Claudio Carvalho
In New York, the alcoholic skipper of a coal barge Chris Christofferson (George F. Marion) receives a letter from his estranged twenty year old daughter Anna "Christie" Christofferson (Greta Garbo) telling that she will leave Minnesota to stay with him. Chris left Anna fifteen years ago to the countryside to be raised by relatives in a farm in St. Paul and he has never visited his daughter.Anna Christie arrives and she is a wounded woman with a hidden dishonorable past since she had worked for two years in a brothel to survive. She moves to the barge to live with her father and one night, Chris rescues the sailor Matt (Charles Bickford) and two other fainted sailors from the sea. Soon Anna and Matt fall in love with each other and Anna has the best days of her life. But when Matt proposes to marry her, she is reluctant and also haunted by her past. Matt insists and Anna opens her heart to Matt and to her father disclosing the darks secrets of her past. "Anna Christie" is the first talkie of Greta Garbo and a heartbreaking story of a young woman that finds redemption through love. I bought the DVD with both versions of 1930 and 1931, and the version in English is restored and has additional scenes in the beginning and in the ending; however, Jacques Feyder's version in German is better than Clarence Brown's. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Anna Christie"
PWNYCNY
This movie is a toned-down adaptation of the play by Eugene O'Neill. The main problem with the movie is the portrayal of Anna Christie. In the play, Anna Christie is a whore. She is explicitly described as being as such. This point is crucial to the story. Yet, when Greta Garbo enters the movie, her attire is anything but garish. She simply does not look like a hard-bitten street-walker. As for Greta Garbo, she is absolutely beautiful. She is the star of the movie. She is exquisite and her performance is superb. Marie Dressler's performance is wonderful too. As far the male actors, their acting is stagy and hammy. This movie is definitely dominated by the female performers and it is because of them that this movie is watchable. Nevertheless, by toning down the dialogue, the movie loses the dramatic power of the play, and although the movie is good, if it had stayed true to the original story, it could have been great.
mozli
Viewing both of these films concurrently is not a bad idea to get a sense of early film production and acting for the camera styles. I give the nod to Garbo(but not by much)in regard to her naturalness. Robeson is majestic. But his performance is aimed for a large proscenium theater. Something else that struck me was the movies themes of empowerment for women and minorities. There hadn't been any films coming out of Hollywood yet that allowed the voices of marginal characters like Anna and Brutus to take the foreground. These were very progressive films for their time. It's quite probable that O'Neill saw the writing on the wall way before everyone else did about the future of America.
Matthew Dickson
A decent film, but one with flaws. Using the same formula that worked for Disreali, the filmmakers adapted a successful play, and then hired stage actors to fill the cast. Their one mistake was deciding on silent screen star Greta Garbo to play the former prostitute trying to make good in the title role. Garbo sucks what life there is out of the film with her thick Swedish accent and silent screen style overacting. The rest of the cast does a great deal to keep the film afloat. Marie Dressler, as a boozy old tramp, steals every scene she's in. Charles Bickford supplies a dose of masculinity as the lusty, brawling sailor in love with Christie, and George F. Marion rounds out the cast as the father who wasn't there. Director Clarence Brown handles the film well enough. He avoids keeping the camera static all the time, one of the pitfalls of early talkies, and makes every shot interesting despite the scenery not changing much. The story is good, but the script is somewhat watered down for the screen. If you didn't know beforehand that Christie was supposed to have been a prostitute, you might never pick it up from the subtle allusions. Nonetheless, it is a well made adaptation. Could have been much better if they had cast a halfway decent actress in the lead role.
AD
