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Great post Mandyrose. Your post brought up visceral memories of an ex-girlfriend of mine from Stockholm; she had that same althletic, nervous, fragile while tough femininity that oozed out of Garbo. It's a peculiarly Scandinavian femininity, I'd see it in Ingrid Bergman as well. There is a slight crack in the smoothness, revealing a slight whiff of a physical jerkiness, or lankiness, a hint of bad nerves, of a head too smart for itself to operate in a completely charming manner, seeming, in the back of it's mind, to be counting the seconds until it can get away from crowds... hints of overbearing fathers, a desire and willingness to fuck painted over religious guilt, an inability to be completely wanton, while at the same time being game for just about anything that doesn't degrade the self. My ex had the same slightly husky, self-conscious voice of Bergman and Garbo, the same tendency to move the whole torso when the head moved (inner tension creating stiffness instead of well oiled, independant joints). I can picture them in bed, spending the first 3/4 self conscious, licking their lips, their eyes very active and self-aware, unable to quickly extinguish the front-brain, breathing through the nose and not making much noise..... then finally latching onto something down in there and blowing out an atomic blast so desperately needed that it rocks the platelets.

With that soccer/hockey/ballet/skiing-cultivated Swedish-female physique. Greta oozes Scandinavia from her very core.

something like this?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=V4_qXPB5OjA

HerrSchreck wrote:Great post Mandyrose. Your post brought up visceral memories of an ex-girlfriend of mine from Stockholm; she had that same althletic, nervous, fragile while tough femininity that oozed out of Garbo. It's a peculiarly Scandinavian femininity, I'd see it in Ingrid Bergman as well. There is a slight crack in the smoothness, revealing a slight whiff of a physical jerkiness, or lankiness, a hint of bad nerves, of a head too smart for itself to operate in a completely charming manner, seeming, in the back of it's mind, to be counting the seconds until it can get away from crowds... hints of overbearing fathers, a desire and willingness to fuck painted over religious guilt, an inability to be completely wanton, while at the same time being game for just about anything that doesn't degrade the self. My ex had the same slightly husky, self-conscious voice of Bergman and Garbo, the same tendency to move the whole torso when the head moved (inner tension creating stiffness instead of well oiled, independant joints). I can picture them in bed, spending the first 3/4 self conscious, licking their lips, their eyes very active and self-aware, unable to quickly extinguish the front-brain, breathing through the nose and not making much noise..... then finally latching onto something down in there and blowing out an atomic blast so desperately needed that it rocks the platelets.

With that soccer/hockey/ballet/skiing-cultivated Swedish-female physique. Greta oozes Scandinavia from her very core.

Now your just getting me all turned on and jealous! Bastard.

HerrSchreck wrote:...visceral memories of an ex-girlfriend of mine from Stockholm; she had that same althletic, nervous, fragile while tough femininity... It's a peculiarly Scandinavian femininity. There is a slight crack in the smoothness, revealing a slight whiff of a physical jerkiness, or lankiness, a hint of bad nerves, of a head too smart for itself to operate in a completelycharming manner, seeming, in the back of it's mind, to be counting the seconds until it can get away from crowds...

Living a stone's throw from the waterfront in Malmö, I have crowds of these lovely creatures practically right outside my front door all summer long. I took a walk amongst them today, and you know you are right... in a way that only someone, who has seen Garbo and Bergman on the screen can be right about Swedish women. They are in many ways the archetype of the feminine elegance, these Swedish (Scandinavian) women ...of course there are a few pages before and after Schreck's description, but in classic movie terms: "Enter the story as late as you can, and exit as soon as you can."

Schreck, if you ever need a break from the big apple, or wherever it is that your haunt is, you herewith have a standing invitation.

they need to release garbo v2 with her remaining talkies:
-susan lenox: her fall and rise
-inspiration
-romance
-the painted veil
-conquest
-as you desire me
-two faced woman
-3 disc dvd with silents: Wild Orchids, The Single Standard, The Kiss, A Woman of Affairs, The Torrent and Love

Now you couldn't disagree in saying that would be an awesome set. With releasing this set, her whole MGM catalog would be on DVD.

