus of the film. However, in 1930, this sort of melodrama starring Greta Garbo (in her first sound film) played very well, but by today's standards, the acting at times just seemed "over-the-top" from time to time. Despite this, the story still is pretty compelling and the film is quite watchable.
This film, by the way, was a "pre-Code" film. This means that the film was very racy by standards imposed just a few years later--with plot elements such as prostitution and some minor cursing. Those not used to the pre-Code films might be surprised by all this, but films made up until about 1935 or so often had nudity, violence and plot elements that NEVER would have been allowed in later years.
Oddly, the DVD version of this film offers BOTH the original American version and the German version that was made concurrently starring a German-speaking cast. In the early days of "talkies", some studios (such as MGM and Universal) often made duplicate movies by using the same sets at night after filming wrapped for the day! In some cases, they had Hollywood actors phonetically speak the lines in different languages (Laurel and Hardy made some of these--in which they spoke in Spanish along with Spanish co-stars). And, in others, an entirely new cast was used (such as with the Spanish language version of Dracula). In the case of Anna Christie, Greta Garbo made a German language version with all new co-stars that is supposedly better than the American version. HOWEVER, the DVD did include this German version but with absolutely no subtitles or dubbing! So, as long as you are willing to watch an entire movie in a language you don't understand or know German, it's a waste having it on the DVD. Why didn't they include English language captions?!? I would have loved to have seen it in this case, but am not willing to try to guess at what they are saying--my knowledge of the language just isn't good enough to understand everything that's being said!
This film, by the way, was a "pre-Code" film. This means that the film was very racy by standards imposed just a few years later--with plot elements such as prostitution and some minor cursing. Those not used to the pre-Code films might be surprised by all this, but films made up until about 1935 or so often had nudity, violence and plot elements that NEVER would have been allowed in later years.
Oddly, the DVD version of this film offers BOTH the original American version and the German version that was made concurrently starring a German-speaking cast. In the early days of "talkies", some studios (such as MGM and Universal) often made duplicate movies by using the same sets at night after filming wrapped for the day! In some cases, they had Hollywood actors phonetically speak the lines in different languages (Laurel and Hardy made some of these--in which they spoke in Spanish along with Spanish co-stars). And, in others, an entirely new cast was used (such as with the Spanish language version of Dracula). In the case of Anna Christie, Greta Garbo made a German language version with all new co-stars that is supposedly better than the American version. HOWEVER, the DVD did include this German version but with absolutely no subtitles or dubbing! So, as long as you are willing to watch an entire movie in a language you don't understand or know German, it's a waste having it on the DVD. Why didn't they include English language captions?!? I would have loved to have seen it in this case, but am not willing to try to guess at what they are saying--my knowledge of the language just isn't good enough to understand everything that's being said!
O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize Winner graced by Garbo
eschetic31 May 2005
For Greta Garbo's first talking picture, MGM wisely chose Eugene O'Neill's Pultizer Prize winning 1921 play ANNA Christie.
Also wisely, the producers backed Garbo up with not one but two members of the Original Broadway Cast (George Marion as Anna's father, Chris, and James T. Mack as Johnny the Priest - transmuted to "Johnny the Harp" for films so as not to offend).
This little change is interesting. Like too many films accused (by those who want MOVIES to be MOVIES and ignore their origins) of being "little more than filmed stage plays," the problem is not the play but the movie makers who wouldn't be more faithful to the property. By diluting a great cinematic stage work so it wouldn't offend anyone, or opening it up because they COULD, too many lose the very qualities which made the piece worth filming in the first place.
Fortunately, the respect the studio had for both O'Neill and Garbo allowed ANNA Christie to survive the normally destructive process admirably in Frances Marion's generally sensitive screen adaptation. Wonder of wonders, Marion even allows the POINT of the scene where Garbo's Anna reveals her past on "the farm" to the man she badly wants to marry and the father who sent her there in tact! What the League of Decency must have thought of that!
The source play's greatest problem has always been that Chris's friend Marthy tends to walk away with the first act and then disappears from the last two so that Anna can take stage - the two sides of the genuinely good woman men don't always recognize.
The perfectly cast Marie Dressler (who had cut her teeth on the Broadway stage as well before going to Hollywood) is the perfect balance for Garbo's Anna in this area as well and the fast moving film at only 90 minutes, doesn't allow us too much time to miss her - one of the few benefits from atmosphere being shown rather than eloquently described in the original - AND screenwriter Marion is wise enough to stray from O'Neill to bring Dressler back for a touching scene two thirds of the way through the film that will remind many of Julie Laverne's second act appearance in SHOW BOAT.
Anna and Marthy's early scene together on screen (16 minutes into the film) taking each other's measure and setting up all the tension of the rest of the story is among the most affecting scenes in the entire piece. Not to be missed.
ANNA Christie is great tragic play and a good film drama. It's hard to imagine that a latter day remake, which would almost certainly lose the grit and atmosphere of this 1930 remake (it was first filmed without sound in 1923 - also with George Marion's original Broadway Chris) could improve on this excellent filming.
The internal scenes hew closest to the play, but the exteriors shouldn't be missed by anyone with an eye to atmosphere. While the background screen work is not to modern technical standards, the backgrounds give a better glimpse than most films of the era of the actual world in which the screen play is set (especially in the New York harbor).
Nearly all Garbo's naturalistic performances of the sound era have held up superbly (only the too often parodied death scene from CAMILLE, 7 years later, will occasionally draw snickers because of the heavy handed direction and the parodies), but this ANNA Christie, together with the variety of her 1932 films, MATA HARI and GRAND HOTEL, and the sublime Lubitsch touch on her 1939 comedy, NINOTCHKA ("Garbo laughs!"), surely stand as her best.
