Greta Garbo plays Zaza, a jaded singer and kept woman with a haunted past, who is identified by Melvyn Douglas as Maria, his long lost wife, who can't remember him because she was so traumatized by WW I.
Overall, "As You Desire Me" can be described as goofy, but it does offer rewards a film buff won't get from any other movie, so it's worth a look. Just don't go in expecting too much, and you'll find plenty of momentary gems, amidst the silliness, to please a dedicated film fan.
In 1932, Talkies weren't mature yet and Hollywood didn't know how to handle this material in a talkie format.
So, accents slide all over the place, and acting styles clash like clouds in a stormy sky.
Garbo is Garbo, doing her usual vamps, writhes, back of wrist to forward faints, and eye rolls. And, of course, she is unbelievably beautiful and desirable, proving, once again, that when you classify movie stars, Garbo stand alone, sui generis.
Erich von Stroheim seems off in his own little world of S & M fantasies, Owen Moore comes out of a very gay music hall production of E.M. Forester's "Maurice," and Melvyn Douglas gives a performance that is alternately laugh-out-loud funny and, yet, occasionally sexy.
When Douglas, as the aggrieved husband, reads a letter revealing that his long lost wife has been found, he quakes with emotion and exclaims "Mother of God!" with all the conviction of a high school student in his first play.
This very young Douglas, who would go on to embody the debonair type who never gets excited about much of anything, just couldn't do melodrama justice at all. Maybe John Gilbert, but not Douglas.
Later, though, he and Garbo, in a rustic Italian inn they retreat to after a day of boating on the Adriatic, hits his prime. He and Garbo share some silent moments, a few fascinatingly choreographed kisses, a couple of ultra-phallic cigarettes, and some very, very suggestive pre-Decency-Code lighting that would have gone down in screen history had this been a more coherent film.
There are suggestions that there might have been an interesting plot and some deep themes somewhere behind this movie, that got lost en route to the screen. Von Stroheim tries to play the Iago part, the guy who ruins everybody's fun by asking big, tough questions that test, and thereby undermine, the nature of true love and identity.
But these tests are aborted, as are the themes they might have explored.>
Garbo has a few scenes that will remind you of Ingrid Bergman in "Anastasia." (Interestingly, Bergman's role was a come back role, and Garbo had announced that she'd retire after "As You Desire Me.")
Garbo gets to question what her true identity is, who she is, and why Douglas loves her. Does he love only a memory? Or does he want her to secure his access, as spouse, to his missing wife's property?
The film ties up all the questions much more tightly than "Anastasia" does, and it never really gets up a good head of steam in examining them.
Too, the movie hints at making some important points about a big theme in the post-WW-I era, post traumatic stress disorder. It hints at how the chaos and horror of war can damage people for life. But, again, this theme is just hinted at, and not really developed. That alone is telling -- this was not an era in which a film like "Born of the Fourth of July," that really probed this question, could have been made.
"As You Desire Me" is not a great film, but no other film offers just that Italian Inn scene with Douglas and Garbo, and it's always fun to watch Von Stroheim strut his sadism about, remove his monocle, and click his heels.
And, as for Garbo -- she was divine. Nuff said.
Overall, "As You Desire Me" can be described as goofy, but it does offer rewards a film buff won't get from any other movie, so it's worth a look. Just don't go in expecting too much, and you'll find plenty of momentary gems, amidst the silliness, to please a dedicated film fan.
In 1932, Talkies weren't mature yet and Hollywood didn't know how to handle this material in a talkie format.
So, accents slide all over the place, and acting styles clash like clouds in a stormy sky.
Garbo is Garbo, doing her usual vamps, writhes, back of wrist to forward faints, and eye rolls. And, of course, she is unbelievably beautiful and desirable, proving, once again, that when you classify movie stars, Garbo stand alone, sui generis.
Erich von Stroheim seems off in his own little world of S & M fantasies, Owen Moore comes out of a very gay music hall production of E.M. Forester's "Maurice," and Melvyn Douglas gives a performance that is alternately laugh-out-loud funny and, yet, occasionally sexy.
When Douglas, as the aggrieved husband, reads a letter revealing that his long lost wife has been found, he quakes with emotion and exclaims "Mother of God!" with all the conviction of a high school student in his first play.
This very young Douglas, who would go on to embody the debonair type who never gets excited about much of anything, just couldn't do melodrama justice at all. Maybe John Gilbert, but not Douglas.
Later, though, he and Garbo, in a rustic Italian inn they retreat to after a day of boating on the Adriatic, hits his prime. He and Garbo share some silent moments, a few fascinatingly choreographed kisses, a couple of ultra-phallic cigarettes, and some very, very suggestive pre-Decency-Code lighting that would have gone down in screen history had this been a more coherent film.
There are suggestions that there might have been an interesting plot and some deep themes somewhere behind this movie, that got lost en route to the screen. Von Stroheim tries to play the Iago part, the guy who ruins everybody's fun by asking big, tough questions that test, and thereby undermine, the nature of true love and identity.
But these tests are aborted, as are the themes they might have explored.>
Garbo has a few scenes that will remind you of Ingrid Bergman in "Anastasia." (Interestingly, Bergman's role was a come back role, and Garbo had announced that she'd retire after "As You Desire Me.")
Garbo gets to question what her true identity is, who she is, and why Douglas loves her. Does he love only a memory? Or does he want her to secure his access, as spouse, to his missing wife's property?
The film ties up all the questions much more tightly than "Anastasia" does, and it never really gets up a good head of steam in examining them.
Too, the movie hints at making some important points about a big theme in the post-WW-I era, post traumatic stress disorder. It hints at how the chaos and horror of war can damage people for life. But, again, this theme is just hinted at, and not really developed. That alone is telling -- this was not an era in which a film like "Born of the Fourth of July," that really probed this question, could have been made.
"As You Desire Me" is not a great film, but no other film offers just that Italian Inn scene with Douglas and Garbo, and it's always fun to watch Von Stroheim strut his sadism about, remove his monocle, and click his heels.
And, as for Garbo -- she was divine. Nuff said.
