The Kiss (released in 1929) - starring Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel and Lew Ayres

The Kiss was Greta Garbo's and MGM's last silent movie. It is a 1929 drama film directed by Jacques Feyder and starring Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel and Lew Ayres in his first feature film. This movie was also Garbo's last picture with Conrad Nagel. It is rumored that Garbo had to choose from two movies, the Divorce and the Kiss. Garbo opted for the Kiss and Norma Shearer starred in The Divorce which won her an Oscar. Garbo's career never had an Oscar moment and this was one of the greatest injustices in cinematic history.
Irene, a fascinating young woman is trapped in a loveless marriage with a much older Guarry. She is scared of her husbands jealous nature and silently bears the emotional abuse. A clandestine affair with a young lawyer Andre sustains her, but Irene scared of her husbands fiery nature brings the affair to a close. As they part, a heartbroken Andre leaves for Paris and Irene is once again alone with her loneliness.
Pierre, a young son of a Lyon financier Lassalle, is besotted by Irene. Lassalle is a partner of Guarry. Irene does not reciprocate Pierre's feelings and on the eve of going off to college he begs a kiss from her. She gives him a chaste kiss but Pierre forcibly takes a passionate one. Guarry returns to witness this stormy scene and attacks the youngster. In the scuffle Guarry is killed and Pierre is on the run. Lassalle forces Pierre to keep his silence about this affair.



Irene recounts the whole incident to the police and tries to keep Pierre out of the loop. Her accounts are so full of contradictions and loopholes that the police start suspecting her. Lassalle pitches in saying that Guarry was despondent about the business and was suicidal. Brought to trial Irene is defended by Andre and he gets her acquitted of all the charges. But Irene confesses to him that she indeed had killed Guarry to protect the boy's life. Andre forgives her and the two lovers reunite.
This final silent film had two sounds, the gunshot and the incessant ringing of the telephone. Belgian director Jacques Feyder used both the pantomime format and the aforementioned sound effects -- a gunshot and the incessant ringing of a telephone -- to optimum effect. The screenplay is very weak and only saving grace is Greta Garbo's acting. Garbo breathes life in to the proceedings with her society lady act who is driven to murder. Her acting makes the character's nobility very believable.
The Kiss was a silent film with a sound track and lasted only for 60 minutes. It was not a big box office success, but off late has been on the news for Garbo's luminous presence. Her compassion, love and generosity comes through her kiss with young Pierre.

Conquest (released in 1937) - Starring Greta Garbo, Charles Boyer and Reginald Owen

Conquest is a movie about Countess Marie Walewska who becomes the mistress of Napolean Bonaparte to safeguard the interests of her country. This enigmatic polish countess was the mistress of Napolean and even comforted him during his days in exile.
This movie stars Greta Garbo as Marie Walewska along with Cajrles Boyer, Reginald Owen, dame May Witty and others. The movie was adapted by S. N. Behrman, Samuel Hoffenstein, Helen Jerome and Salka Viertel from the novel Pani Walewska by Waclaw Gasiorowski and it was directed by Clarence Brown.
Marie Walewska is the beautiful wife of the polish count Walewska. In the winter of 1807,the pillaging Russian soldiers over run Eastern Poland, the land of Count and Countess Walewska. They make fun of the aging Count and his young wife and they become mortally afraid of the Russian Army. Marie's brother informs her about the exploits of Napoleon and when Marie briefly meets him at a church she is suitably impressed as he is enthralled by her beauty. After two months she is formally presented to the French emperor at the court and she is grateful that Napoleon makes no allusion about their earlier meetings.



Napoleon is totally taken in by Marie and send her love notes begging her responses. She confides in her husband who tries to take her away. But the Polish leaders, seeing a chance to liberate Poland, urge her to give in to Napoleon. A patriotic Marie gives in and begins to have an affair with Napoleon. Even though she trades her virtue for her country, she slowly falls in love with the charismatic emperor.
Marie's husband leaves for Rome and gets a divorce which enables her to stay with the emperor. Napoleon takes up his quarters within Marie's home and their idyllic trysts are only marred by Napoleon's frequent absences. Soon Marie is pregnant and she awaits the birth of her baby in secret. She leaves to meet Napoleon in Vienna where she comes to know that he is to marry Princess Marie Louise of Austria of the Hapsburg dynasty. He tells her the blue bloodline of the Hapsburg's would enable him to create his own bloodline of rulers.
A devastated Marie returns to Poland and gives birth to a son Alexandre. She never informs Napoleon about his son. Soon the fortunes of Napoleon change for the worst and he suffers successive defeats at the hands of the Russians and the English. After the disastrous campaign of Waterloo napoleon is exiled to the Island of Elba. Marie and her son live with him till he dies.
This movie was one of the most disastrous movie in Greta Garbo's career and was a loss making venture for MGM studios. Actually it is said to have marked the downfall of Greta Garbo's career with her being more and more reclusive. The costumes, cinematography, sound, music and art are to perfection and Garbo looks the part of the ethereal beauty Marie. But it is still a critically acclaimed movie which presents the facts with considerable accuracy. The movie was nominated for two Oscars namely, for the Best Actor in a Leading Role (Charles Boyer) and Best Art Direction (Cedric Gibbons and William A. Horning}.