O'Neill fans who are taken with this play at the edge of his lauded "sea plays," should track down the fine World War II shaped film released in the year before the U.S. entered the conflict, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME (1940). It is almost as skillfully drawn from those sea plays as this one is from ANNA Christie, and features a youngish John Wayne in one of his rare non-Westerns supporting a fine cast of veteran actors showing him the way.
Also wisely, the producers backed Garbo up with not one but two members of the Original Broadway Cast (George Marion as Anna's father, Chris, and James T. Mack as Johnny the Priest - transmuted to "Johnny the Harp" for films so as not to offend).
This little change is interesting. Like too many films accused (by those who want MOVIES to be MOVIES and ignore their origins) of being "little more than filmed stage plays," the problem is not the play but the movie makers who wouldn't be more faithful to the property. By diluting a great cinematic stage work so it wouldn't offend anyone, or opening it up because they COULD, too many lose the very qualities which made the piece worth filming in the first place.
Fortunately, the respect the studio had for both O'Neill and Garbo allowed ANNA Christie to survive the normally destructive process admirably in Frances Marion's generally sensitive screen adaptation. Wonder of wonders, Marion even allows the POINT of the scene where Garbo's Anna reveals her past on "the farm" to the man she badly wants to marry and the father who sent her there in tact! What the League of Decency must have thought of that!
The source play's greatest problem has always been that Chris's friend Marthy tends to walk away with the first act and then disappears from the last two so that Anna can take stage - the two sides of the genuinely good woman men don't always recognize.
The perfectly cast Marie Dressler (who had cut her teeth on the Broadway stage as well before going to Hollywood) is the perfect balance for Garbo's Anna in this area as well and the fast moving film at only 90 minutes, doesn't allow us too much time to miss her - one of the few benefits from atmosphere being shown rather than eloquently described in the original - AND screenwriter Marion is wise enough to stray from O'Neill to bring Dressler back for a touching scene two thirds of the way through the film that will remind many of Julie Laverne's second act appearance in SHOW BOAT.
Anna and Marthy's early scene together on screen (16 minutes into the film) taking each other's measure and setting up all the tension of the rest of the story is among the most affecting scenes in the entire piece. Not to be missed.
ANNA Christie is great tragic play and a good film drama. It's hard to imagine that a latter day remake, which would almost certainly lose the grit and atmosphere of this 1930 remake (it was first filmed without sound in 1923 - also with George Marion's original Broadway Chris) could improve on this excellent filming.
The internal scenes hew closest to the play, but the exteriors shouldn't be missed by anyone with an eye to atmosphere. While the background screen work is not to modern technical standards, the backgrounds give a better glimpse than most films of the era of the actual world in which the screen play is set (especially in the New York harbor).
Nearly all Garbo's naturalistic performances of the sound era have held up superbly (only the too often parodied death scene from CAMILLE, 7 years later, will occasionally draw snickers because of the heavy handed direction and the parodies), but this ANNA Christie, together with the variety of her 1932 films, MATA HARI and GRAND HOTEL, and the sublime Lubitsch touch on her 1939 comedy, NINOTCHKA ("Garbo laughs!"), surely stand as her best.
O'Neill fans who are taken with this play at the edge of his lauded "sea plays," should track down the fine World War II shaped film released in the year before the U.S. entered the conflict, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME (1940). It is almost as skillfully drawn from those sea plays as this one is from ANNA Christie, and features a youngish John Wayne in one of his rare non-Westerns supporting a fine cast of veteran actors showing him the way.
Transitional Film for Both Garbo and MGM
dglink29 October 2005
Based on a Eugene O'Neill play, "Anna Christie" was filmed at a time of transition in Hollywood from the silent era to sound. Because of the technical limitations imposed by the new sound process, the film is static visually and harsh aurally. Despite some atmospheric shots, director Clarence Brown rarely moved the camera and rarely framed his actors in anything but a medium shot. Contemporary viewers unaccustomed to films of the late 20s and early 30s will likely fidget at the monotonous visuals and scratchy soundtrack.
"Anna Christie" was also a transitional film for Greta Garbo. In her first sound feature, Garbo at times reverts to the mannerisms of the silent era. However, her voice meshed perfectly with her established image, and her performance was effective, if not among her best. The film's scene stealer was Marie Dressler, who walked off with the movie whenever she was on screen. While not a subtle performance, Dressler created a colorful character with substantial depth in her few scenes. Charles Bickford and George Marion provided able support to what was certainly a major production effort by MGM to transition one of their most valuable stars from the silents to the talkies.
For the period, the film presents a a strong female character at its core. Anna resists the efforts of both her father and her boyfriend to control her life. When she reveals to both men what she had been required to do in the past in order to survive, she is prepared for whatever reaction she may get. Although Garbo makes it apparent what she wants the men to say, her character is strong enough to get on with her life with or without men involved.
Anna Christie certainly matches some of the other strong characters in the Garbo gallery such as Queen Christina, who may want the love of a man and may be willing to sacrifice for it, but are strong and independent enough to survive without it and not suffer the fate of the Marie Dressler character. While "Anna Christie" creaks today and at times requires an effort to watch, the film is a valuable historical work. Certainly anything with Garbo is worth watching, and when "Garbo talks" the audience still listens, despite the clumsy technical production.
"Anna Christie" was also a transitional film for Greta Garbo. In her first sound feature, Garbo at times reverts to the mannerisms of the silent era. However, her voice meshed perfectly with her established image, and her performance was effective, if not among her best. The film's scene stealer was Marie Dressler, who walked off with the movie whenever she was on screen. While not a subtle performance, Dressler created a colorful character with substantial depth in her few scenes. Charles Bickford and George Marion provided able support to what was certainly a major production effort by MGM to transition one of their most valuable stars from the silents to the talkies.
For the period, the film presents a a strong female character at its core. Anna resists the efforts of both her father and her boyfriend to control her life. When she reveals to both men what she had been required to do in the past in order to survive, she is prepared for whatever reaction she may get. Although Garbo makes it apparent what she wants the men to say, her character is strong enough to get on with her life with or without men involved.
