bkoganbing 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.

nnnn45089191 "Anna Christie" marked the sound debut of Garbo.It was quite a daring step for the silent screen siren to play a downtrodden prostitute in this glum melodrama.She's still affected by the acting-style of the silent pictures and overplays her dramatic gestures quite a lot. The movie gave Marie Dressler's career a shot in the arm.She's very good as the boozing girlfriend of George F. Marion who plays Garbo's father.Charles Bickford plays Garbo's virile love interest.With an Irish accent his performance impressed me the most.For the most this movie is an ordeal to sit through.The acting is overly dramatic and the story doesn't hold that much interest.The movie is only of historical interest.

MartinHafer 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!

didi-5 '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.