As You Desire Me (released in 1932) - Starring Greta Garbo, Erich von Stroheim and Melvyn Douglas

This is about a women who has no past and is claimed by many people as their own. “As you desire me” stars Greta Garbo in the title role along with Melvyn Douglas, Eric Von Stronheim and Hedda hopper. This movie was directed by George Fitzmaurice and is adopted from the play of the same name by Luigi Pirandello. This is the only movie where Greta Garbo plays a blonde character. The running time for the movie is 71 minutes and is one of the shortest of her Hollywood movies.
Garbo plays Zara, a sultry night club singer for whom men and booze are a weakness. She lives with Karl Saltzer, a novelist who loves her and tolerates her drinking binges and picking up strange men. Zara never can love Karl as he loves her, and this is evident from her offhand behavior with him. But everything changes when she encounters, Tony at one of her performances. He calls her “Maria” and tells her that she is in fact the wife of Count Bruno Varelli who had gone missing during world war I. He informs her that her husband and himself were looking for her for the past ten years.
Zara scoffs at his claims and orders him out. But his persistence pays off and she relents to meet Bruno Varelli at his estate, much to the dismay of Karl. Karl threatens and shoots her arm to prevent her from leaving him, but Zara moves to Bruno's estate with Tony. Bruno is ecstatic to receive his wife, but Zara arrives as a stranger, not recognizing her servants or Bruno himself. She refuses to stay at the estate but acquiesces to the persistent pleading of the other members. She asks Bruno to help her find in herself, Maria, the women he really desires.
Slowly as their understanding grows, Zara falls in love with Bruno and decides to devote her life to him. But when she actually finds love which had eluded her so long, Karl returns with the final blow.
Karl meets Ines, Maria's sister and asks for her help to expose Zara as an impostor. Ines informs Zara that one week from her return, Maria was to be legally declared dead and all the property would have been transferred to her. She insinuates that Bruno had imposed the identity of Maria upon her to safeguard the property. Zara is devastated and feels that Bruno's love is in-fact for the money. Karl brings in an heavily veiled women whom he claims to be the real Maria. He informs Zara that Maria was imprisoned at a sanatorium to enable Bruno to run the estate. The veiled lady recognizes all her servants and sister, that everybody is convinced that she is the real Maria.
But soon he truth comes out that the veiled lady is in-fact the impostor who had lived among them in the estate. Bruno tired of all the games confesses his love for Zara and tells her that his feelings would never change even if she is proved not to be Maria. Zara accepts his declaration with happiness and they are reunited. This movie was a box-office success for MGM and still considered one of the nicest romantic movies of all times.

Grand Hotel (released in 1932) - Starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore and Joan Crawford

This American drama film is directed by Edmund Goudling and is adapted from a the novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum. This movie stars Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore and John Barrymore.
This movie opens with Doctor Otternschlag, a disfigured veteran who stays permanently at the Grand Hotel remarking “Grand Hotel....People come and go. Nothing ever happens”. After this seemingly innocuous remark, acts as a catalyst for a chain of events at the hotel. Baron Felix Von Geigern, a jewel thief and a master card player stays at the hotel undertaking small time theft and forgery. He is a noble man who has lost his fortune. The Baron befriend Otto Kringelein, a small time accountant who is fatally ill. He stays at The Grand to spend his last days in the lap of luxury. Kringelein's ex-boss is Director Preysing who is an wealthy industrialist staying at the Grand to ink a large deal. He hires a stenographer Flaemmchen who wants to be an actress. She shows Preysing her audacious photographs and hints that she is willing to do anything to be a star. Preysing soon starts an affair with her.