Anna Christie certainly matches some of the other strong characters in the Garbo gallery such as Queen Christina, who may want the love of a man and may be willing to sacrifice for it, but are strong and independent enough to survive without it and not suffer the fate of the Marie Dressler character. While "Anna Christie" creaks today and at times requires an effort to watch, the film is a valuable historical work. Certainly anything with Garbo is worth watching, and when "Garbo talks" the audience still listens, despite the clumsy technical production.
Garbo and Dressler Great, Rest of Film: Bleh
broadway_melody_girl12 June 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Mild spoiler in the second paragraph.
Anna Christie was Garbo's lackluster 1st talkie. She and Dressler look like the only people who know what they're doing in this movie. The old guy who plays Garbo's dad (George F. Marion) in the film is incredibly annoying. All he does is stumble around drunkenly in a totally fake way and yell about "dat old dah-veel sea". He blames Garbo's "past", his whole life, and everything on the sea! He comes across as stupid x 10. Charles Bickford is Matt, the rough 'n' tumble sailor Garbo falls in love with, and he's fine in his role, but nothing really outstanding.
The best part is when Garbo unleashes her "terrible secret" on Bickford and her dad. Finally, Marion stops talking about the evil of the sea and beats his head and fists on the table in perfect time with Bickford. Then soon he goes on a tirade about the sea.
I had to practically force myself to finish Anna Christie. It's too melodramatic in many parts and creaky. There are many good early talkies but this is not one of them. If you haven't seen Garbo before try something else before Anna Christie, like Camille or Grand Hotel
Anna Christie was Garbo's lackluster 1st talkie. She and Dressler look like the only people who know what they're doing in this movie. The old guy who plays Garbo's dad (George F. Marion) in the film is incredibly annoying. All he does is stumble around drunkenly in a totally fake way and yell about "dat old dah-veel sea". He blames Garbo's "past", his whole life, and everything on the sea! He comes across as stupid x 10. Charles Bickford is Matt, the rough 'n' tumble sailor Garbo falls in love with, and he's fine in his role, but nothing really outstanding.
The best part is when Garbo unleashes her "terrible secret" on Bickford and her dad. Finally, Marion stops talking about the evil of the sea and beats his head and fists on the table in perfect time with Bickford. Then soon he goes on a tirade about the sea.
I had to practically force myself to finish Anna Christie. It's too melodramatic in many parts and creaky. There are many good early talkies but this is not one of them. If you haven't seen Garbo before try something else before Anna Christie, like Camille or Grand Hotel
Anna Christie
Smalling-214 April 2000
A woman with a past returns to her alcoholic father living on a shabby boat and falls in love with a sailor.
A deliberately grim movie gained fame as Garbo's first talkie (revealing her warm, silky deep voice), and was simultaneously made in Germany - from a well-known O'Neill play. This version now seems pretty stilted and shows the most typical mistakes of early talkies, but full of vivid moments of great power, full-blooded performances (especially the genial interplay between Garbo and Dressler)and the rare Hollywood quality of gritty realism.
A deliberately grim movie gained fame as Garbo's first talkie (revealing her warm, silky deep voice), and was simultaneously made in Germany - from a well-known O'Neill play. This version now seems pretty stilted and shows the most typical mistakes of early talkies, but full of vivid moments of great power, full-blooded performances (especially the genial interplay between Garbo and Dressler)and the rare Hollywood quality of gritty realism.
Garbo talks in very literary drama
romdal8 February 2007
The first sound movie Greta Garbo did is an adaptation of an Eugene O'Neill play, and it shows. Many scenes are way too long, especially in the beginning and end. Greta Garbo only appears after half an hour of drunken dialog, but a sparkling entrance it is, as she stands in the doorway of a bar, slowly enters and sits down you can imagine audiences awaiting her first spoken line. She is the prodigal daughter returning to her sailor father's port. She does not know that he is a drunk, and he does not know that she has been a fallen woman. They finally meet, he takes her in, and she sails with him on his barge, where destiny takes another turn when a love interest comes aboard. Garbo is simply fantastic here, so confident, so full of life and pain. When you know it, it is easily seen that some theatricals from her silent career linger on, and she does not do much with her voice, but her face tells a million stories. Just the scene where she sees her father for the first time and tries to hide her disappointment is unbelievably good. The movie renders a good environment of the harbor and the barge, altogether a pleasant experience, but you can go boil a pot of tea once in every scene, they're that long!
Greta Garbo is in top form in this hard to watch and somewhat disjointed movie.
Boba_Fett11389 February 2008
This is Garbo's first ever talking role but she acts as if she has done nothing else before.
What makes the movie however hard and also sort of unpleasant to watch is it's storytelling. The movie is set up like a stage-play, so most of the time the characters just sit around and talk. All we see in the first 30 minutes for instance are characters being drunk and complaining a lot about life. The movie is of course also based on a stage-play, so no great wonder that the storytelling in this movie also feels like one. But if I want to watch something like this I would to to the theater. There are of course some good stage-play to movies translations but I guess that back in 1930 they didn't had a real good idea yet or the experience to translate a stage-play well to the silver-screen. The movie is now instead a sort of a bore in parts, since its obviously dragging at moments. The movie is also of course very limited in its settings and the movie often jumps from the one setting to the other, as if the curtain had dropped and a new set had been build-up during the break. The movie just never really feels as one big whole and it instead feels as if it consists out of different acts. It's a very static movie.
It's not just only a hard movie to follow because of its storytelling and settings but also because of all of the heavy accents of the actors. On top of that, the sound recording quality of course wasn't that good yet back in 1930 so not everything that is being said is understandable.
Also the picture quality of the movie isn't that good anymore. Time hasn't been kind on it. The image is sort of fuzzy in parts and the movie is perhaps more gray than truly black & white.
