Swedish Movie Star Greta Garbo

1928: A year of firsts

Garbo's first film with MGM was 1928's "Torrent", which was also her first "talkie". This was also the first film in which she was credited by her new name, Greta Garbo. Her first "talkie" is also notable for being the film in which she uttered the line for which she is perhaps most famous: "I want to be let alone." Garbo's first trip to Hollywood was in 1926. While there, she appeared on the cover of the October issue of the magazine Photoplay the first of two occasions on which she was featured on the cover of the magazine. The year also marks the first of three times that Garbo would be named "World's Most Beautiful Woman" in the annual "International Most Beautiful Women" poll conducted by the magazine Movie Weekly.

The Tenderness of a Gay Rogue

The 1932 film "Grand Hotel" was directed by the legendary filmmaker Edmund Goulding. The film starred Garbo, Wallace Beery, and John Barrymore. The film is set in a Berlin hotel and follows the lives of the guests over several days leading up to the opening of the Berlin Olympics. The character of Grusinskaya (Garbo's character) is extremely wealthy and has a very close relationship with the head of a Russian anarchist group. She also has a slight romantic relationship with a gay rogue — a relationship that is classed as neither romantic nor sexual. In other words, it's a "gay" relationship between two people who are not gay. The character of the gay rogue is a very interesting one, as it shows Garbo's ability to understand and play with gender norms. She plays with the idea of a woman being able to express tenderness without being seen as "too feminine".

1932: Romance and heartbreak

Garbo's most famous on-screen romance was with her co-star, John Gilbert, in the film "Anna Karenina" a role that Garbo was reluctant to play because she didn't want to appear in a costume drama. Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in 'Anna Karenina'. The film was incredibly popular and was nominated for four Oscars. It was a box office hit. It was also the last film that Greta Garbo did with MGM. She had a contract with the studio that was soon to expire and both parties remained in dispute over a new contract. Garbo left the studio for good in a move that some have referred to as a "tragic mistake".

1933-1935: A trio of tragedies

Garbo starred as the beautiful but doomed Marguerite in the film "The Divine Master". The film was based on a novel by Romain Rolland. The film tells the story of a monk who falls in love with a woman named Marguerite. He believes that the woman is sent to him by God, and so he decides to break his monastic vows to be with her. Garbo starred alongside Lionel Barrymore, who played the role of the monk's mentor. The film was a commercial and critical disaster, and it was Garbo's third consecutive film that was a box office failure. It also marked the end of Garbo's contract with MGM. It was around this time that she also ended her relationship with her co-star, Lew Ayres.

1936: The Greatest Thing in Life

Garbo's final completed film was "Two-Faced Woman" in 1936. The film was directed by her long-time director, George Cukor, and co-starred the British actor, Charles Laughton. The film follows a woman who is divorced and who wants to keep her new relationship with another man a secret. The film was based on a novel by Charles MacArthur. Unlike Garbo's earlier films, the movie was a commercial failure. It was also her last completed film but not her last film to be released it was her last film to be completed. Garbo went on to appear in the film "Camille" for MGM in 1938. Unfortunately, she died during the filming of the movie.

Conclusion

Greta Garbo's films often focused on themes of romance and heartbreak. This may have been because she had many tragic events in her life three of which occurred while she was filming. Her films also played with gender norms and often depicted women who were "tender" and "romantic" without being seen as "too feminine". Garbo's films were often box office and critical successes, and she became one of the most successful film stars of all time perhaps in part due to her unique appearance and her ability to understand and play with gender norms.