Another guest, Grusinskaya is a famous ballet dancer who is tired of the world. She unexpectedly returns home and finds the Baron rummaging through her jewels. She says ”I want to be alone”, mistaking him to be a part of the staff. But the Baron stays and engages in a conversation which brings them both closer. After the conversation the guilty Baron returns her jewels and Grusinskaya invites him to accompany her to Vienna. The Baron agrees and engages to meet her at the train station.
The Baron joins Flaemmchen and Kringelien for afternoon tea, where a coquettish Flaemmchen cajoles Kringelien to dance. Preysing who arrives is consumed with jealousy and imperiously tells Flaemmchen to stop. All are disgusted by his uncouth behavior and Kringelien gives him a piece of his mind. Preysing gets angry and the situation is diffused by the baron's intervention. The Baron tries to steal from the intoxicated Kringelien, but seeing his pathetic condition returns his wallet back. He turns his attention to Preysing instead.
But as fate would have it the baron is caught by Preysing stealing his papers and in the scuffle bludgeons him to death. Flaemmchen arrives at the scene and runs to Kringelien who confronts Preysing. They summon the police and Preysing is summarily arrested. Oblivious of the Baron's fate, Grunskaya waits at the train station for him and grieves when the Baron does not arrive. Flaemmchen and Kringelien leave for Paris to try a new cure and vow to be be with each other. As they leave the hotel, Doctor Otternschlag once again observes, "Grand Hotel. People come and go. Nothing ever happens.".
This movie may be a tedious watch for many as there are lot of a interconnecting events with no story to hold your attention. Btu it is critically acclaimed movie. The film is the only motion picture to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with that category being the sole category in which it was nominated. In 2007, Grand Hotel was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Another cause for its fame is Garbo's famous opening line “I want to be Alone” which is often alluded to her in real life. Garbo's reclusive nature fueled speculations that these lines were actually spoken by her in real life.

Mata Hari (released in 1931) - Starring Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro

Mata Hari is a pre-code (before the introduction of censorship) film loosely based on the life of Mata Hari (the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle), a courtesan executed for espionage during World War I. This movie directed by George Fitzmaurice stars Greta Garbo in the pivotal role. This movie is one of Greta Garbo's biggest hits and MGM's hit of the year netting a profit of nearly one million dollars. This pre-code movie was released again later and heavily censored, and many a scene was chopped to fall in line with the Hay's code.
Mata Hari is a courtesan who resides in Paris and is a spy for the German armed forces. She seduces many army and police officers passing secrets to enemy hands. With the general paranoia for spies during World War I, French spy bureau chief, Dubois vow to unmask the femme fatale. He keeps surveillance over her activities to nail her with complete evidence.
Mata Hari gets her assignments from Andriani who urges her to get the information of Russian Troop movements along the border. She meets the dashing Russian pilot of the imperial air-force, Alexis Rosanoff who is celebrated for his flight through the German Lines to bring in important messages. Mata Hari does not know that Alexis actually possesses the documents that Andriani had asked her to procure. She falls for the dashing officer and has an affair with him.



Soon she comes to know about the papers and darkens the room distracting Alexis, enabling others to photocopy the papers before returning it to the rightful owner. Andriani is disappointed in Mata Hari's involvement with Alexis. He kill Carlotta, another spy for daring to fall in love with her target. He threatens Mata that the same fate awaits her.
Dubois on the other hand in search of evidence gossips about her affair with Alexis to her ex-lover Shubin. An enraged Shubin confronts Mata Hari and threatens to expose her. Scared of Shubin's anger, Mata Hari even shows the photographs she stole from Alexis. But blinded by rage Shubin places a call to the embassy to have Mata Hari arrested. Mata shoots him and is on the run. She almost boards the plane to Amsterdam, when information about the fatal accident involving Alexis reach her. In-spite of Andriani's warnings she meets Alexis and is duly arrested by Dubois. A blinded Alexis does not know the situation and thinks that Mata is severely ill and is confined to a sanatorium.
Mata Hari is tried and convicted for spying against France. She is condemned to death and her last wish is to see Alexis. A blind Alexis meets her thinking the prison to be a sanatorium. She informs him not to grieve her death and walks out to meet the waiting firing squad. This movie was a huge success and is responsible for the cult following of Mata Hari. This movie is largely a fictionalized account and completely romanticizes the spy she was. Greta Garbo's beauty and talent makes this movie a notch above all.