It is definitely true that the movie gets better and better when it heads toward its ending but it didn't made me forget it's way weaker first 30 minutes and disjointed storytelling in the movie overall.
6/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
What makes the movie however hard and also sort of unpleasant to watch is it's storytelling. The movie is set up like a stage-play, so most of the time the characters just sit around and talk. All we see in the first 30 minutes for instance are characters being drunk and complaining a lot about life. The movie is of course also based on a stage-play, so no great wonder that the storytelling in this movie also feels like one. But if I want to watch something like this I would to to the theater. There are of course some good stage-play to movies translations but I guess that back in 1930 they didn't had a real good idea yet or the experience to translate a stage-play well to the silver-screen. The movie is now instead a sort of a bore in parts, since its obviously dragging at moments. The movie is also of course very limited in its settings and the movie often jumps from the one setting to the other, as if the curtain had dropped and a new set had been build-up during the break. The movie just never really feels as one big whole and it instead feels as if it consists out of different acts. It's a very static movie.
It's not just only a hard movie to follow because of its storytelling and settings but also because of all of the heavy accents of the actors. On top of that, the sound recording quality of course wasn't that good yet back in 1930 so not everything that is being said is understandable.
Also the picture quality of the movie isn't that good anymore. Time hasn't been kind on it. The image is sort of fuzzy in parts and the movie is perhaps more gray than truly black & white.
It is definitely true that the movie gets better and better when it heads toward its ending but it didn't made me forget it's way weaker first 30 minutes and disjointed storytelling in the movie overall.
6/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
Garbo as the divine lighthouse in a port of shadows, fog and booze...
ElMaruecan8218 April 2021
Being an AFI movie buff for several years, I memorized one quote long before watching the film. It was the second entry in the list of the 400 nominated quotes (from "Anna Christie", right after 'All-righty-then' from "Ace Ventura"): "Gimme a whiskey, ginger ale on the side and don't be stingy, baby".
Each word flows as smoothly as the other, creating the kind of kitchen-sink poetry that works almost instantly without even the luxury of a context, yet the context is what makes that single line so legendary. Those were (and you probably know it already) the first words spoken by Greta Garbo on screen; in fact, the very tag-line (and publicity) of the film was "Garbo talks!" and no, they're not the first words spoken in the film as Clarence Brown keeps us almost twenty minutes in the waiting before the queen of the screen makes her long awaited arrival, the first since the talkies.
But these minutes are rather well-spent in the company of George F. Marion as the drunken barge captain Chris Christopherson and his boozy companion Marthy played by the incomparable Marthe Dressler, the Hollywood queen of ordinary, homely and ugly mugs. Together they drink, argue, have another drink, with the nonchalant rythme that Brel would translate into the furious tempo of 'Port of Amsterdam'. Amsterdam is still too glamorous for the film setting: one of these ports embedded in perpetual shadows and fogs where sailors drown their sorrow and lost memories in booze.
Chris is a solitary man who's left his wife and daughter, and Marthy is what we would call a tramp, both faces carry the mark of old age and both drink and laugh with the genuine spontaneity of losers who don't even feel sore about it. And what else about the 'whiskey' line is that it would be expected from another low-life barfly, not the most gracious face that ever illuminated the screen. That it's Garbo's mouth uttering these words is so anticlimactic that it took a few seconds for audiences to digest them and then react with thundering cheers and applauses. So for these thirteen words only, the film was legend material. Now, let's get back to it.
When Chris and Marthy go to the local pub, one that has a specific ladies' entrance, Chris had just received a letter from his daughter Anna, and speaks about her in very high terms: she's a nurse or a governess in Minnesota, who did well for a girl who lost her mother at the age of five. Marthy is good sport about Anna's arrival and not only accepts to leave the house but also to get off the picture for a little while, understanding that she'd outstayed her welcome and became a liability as far as Chris' image goes. But Anna's entrance and order changes it all: Marthy understands that the two have in common a shattered past that justify such a choice of drinks: no martini, no tea, but a whisky and a ginger ale that would never serve. If Anna is a nurse, then Marthy is the First Lady.
The film is prude enough not to mention the past except in vague terms but we're mature enough to figure it out. In ports living under the haunts of fog, it's much easier to keep a past secret, the catch is that it leaves the future uncertain. But the air and fragrance of the sea, that old devil according to Chris, does good for the spirit of Anna who finds her energy revitalized and seems to retrieve some balance with the old fool, that until the old devil brings a newcomer. His name is Mat, he's a beefy Irishman, strong as an ox and speaking so loud Chris immediately shrinks in his presence and get as a frail as frog. Mat is played by Charles Bickford.
It doesn't take long for the two to fall in love and for Anna to understand that this is one love built on lies. Garbo is the living embodiment of doomed romances, before Ingrid Bergman, she knew how to make that forced gaiety and genuine tears inhabit her characters, women in love with wrong persons. But Anna Christie is the 'wrong' person that time and a lie is a pernicious venom, for even in love, she'd be alone in her own conscience, letting her soul drifting secretly while her gracious figurehead is what attracted Matt. It all comes down to her plea for a second chance, but that can't do without revealing her past, that past she kept hiding not to further plunge her father in an ocean of guilt.
The fllm was adapted from a play by Eugene O'Neil and seems to take place in a time before the prohibition, it's rather conventional and is full of stagey and melodramatic moments but it's sublimated by the figure of Anna who discharged her past into the sea until it splashed all over her conscience. Some scenes are extremely poignant like in the amusement park scene when she pretends she doesn't know Marthy. This is a woman who're not ashamed of her past because she was a victim after all and yet lives in world where she's controlled by opposing waters: men, reputation, booze, you name them.
Directed by Clarence Brown, the film might have inspired "Port of Shadows" a milestone of French cinema with Jean Gabin playing an army deserter and Michelle Morgan a girl with a troubled past. There's immanent poetry and impending fatality in ports and sea, you can board a ship and have a second life, or you can anchor yourself but memories have their tides and come back to haunt you. The film ends on a happy ending that seems rather forced and never leaves us confident that some gloom won't come to haunt Anna's back.
