It's the early 1600s and Sweden is embroiled in the Thirty Years War. Queen Christina (Garbo) is consulting with her advisers. Garbo goes over the records of losses and says sternly: "These wars are expensive." The Treasurer replies: "The Parliament clamors for war." Plus ça change...
She's pretty enough and she acts about as well as any other mainstream actress of the early thirties. Her delivery tends to be emphatic, with the subtlety of a traffic signal, but so did that of many other actresses of the period, like Mae West. But I've never understood how she was able to hold a generation in thrall. No -- more than a generation. When she went into seclusion, reporters and fans looked for her on the streets of New York for decades. Truman Capote somehow managed to wangle his way into the vestibule of her apartment and was able to make the shocking observation that one of the abstract paintings was hung upside down.
The man she falls in love with in this film is John Gilbert. The meme is that Gilbert was a great star of the silver screen when there was no sound other than the theater organ playing. But he was doomed by his high, squeaky voice. That's not the case. His voice is no different from anyone else's in the film. His performance is animated and with his dark hair and pencil mustache he looks rather dashing. Somebody upstairs didn't like him.
The dialog is not at all bad. It joins the personal life of the queen and the historical background in a tidy manner. It has a touch of elegance in it, just enough to suggest a time long past. The whole production is studio bound but that's not always a disadvantage. Hollywood set dressers and art designers could make a place look like the essence of what it stood for. An inn with its walls, furniture, and staircases hewn roughly from wood really LOOKS better that the original probably did.
The plot? It's a tragedy. Garbo is the queen but to get away from the pressures of the court he disguises herself as a young man and visits an inn. There she meets Gilbert, the Spanish ambassador on his way to the palace in Stockholm. Of course he doesn't recognize her, since he's never met the queen, nor does he recognize her sex. He must be pretty stupid because Garbo is wearing lipstick, eye shadow or whatever it's called, and false eyelashes the size of industrial brooms.
It's only when they are forced to share the same room and the same bed that he discovers what she reveals. Neither of them seems particularly displeased. Next morning, he gazes at her while she spends a musical five minutes exploring and memorizing the features of the room -- caressing the spinning wheel, kissing the pillow.
However, she's torn between love and duty. We've seen it before. "Roman Holiday," "Mary Queen of Scots," "Elizabeth and Essex." It never ended happily and it doesn't end happily here.
She's pretty enough and she acts about as well as any other mainstream actress of the early thirties. Her delivery tends to be emphatic, with the subtlety of a traffic signal, but so did that of many other actresses of the period, like Mae West. But I've never understood how she was able to hold a generation in thrall. No -- more than a generation. When she went into seclusion, reporters and fans looked for her on the streets of New York for decades. Truman Capote somehow managed to wangle his way into the vestibule of her apartment and was able to make the shocking observation that one of the abstract paintings was hung upside down.
The man she falls in love with in this film is John Gilbert. The meme is that Gilbert was a great star of the silver screen when there was no sound other than the theater organ playing. But he was doomed by his high, squeaky voice. That's not the case. His voice is no different from anyone else's in the film. His performance is animated and with his dark hair and pencil mustache he looks rather dashing. Somebody upstairs didn't like him.
The dialog is not at all bad. It joins the personal life of the queen and the historical background in a tidy manner. It has a touch of elegance in it, just enough to suggest a time long past. The whole production is studio bound but that's not always a disadvantage. Hollywood set dressers and art designers could make a place look like the essence of what it stood for. An inn with its walls, furniture, and staircases hewn roughly from wood really LOOKS better that the original probably did.
The plot? It's a tragedy. Garbo is the queen but to get away from the pressures of the court he disguises herself as a young man and visits an inn. There she meets Gilbert, the Spanish ambassador on his way to the palace in Stockholm. Of course he doesn't recognize her, since he's never met the queen, nor does he recognize her sex. He must be pretty stupid because Garbo is wearing lipstick, eye shadow or whatever it's called, and false eyelashes the size of industrial brooms.
It's only when they are forced to share the same room and the same bed that he discovers what she reveals. Neither of them seems particularly displeased. Next morning, he gazes at her while she spends a musical five minutes exploring and memorizing the features of the room -- caressing the spinning wheel, kissing the pillow.
However, she's torn between love and duty. We've seen it before. "Roman Holiday," "Mary Queen of Scots," "Elizabeth and Essex." It never ended happily and it doesn't end happily here.