Ninotchka (released in 1939) - A comedy starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas

This is the penultimate movie starring Greta Garbo and is an all out comedy which is a first for the actress, who was always revered for her tear jerkers. This movie made by MGM is directed by Ernst Lubitsch and also stars Melvyn Douglas opposite Garbo. This movie portrays the communist Russia to be a drab place compared to a Parisian Joie de vivre. It is one of the movies which makes veiled criticism about Joseph's Stalin's autocratic rule.
Three Russian agents, Iranoff, Buljanoff and Kopalski are deputed to sell the confiscated jewels of Countess Swana to raise money for the party. They reach Paris and stay in a posh hotel where they are overheard by one of the waiters Alexis Rakonin, an Impoverished Russian Count. He alerts Swana who is residing in Paris and her lover Count Leon d'Algout promises her the return of her jewels. Count Leon befriends the three men and show them the sights and signs of Paris which makes them wonder at their drab life style. Meanwhile Swana obtains an injunction preventing the sale of the jewels in Paris. The higher ups in the Soviet Union are furious by the turn of events and send their super spy "Envoy Extraordinary" Nina "Ninotchka" Ivanovna Yakushova to bring the three men home and facilitate the sale of the jewels. Ninotchka is a stern woman who thinks of Russia and her duty. After chastising her comrades, she also tours Paris soaking in the architectural wonders. She meets Leon who tries to flirt with her and gets a royal ignore. For Ninotchka he is an example of western decadence and soon learns his identity. Leon also comes to know about her and is intrigued by her persona.



Leon follows her to a cafe and jokes with Ninotchka to get to know her better. Even though his jokes fall flat, he manages to melt her heart. Soon both enjoy each others company and Ninotchka becomes a changed woman. She dresses and enjoys the opulence of the city and soon falls in love with the count.
A much drunk Leon and Ninotchka return to the hotel and she tries the jewels on Leon before falling asleep. Next day she gets a call from Swana that she had the jewels stolen from her room by Rakonin and names her price for their retrieval – Leon. Ninotchka agrees and goes back home. Leon pursues her and meets her when she reaches Istanbul on her next assignment. He persuades her not to leave and they live happily ever after.
This movie was banned in the Soviet Union for criticizing Stalin and Communism. But it still went on to be one of the top grosser of the year. It also snagged four Academy Award nominations including the one for Garbo, for the best actress.
In 1990, Ninotchka was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was also included on two American Film Institute lists and was also included on Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies.

Two Faced Woman (released in 1941) - Starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas

This movie directed by George Cukor stared Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas in the pivotal roles. It had Garbo playing a double role and MGM tried to have a make over for her from a super sexy siren to a simple sweater girl.
Workaholic New York Magazine editor Larry Blake visits an Idaho Ski Lodge for a relaxed weekend. Here he meets simple sweet Karin who works as a ski instructor at the lodge. The perennial flirt Larry hits on Karin and a minor accident throws them together for a long time. On an impulsive decision Karin and Larry get married and Larry promises to leave New York and his job for a simple life. But soon his boss O.O Miller arrives with Larry's secretary Ellis and drags him back for a urgent photo-shoot. Larry leaves promising Karin that he would be back pronto. But New York works its charms again and Larry continues his old life.
Karin after many telegrams with Ellis reaches New York and find Larry happily entrenched in his work. She with the help of Ellis goes shopping and gets a make over as her super sexy alter ego Katherine to smite Larry. But at a play backed by Larry, Karin hears him flirting with his old flame Griselda Vaughn. A distraught Karin tries to leave and soon runs in to Larry's boss Miller. She makes him believe that she is Katherine, Karin's twin sister and soon has a dinner invitation from Miller. Larry is dumbfounded to see Karin enter in a super sexy avatar.



He is again taken aback when she drinks, smokes and dances with gay abandon. He tries to ascertain the facts by making a call to the ski lodge and confirms that Karin is indeed Katherine. Meanwhile Karin nursing a huge hang over is recuperating at the hotel when a n amused Larry accosts her. Determined to play her game he proposes to her and tells her that he wants to reform her after divorcing Karin.
Karin orders him out and when he tires to reach Idaho, she reaches before him and pretends to be her old self. Larry continues to play the game and taunts her even though she reveals the truth. Soon an exasperated Karin dumps him to go skiing followed by Larry who promptly falls in to the frozen lake. Karin rescues him and he says ”I am Larry's twin brother”. Karin accepts his joke and reunites with her husband.
This movie was generally pilloried by the public and the critics. It created such a furore for being immoral that the Catholic church urged a blanket ban. Garbo was distressed by the turn of events and battled with MGM over her role. Even though her sunny acting shines through he romantic comedy, insiders report that she was morose and depressed than ever.
This movie was Garbo's final film role after which she turned in to a virtual recluse shunning the public eye. But still I would recommend a look for the sorcery of acting from the genius like Garbo which made even a mediocre movie memorable.