The one thing to be confident about was that the film ensured her second career in the movies, as she proved she was more than a face.
Each word flows as smoothly as the other, creating the kind of kitchen-sink poetry that works almost instantly without even the luxury of a context, yet the context is what makes that single line so legendary. Those were (and you probably know it already) the first words spoken by Greta Garbo on screen; in fact, the very tag-line (and publicity) of the film was "Garbo talks!" and no, they're not the first words spoken in the film as Clarence Brown keeps us almost twenty minutes in the waiting before the queen of the screen makes her long awaited arrival, the first since the talkies.
But these minutes are rather well-spent in the company of George F. Marion as the drunken barge captain Chris Christopherson and his boozy companion Marthy played by the incomparable Marthe Dressler, the Hollywood queen of ordinary, homely and ugly mugs. Together they drink, argue, have another drink, with the nonchalant rythme that Brel would translate into the furious tempo of 'Port of Amsterdam'. Amsterdam is still too glamorous for the film setting: one of these ports embedded in perpetual shadows and fogs where sailors drown their sorrow and lost memories in booze.
Chris is a solitary man who's left his wife and daughter, and Marthy is what we would call a tramp, both faces carry the mark of old age and both drink and laugh with the genuine spontaneity of losers who don't even feel sore about it. And what else about the 'whiskey' line is that it would be expected from another low-life barfly, not the most gracious face that ever illuminated the screen. That it's Garbo's mouth uttering these words is so anticlimactic that it took a few seconds for audiences to digest them and then react with thundering cheers and applauses. So for these thirteen words only, the film was legend material. Now, let's get back to it.
When Chris and Marthy go to the local pub, one that has a specific ladies' entrance, Chris had just received a letter from his daughter Anna, and speaks about her in very high terms: she's a nurse or a governess in Minnesota, who did well for a girl who lost her mother at the age of five. Marthy is good sport about Anna's arrival and not only accepts to leave the house but also to get off the picture for a little while, understanding that she'd outstayed her welcome and became a liability as far as Chris' image goes. But Anna's entrance and order changes it all: Marthy understands that the two have in common a shattered past that justify such a choice of drinks: no martini, no tea, but a whisky and a ginger ale that would never serve. If Anna is a nurse, then Marthy is the First Lady.
The film is prude enough not to mention the past except in vague terms but we're mature enough to figure it out. In ports living under the haunts of fog, it's much easier to keep a past secret, the catch is that it leaves the future uncertain. But the air and fragrance of the sea, that old devil according to Chris, does good for the spirit of Anna who finds her energy revitalized and seems to retrieve some balance with the old fool, that until the old devil brings a newcomer. His name is Mat, he's a beefy Irishman, strong as an ox and speaking so loud Chris immediately shrinks in his presence and get as a frail as frog. Mat is played by Charles Bickford.
It doesn't take long for the two to fall in love and for Anna to understand that this is one love built on lies. Garbo is the living embodiment of doomed romances, before Ingrid Bergman, she knew how to make that forced gaiety and genuine tears inhabit her characters, women in love with wrong persons. But Anna Christie is the 'wrong' person that time and a lie is a pernicious venom, for even in love, she'd be alone in her own conscience, letting her soul drifting secretly while her gracious figurehead is what attracted Matt. It all comes down to her plea for a second chance, but that can't do without revealing her past, that past she kept hiding not to further plunge her father in an ocean of guilt.
The fllm was adapted from a play by Eugene O'Neil and seems to take place in a time before the prohibition, it's rather conventional and is full of stagey and melodramatic moments but it's sublimated by the figure of Anna who discharged her past into the sea until it splashed all over her conscience. Some scenes are extremely poignant like in the amusement park scene when she pretends she doesn't know Marthy. This is a woman who're not ashamed of her past because she was a victim after all and yet lives in world where she's controlled by opposing waters: men, reputation, booze, you name them.
Directed by Clarence Brown, the film might have inspired "Port of Shadows" a milestone of French cinema with Jean Gabin playing an army deserter and Michelle Morgan a girl with a troubled past. There's immanent poetry and impending fatality in ports and sea, you can board a ship and have a second life, or you can anchor yourself but memories have their tides and come back to haunt you. The film ends on a happy ending that seems rather forced and never leaves us confident that some gloom won't come to haunt Anna's back.
The one thing to be confident about was that the film ensured her second career in the movies, as she proved she was more than a face.
Garbo Talks!
didi-530 October 2006
'Anne Christie' was Garbo's 14th film and the first in which her husky Swedish voice was heard. She plays the lead character, Anna, who has struggled with being abandoned by her father Chris (a drunken barge owner played by George F Marion), and with the misfortune of the life she has has to lead to keep her head above water.
Meeting Irish Matt (Charles Bickford) may mark the turning point for her ... or does it? Garbo looks and sounds great in this drama which, although looking rather clunky and moving at a slow pace, still manages to interest and engage an audience nearly 80 years later. Marie Dressler makes an impact in the role which gave her a second flush of movie success in films such as Min and Bill, Dinner at Eight, and Emma; while Marion and Bickford are more than adequate.
An interesting slice of movie history. Garbo would do better talkies in the years following, but 'Anna Christie' will always be remembered for the first time she talked on screen.
Meeting Irish Matt (Charles Bickford) may mark the turning point for her ... or does it? Garbo looks and sounds great in this drama which, although looking rather clunky and moving at a slow pace, still manages to interest and engage an audience nearly 80 years later. Marie Dressler makes an impact in the role which gave her a second flush of movie success in films such as Min and Bill, Dinner at Eight, and Emma; while Marion and Bickford are more than adequate.
An interesting slice of movie history. Garbo would do better talkies in the years following, but 'Anna Christie' will always be remembered for the first time she talked on screen.
