elvircorhodzic QEEN KRISTINA is the biographical romantic drama about a Swedish queen and offers us one of the best acting performance in the thirties of the last century. Everything is Greta Garbo gave this film is priceless. The role of the mystical, mysterious and a woman in love is perfect for her. She herself insisted. A tragic love story set in the time of "Thirty Years War" is welcome with the historical aspect. The actual Queen Christina is probably not the inspiration Greta Garbo, but momentum in which Garbo could present role is quite sufficient. The director entered give fiction and romantic elements in which the leading actress simply brilliant. Costume design is good, the story is very good, and the performance is excellent.Greta Garbo (Qeen Christina) is a strong woman who primarily follows the human values and listens to his heart. Greta's style I especially do not like. I appreciate her expression, appearance, acting, strength and lightness. At times I think Garbo runs away from the camera or play with it. Again in close-up was created for her. Garbo has a beautiful smile, but do not know laugh. Maybe there is no reason. John Gilbert (Antonio) is very good. One of the few actors who with Greta has a perfect chemistry in the film. If memory serves me right, the chemistry was present in everyday life.I really liked the "relaxed" content, excellent acting by Greta Garbo and little implicit lesbianism in her character.„Queen Kristina" is a classic melodrama in which I enjoyed the most part.

JohnHowardReid Although this picture was one of the top ten at the U.S./Canadian box office for 1934, I think "Queen Christina" is somewhat over- rated. Garbo of course is magnificent. Superbly costumed and superbly set, like an ultra-polished jewel in a perfect surround. What is not so perfect is the script, which tends to be much given to verbose speeches. All this talk is wonderful when Garbo is doing the speaking, but somewhat less than entrancing when mouthed by such second-rate players as Lewis Stone, Ian Keith and John Gilbert, whose collective acting style in this movie can only be described as old-fashioned declamatory or even hammy. Stone, alas, is by far the worst offender. The way he pitches his voice so that it has an uncanny knack of hogging the mike, the way he beats up with much facial grimacing his repetitious and woefully predictable lines, the way he gestures with his hands, the patent insincerity and hallow shamming of his whole manner, betoken the true ham, the third-rate thespian who has nothing to offer but the most superficial vocal and histrionic "tricks". Gilbert is a lot better. He's obviously trying hard to please, but obviously receiving little help from his dialogue coach. Not only does his voice have that celebrated odd timbre which seems to mis-match his image, but he tends to deliver his lines in a stiff, unnatural manner. Oh yes, there are times, I know, when he's quite effective. But these, alas, are in the minority. He's also hampered by being unflatteringly photographed — Daniels reserves all his best efforts for Garbo, really pouring on the light in her close-ups — and none too attractively costumed. Oddly enough, it's young Elizabeth Young and old Sir C. Aubrey Smith (who appears at first sight to be miscast) who alone bring a bit of credit to the support cast (though we will give Reginald Owen the benefit of the doubt by saying he is the victim of inept direction). Mamoulian is a great pictorial stylist, no doubt of that. Many of the images and visuals in Queen Christina linger long in the memory. The famous final fade-out close-up is not alone in nostalgic elegance and atmosphere. Many of the long shots — particularly those with Garbo framed like a child — are equally beautiful, equally haunting. The music score, sad to say, is awful. Worse still, executive producer Irving Thalberg's brother-in-law has contributed his usual remarkably tinny sound recording. Fortunately, this problem has been rectified to some extent on the current Warner Archive DVD.

sme_no_densetsu This film follows the reign of 17th century Swedish monarch Queen Christina, from her ascent to the throne at age six to her abdication twenty-two years later. The screenwriters take wild liberties with history in order to turn the film into a romantic epic but that's beside the point.Greta Garbo is the unquestioned star of the picture and she gives a standout performance, successfully portraying the queen as formidable yet feminine. The rest of the cast is consistently capable though no-one really stands out from the crowd.Rouben Mamoulian's direction is well-handled and the film in general shows good production values. To wit, the film boasts nice work from future Oscar winners William H. Daniels (cinematography) and Herbert Stothart (score).All in all, "Queen Christina" is a well-constructed romantic drama with a historical background. While it may depart quite a bit from fact it nevertheless makes for a compelling story.

Boba_Fett1138 Despite the fact that the whole gender-bender element within this movie is just utterly ridicules and just totally unbelievable, basically because Greta Garbo looks even more feminine as a man than most women you'll ever meet do, you still sort of tend to forgive this all and all of the movie its other minor issues and flaws. It basically is a very charming and extremely well made movie, especially considering it got made back in 1933. The movie feels more like a mid-'40's made movie.In its core this movie basically is a romantic movie, disguised as an historical drama, to provide the movie with some extra flair. This combination works out very well and the movie most certainly does not feel like just any other ordinary love-story orientated movie from the same time period. The romantic story itself within this movie is also really good and effective. It feels non-forced and very natural and therefor of course also feels and looks very realistic on screen.In my opinion the movie is too start really to consider this really as a biopic of Swedish Queen Christina. It's also too much focused on one issue for that; Queen Christina's love life.It's a very well made and good looking movie. The story is set in the 1600's, so the movie uses lots of grand looking sets and costumes. It perhaps makes the movie a bit stagy looking, also due to its performances and overall style of story-telling but once you're accustomed to it, you can step over it and enjoy the movie for what it is, thanks to its fine constructed story and performances by the actors.A superior romantic historical movie from the early '30's.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/