Scharphedin2 wrote:

HerrSchreck wrote:...visceral memories of an ex-girlfriend of mine from Stockholm; she had that same althletic, nervous, fragile while tough femininity... It's a peculiarly Scandinavian femininity. There is a slight crack in the smoothness, revealing a slight whiff of a physical jerkiness, or lankiness, a hint of bad nerves, of a head too smart for itself to operate in a completelycharming manner, seeming, in the back of it's mind, to be counting the seconds until it can get away from crowds...

Living a stone's throw from the waterfront in Malmö, I have crowds of these lovely creatures practically right outside my front door all summer long. I took a walk amongst them today, and you know you are right... in a way that only someone, who has seen Garbo and Bergman on the screen can be right about Swedish women. They are in many ways the archetype of the feminine elegance, these Swedish (Scandinavian) women ...of course there are a few pages before and after Schreck's description, but in classic movie terms: "Enter the story as late as you can, and exit as soon as you can."

Schreck, if you ever need a break from the big apple, or wherever it is that your haunt is, you herewith have a standing invitation.

Yeah my ex's sister used to live in Malmo. Land of the immortal ferry driver.

davidhare wrote:I think it might have been David Ehrenstein, or at least someone at a_film_by who related a story from a crew member on one of Crawford's movies who descibed her, when asked to change expressions for the next take or shot, would turn around and literally physically contort and reorganize her face to achieve the desired expression.

Actually, this originates with F. Scott Fitzgerald interviewed in the New York Times:

"...Writing for [Joan] is difficult. She can't change her emotions in the middle of a scene without going through a sort of Jekyll and Hyde contortion of the face, so that when one wants to indicate that she is going from joy to sorrow, one must cut away and then cut back. Also, you can never give her such a stage direction as 'telling a lie,' because if you did, she would practically give a representation of Benedict Arnold selling West Point to the British..."

This has always seemed unnecessarily unkind, (probably borne of a more personal animosity) especially considering how modern Crawford seems compared to many other actresses of her generation. And that modernity being particularly measurable when one regards her facility in shifting emotional register.

Interesting news regarding uncensored versions of Mata Hari and Two-Faced Woman posted at Home Theater Forum.

Anna Christie was shot in 1929, so what original aspect ratio should we have? I expected a 1.18:1 (or 1.15:1 or 1.20:1), but the DVD is 1.33:1, and sometimes you have unbalanced shot composition... Is this vertically cropped?

Yes, definitely the usual aspect error case when it comes to early sound films. 1.19 should be correct.

I have always liked Garbo when she doesn't speak (She was not so good in the talkies, except in the comedy, sadly she only made Ninotchka, where she's magnificent).
I re watched the 3 TCM DVD silents and the all 3, specially The temptress, are amazing: once upon a far time when Argentina was a rich country (sic), when a Spaniard was the most successful writer (Blasco Ibañez, totally forgotten today), when a latin lover from Málaga, named Antonio (Moreno), conquest Hollywood 70 years before the other Antonio, Banderas.

Fred Niblo is notably underrated. The mysterious lady is quite good, and it's set in pre WWI Austro Hungarian empire, a mythical and interesting era for me.

The Kiss is excellent, spite its limited old fashion bourgeois plot; and its ending is totally pre-code. I'll revisit Goulding's Anna Karenina with a happy ending and art deco non Soviet Russia this week.

finishing 2013 questions: are the other Greta Garbo silent films available in pressed discs? I really like The torrent where she is a Spaniard !!! (sic)
and why don't WB release The four horsemen of apocalypse (Valentino version)? It's out on DVD in Spain but it looks a DIVX for 12 euros. WW1 seen by the cinema with the 100th anniversary?

She was not so good in the talkies, except in the comedy, sadly she only made Ninotchka, where she's magnificent

I think she's hysterical in Cukor's Two-Faced Woman, another comedy and her final performance (and the Warner Archive disc looks great).

TCM aired several of these titles this past week on their Summer under the Stars series.Queen Christina, which probably has my all time favorite performance of her’s and one of my favorite movie endings, looks recently restored. I hope soon most of these Garbo-MGM titles are released either through Warner Archive or Criterion.