A worthwhile film
chrishughesphoto1 April 2008
This film is worthwhile despite what you may hear. The performance of Marie Dressler (I hope I am spelling it right) as a drunken old sot is reason enough to see this film. It is an amazing performance. She is in a drunken stupor in three scenes for a good long while and she never does the same thing twice. You can actually smell the alcohol when she is done. Amazing. And Greta of course speaks her first lines on film and shes great. The Eugene O'Neill story is solid and like most O'Neill stories, very deep and intense. This is not light entertainment but if you appreciate those great character actors from the 30's and 40's you will like it. Some of the film is technically fuzzy but all in all worthwhile.
Garbo Talks, Actress' First Talkie
springfieldrental23 July 2022
MGM was coddling its star attraction, Greta Garbo, when talkies were emerging as a force in movie theaters. The studio was the last to fully surrender its silent movie productions, and Garbo was the main reason. The Swedish actress was under intense tutelage to learn how to speak eloquently in the English language since she hardly knew a word of it when she arrived in the United States in 1925. There were a number of Hollywood silent movie stars from Europe whose language barrier spelled their doom in the transition to sound. MGM didn't want one its most valuable commodities to become a liability because of her thick accent. That, and Garbo's little stage experience, were potential stumbling blocks to further her career in film.
The studio found a role where she could speak English with a Swedish accent. Adapting a 1921 Eugene O'Neill play, MGM cast her as a woman from Minnesota in February 1930's "Anna Christie." Her character, Anna, hadn't seen her father, Chris (George Marion), a coal barge operator in New York City harbor, since she was five. Now that she's 20, her seedy past is coming back to haunt her. Sixteen minutes into the film, Garbo finally appears in the picture by walking into a waterfront bar.
"Gimme a whisky, ginger ale on the side, and don't be stingy, baby," she says to a waiter. Her first words on the screen became one of those huge monumental moments in cinema history. Garbo is finally heard talking. A New York Times film reviewer described the actress' tonality as "a boy's voice, really, rather flat, rather toneless, yet growing more attractive as the picture advances and you become somewhat accustomed to it." The studio's publicity department was in overdrive as it handed out releases of the actress' first talking picture to the nation's newspapers, who blared the headline "Garbo Speaks."
"Anna Christie" deals with a woman whose previous two years were torturous. Her father suspects she's had a sordid past. Anna's secretive about it until they rescue a sailor, Matt (Charles Bickford), whose ship has sunk. The two young 'uns fall in love, which spurs Anna to tell both Matt and her father her sad, dark history.
One of the highlights of "Anna Christie" is actress Marie Dressler as the mistress to Anna's father. Dressler was witnessing a rejuvenation from a stalled film career in the mid-1920s. She began speaking on the screen in her role as a wisecracking stage actress in February 1930's "Chasing Rainbows." Dressler possessed a strong speaking voice, suited perfectly for talkies.
The studio produced a German-language version of "Anna Christie," filmed after the English version. Garbo, who grew up learning German, retained her roled as Anna while she was surrounded by a cast of German actors. Her opening line was spoken as "Whisky - aber nicht zu knapp!" ("Whiskey, but not too short").
The Academy members loved Garbo's first talking performance, nominating her for Best Actress in both her "Anna Christie" role and for her next film, "Romance." Other nominations associated with the O'Neill film adaptation (which was first brought to the screen in Blanche Sweet's 1923 silent) was for Best Director (Clarence Brown) and Best Cinematography (William Daniels). But it's Garbo's role, as one critic says, that this movie will always be remembered. "Whether dramatically running her hands through her hair, throwing back her head with a sarcastic laugh, or simply hunching her shoulders with a sorrowful look on her face, she is absolutely riveting to watch." The American Film Institute felt so strongly about Garbo's first words on the screen its members nominated her opening line for consideration for its top 100 Movie Quotes of All-Time.
The studio found a role where she could speak English with a Swedish accent. Adapting a 1921 Eugene O'Neill play, MGM cast her as a woman from Minnesota in February 1930's "Anna Christie." Her character, Anna, hadn't seen her father, Chris (George Marion), a coal barge operator in New York City harbor, since she was five. Now that she's 20, her seedy past is coming back to haunt her. Sixteen minutes into the film, Garbo finally appears in the picture by walking into a waterfront bar.
"Gimme a whisky, ginger ale on the side, and don't be stingy, baby," she says to a waiter. Her first words on the screen became one of those huge monumental moments in cinema history. Garbo is finally heard talking. A New York Times film reviewer described the actress' tonality as "a boy's voice, really, rather flat, rather toneless, yet growing more attractive as the picture advances and you become somewhat accustomed to it." The studio's publicity department was in overdrive as it handed out releases of the actress' first talking picture to the nation's newspapers, who blared the headline "Garbo Speaks."
"Anna Christie" deals with a woman whose previous two years were torturous. Her father suspects she's had a sordid past. Anna's secretive about it until they rescue a sailor, Matt (Charles Bickford), whose ship has sunk. The two young 'uns fall in love, which spurs Anna to tell both Matt and her father her sad, dark history.
One of the highlights of "Anna Christie" is actress Marie Dressler as the mistress to Anna's father. Dressler was witnessing a rejuvenation from a stalled film career in the mid-1920s. She began speaking on the screen in her role as a wisecracking stage actress in February 1930's "Chasing Rainbows." Dressler possessed a strong speaking voice, suited perfectly for talkies.
The studio produced a German-language version of "Anna Christie," filmed after the English version. Garbo, who grew up learning German, retained her roled as Anna while she was surrounded by a cast of German actors. Her opening line was spoken as "Whisky - aber nicht zu knapp!" ("Whiskey, but not too short").
The Academy members loved Garbo's first talking performance, nominating her for Best Actress in both her "Anna Christie" role and for her next film, "Romance." Other nominations associated with the O'Neill film adaptation (which was first brought to the screen in Blanche Sweet's 1923 silent) was for Best Director (Clarence Brown) and Best Cinematography (William Daniels). But it's Garbo's role, as one critic says, that this movie will always be remembered. "Whether dramatically running her hands through her hair, throwing back her head with a sarcastic laugh, or simply hunching her shoulders with a sorrowful look on her face, she is absolutely riveting to watch." The American Film Institute felt so strongly about Garbo's first words on the screen its members nominated her opening line for consideration for its top 100 Movie Quotes of All-Time.
Hear for yourself
TheLittleSongbird10 February 2020
The main interest point for most people in seeing 'Anna Christie' is most likely, it certainly was in my case, seeing the wonderful Greta Garbo in her first "talkie" (after ten years starring in silent films). Especially considering that when it came to the advertising, she was the most hyped up asset and a big thing was made about the film being most significant for it being her first film to be in sound. While 'Anna Christie' is no 'Long Day's Journey into Night', Eugene O'Neill is always worth reading and getting acquainted with and that's still the case.
While there are no issues to be had with Garbo, if it weren't for her 'Anna Christie's' existence would have been unknown to me, it was a different story regarding the film itself. 'Anna Christie' is worth seeing for her and historical interest for that particular stage of her career, but not for an awful lot else. Not an awful or unwatchable film by any stretch, it actually takes a lot for me to call any film that, but not great either and one of not many Garbo films to not hold up particularly well.
Garbo is the main rain to see 'Anna Christie' in the first place and she is the best thing about it too. She is a truly luminous presence and brings intensity, dignity and pathos to her role. Marie Dressler is also riveting, not as subtle but she gives it absolutely everything and plays her character to a hilt in a way that still entertains and sears now.
'Anna Christie' has handsome set and costume design, though one wishes that the photography was more striking and accomodating to fully appreciate it. Garbo's opening line "give me a whisky, ginger ale on the side and don't be stingy, baby" is quite an iconic one for her career and one heck of a way to order for something. Some of the script is entertaining and thoughtful.
Sadly a lot of the dialogue is too heavy on the talk and comes over as over-wordy, betraying the source material's stage origins. 'Anna Christie' also fails at opening up the drama so it comes over as very stagy and too much like a filmed stage play. Unfortunately, the story for me was little more than creaky (could hear the creaking of wooden floorboards going on in my head while watching) over-heated melodrama moving at a very turgid pace.
Despite loving Garbo and Dressler, the others impressed me quite a lot less. George F. Marion seemed to be thinking he was playing a pantomime villain on stage or something and Charles Bickford came over as bland. Clarence Brown's direction is neither sympathetic or engaging.
In summary, watchable curio with two great performances but not an awful lot more than that. The German language version is shorter but is more cohesive, the performances more natural (including Garbo) and the direction more sympathetic, while not perfect it was the superior version. 5/10
While there are no issues to be had with Garbo, if it weren't for her 'Anna Christie's' existence would have been unknown to me, it was a different story regarding the film itself. 'Anna Christie' is worth seeing for her and historical interest for that particular stage of her career, but not for an awful lot else. Not an awful or unwatchable film by any stretch, it actually takes a lot for me to call any film that, but not great either and one of not many Garbo films to not hold up particularly well.
Garbo is the main rain to see 'Anna Christie' in the first place and she is the best thing about it too. She is a truly luminous presence and brings intensity, dignity and pathos to her role. Marie Dressler is also riveting, not as subtle but she gives it absolutely everything and plays her character to a hilt in a way that still entertains and sears now.
'Anna Christie' has handsome set and costume design, though one wishes that the photography was more striking and accomodating to fully appreciate it. Garbo's opening line "give me a whisky, ginger ale on the side and don't be stingy, baby" is quite an iconic one for her career and one heck of a way to order for something. Some of the script is entertaining and thoughtful.
Sadly a lot of the dialogue is too heavy on the talk and comes over as over-wordy, betraying the source material's stage origins. 'Anna Christie' also fails at opening up the drama so it comes over as very stagy and too much like a filmed stage play. Unfortunately, the story for me was little more than creaky (could hear the creaking of wooden floorboards going on in my head while watching) over-heated melodrama moving at a very turgid pace.
Despite loving Garbo and Dressler, the others impressed me quite a lot less. George F. Marion seemed to be thinking he was playing a pantomime villain on stage or something and Charles Bickford came over as bland. Clarence Brown's direction is neither sympathetic or engaging.
In summary, watchable curio with two great performances but not an awful lot more than that. The German language version is shorter but is more cohesive, the performances more natural (including Garbo) and the direction more sympathetic, while not perfect it was the superior version. 5/10
"Gimme A Viskey, With Some Ginger Ale, Don't Be Stingy Baby"
bkoganbing14 May 2009
And with those words one of the great movie publicity campaigns came to a conclusion. 'Garbo Talks' and she spoke those words in her first sound film, an adaption of the Eugene O'Neil play Anna Christie.
Unlike with some other players and some other studios, MGM took great care in finding the proper vehicle for Greta Garbo. Many players who were fine in the universal medium of silent film would lose their careers because of talkies. Their heavy native accents would get in the way, some didn't know any English.
It was no accident that Anna Christie was chosen for Garbo. First of all it being authored by one of America's leading playwrights, it was the kind of literary property that would have appealed to her. Secondly since the title role was someone who was Swedish, the accent could be explained. Finally a lot of the kinks from early talkies had been worked out, even though Anna Christie still made use of title cards.
Like most of O'Neil's work it's short on action, but long and deep on characterization. The story takes place on the New York waterfront where Garbo as Anna has come to live with her father George Marion. Marion ran away to sea years ago when Anna was a baby and Marion abandoned his wife. Anna has had to do what she could to survive in the adult world and that includes prostitution.
Marion of course is glad to see her, he even kicks out Marie Dressler, the old waterfront crone he's been living with for years to make room for his flesh and blood. Of course both Marion and Garbo have their problems adjusting to each other, not made easy when they give shelter to a sailor played by Charles Bickford who takes a fancy to Garbo.
Marion is repeating his role from the original Broadway production. The role of Anna on stage was done by Pauline Lord. Anna Christie ran for 177 performances in the 1921-22 season on Broadway. It's one of O'Neil's best known works and one that's revived frequently.
Of course Garbo's performance with perfect diction even with a Swedish accent was acclaimed and her future in sound films was assured. Greta Garbo received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and the film also got nominations for Clarence Brown as Best Director and William Daniels for Cinematography. Daniels should especially get a lot of kudos for the way he photographed the waterfront scenes. And Brown created the mood around the waterfront where the film is set.
Eugene O'Neil's work is timeless so Anna Christie even with a lot of the trappings of early sound films does not date the way many films of that era do. Garbo also shows she mastered the subtlety needed to work in the sound medium. Anna Christie is a classic, all the way around.
Unlike with some other players and some other studios, MGM took great care in finding the proper vehicle for Greta Garbo. Many players who were fine in the universal medium of silent film would lose their careers because of talkies. Their heavy native accents would get in the way, some didn't know any English.
It was no accident that Anna Christie was chosen for Garbo. First of all it being authored by one of America's leading playwrights, it was the kind of literary property that would have appealed to her. Secondly since the title role was someone who was Swedish, the accent could be explained. Finally a lot of the kinks from early talkies had been worked out, even though Anna Christie still made use of title cards.
Like most of O'Neil's work it's short on action, but long and deep on characterization. The story takes place on the New York waterfront where Garbo as Anna has come to live with her father George Marion. Marion ran away to sea years ago when Anna was a baby and Marion abandoned his wife. Anna has had to do what she could to survive in the adult world and that includes prostitution.
Marion of course is glad to see her, he even kicks out Marie Dressler, the old waterfront crone he's been living with for years to make room for his flesh and blood. Of course both Marion and Garbo have their problems adjusting to each other, not made easy when they give shelter to a sailor played by Charles Bickford who takes a fancy to Garbo.
Marion is repeating his role from the original Broadway production. The role of Anna on stage was done by Pauline Lord. Anna Christie ran for 177 performances in the 1921-22 season on Broadway. It's one of O'Neil's best known works and one that's revived frequently.
Of course Garbo's performance with perfect diction even with a Swedish accent was acclaimed and her future in sound films was assured. Greta Garbo received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and the film also got nominations for Clarence Brown as Best Director and William Daniels for Cinematography. Daniels should especially get a lot of kudos for the way he photographed the waterfront scenes. And Brown created the mood around the waterfront where the film is set.
Eugene O'Neil's work is timeless so Anna Christie even with a lot of the trappings of early sound films does not date the way many films of that era do. Garbo also shows she mastered the subtlety needed to work in the sound medium. Anna Christie is a classic, all the way around.
"Gimme a visky, ginger ale on the side, and don't be stingy, baby."
brchthethird19 July 2022
I will admit (again) to not really being that into Greta Garbo movies (with a couple notable exceptions), although she is/was drop-dead gorgeous. Whether it was the writing or her own acting abilities, a lot of the roles I've seen her in so far have had her coming across as rather stilted at times, as if stifled by her own glamour. While she does look attractive as Anna Christie, the source material by Eugene O'Neill was very strong and much more compelling than the period melodramas she would end up doing later. And it doesn't hurt that you have the crackerjack MGM team of Gibbons/Shearer/Adrian for support. Aside from Garbo, Marie Dressler's limited role as Anna's father's mistress added a nice touch of levity to a largely serious story. And, as stage plays often do, there was a dramatic climax which contains perhaps the best piece of acting I've seen from Garbo so far (at least in talkies). Unlike most of the other Pre-Code Garbo films, this is one I can see myself returning to.
And yes, I know I'm the umpteenth person to use that quote as a subject line. So what? It's a classic, and for good reason.
And yes, I know I'm the umpteenth person to use that quote as a subject line. So what? It's a classic, and for good reason.
Garbo Talks! (and talks.. and talks..)
Spuzzlightyear17 July 2005
The most famous thing about this movie is that this was the first time Garbo talked in a motion picture. Aside from that 'milestone' (if you want to call it that) this is a movie that doesn't go beyond creaky melodrama, with Garbo trying her best not to fall asleep.
The plot involves Greta Garbo returning to her Father after 15 years abroad. Her father, who is a captain on a barge, is happy to see her, even though she's acting a bit cagey. She soon falls in love with a grizzled seaman, who also notices that something, a barrier if you will, is holding her back.
Anyways, the two fellows don't particularly like each other and soon come to blows over Garbo, when she diffuses the situation by revealing her Big Secret which is no surprise to us, if you've read the video box (damn you MGM!!) Garbo is nothing but arms in this movie, she acts and acts flailing her arms about, and gets grating quickly. The two male leads are alright. Probably the best performance comes from the classic silent actress Marie Dressler, who plays the drunken captain's even drunker girlfriend. What a performance! It's too bad the tagline couldn't have read, "Dressler Talks!"
The plot involves Greta Garbo returning to her Father after 15 years abroad. Her father, who is a captain on a barge, is happy to see her, even though she's acting a bit cagey. She soon falls in love with a grizzled seaman, who also notices that something, a barrier if you will, is holding her back.
Anyways, the two fellows don't particularly like each other and soon come to blows over Garbo, when she diffuses the situation by revealing her Big Secret which is no surprise to us, if you've read the video box (damn you MGM!!) Garbo is nothing but arms in this movie, she acts and acts flailing her arms about, and gets grating quickly. The two male leads are alright. Probably the best performance comes from the classic silent actress Marie Dressler, who plays the drunken captain's even drunker girlfriend. What a performance! It's too bad the tagline couldn't have read, "Dressler Talks!"
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