Silent Greta Garbo

Silent Greta Garbo Greta Garbo Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo

By contrast, the value of the silent film that Greta Garbo made for Metor Goldwyn Mayer is sentimental. They are romantic melodramas made after Greta Garbo had been discovered by G. W. Pabst (The Joyless Street, Die freudlosse Gasse, 1925) and Stiller, with whom Greta Garbo went to the preview of The Torrent (Virveln, 1926, nine reels), the first of her films to be photographed by William Daniels and a film in which she appeared with Gretrude Olmstead uner the direction of silent film director Monta Bell. Included among the silent film of Garbo are The Temptress (Fresterskan, Mauritz Stiller-Fred Niblo, 1926, seven reels), Flesh and the Devil (Atra, Clarence Brown, 1926), The Mysterious Lady (Den Mystika kvinna, Fred Niblo, 1928, nine reels), A Woman of Affais (Grona Hatten), and The Kiss (Kyssen, Feyder, 1929), and they can in fact be seen only for the being reminded of having first seen each of the films. Greta Garbo often went theaters and almost invariably saw each of her movies twice, although she seldom viewed the daily rushes. Biographer Norman Zierold has written Garbo's plasticity made it possible for her to reflect the fantasies of her screen audience; in this sense she functioned as a recepticle for the emotions of others." These emotional structures are created within each particular film, often by subject and spectator positioning, the viewer and the film's other characters in relation to the body of the actress, as when the movement of her body within the frame creates space between two characters in front of the camera, isolating them near a paticular visual motif, or when Garbo briefly moves into the emotion of solitude. Greta Garbo photographer William H. Daniels in 1926 was cinematographer to the films Altars of Desire (seven reels) under the direction of Christy Cabanne and Bardleys the Magnificent, under the direction of King Vidor. Greta Garbo and John Gilbert were to attend the premiere of the film Bardleys the Magnificent together. Greta Garbo had declined a role in the 1927 film Women Love Diamonds (seven reels) directed by Edmund Goulding, which was to star Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Lionel Barrymore and Owen Moore, it not having met with her approval. Garbo had asked that Sjostrom direct, as had Gish earlier. Of Greta Garbo Victor Sjostrom had said, "She thinks above her eyes. Certain great actors posses what seems to be an uncanny ability to register thought- Lon Chaney was one- Garbo is another. They seem to literally absorb impressions...Garbo is more sensitive to emotions than film is to light, (and) you see it through her eyes." Lon Chaney, who in 1928 had appeared on the sets of Laugh, Clown, Laugh (Herbert Brenon) with Loretta Young, While the City Sleeps (Jack Conway, eight reels) with Anita Page and two films ditected by Tod Browning, The Big City (seven reels)with Betty Compson and West of Zanzibar (seven reels) with Mary Nolan, is quoted as having said, "I told Garbo that mystery served me well and it would do as much for her." The Divine Woman (En Gudomlig Kvinna, Victor Seastrom, eight reels), one of the three films directed by Victor Sjostrom in 1928, was photographed by Oliver Marsh, who had photographed the silent film Camille. Based on a "static play loaded with dialouge" (Bengt Forslund), Starlight by Gladys Unger whom had also written an early revision of the screenplay, the script had been transferred between several writers ,including Edmound Goulding, before its final rewrite was given to Dorothy Farnum. The titles to the film were to be written by John Colton and the film was edited by Conrad Nevrig. The fragment of Greta Garbo in The Divine Woman showcases the interior editing of Victor Sjostrom. John Bainbridge wrote that the film had been "well recieved", that Sjostrom spoke "glowingly" of Garbo's work in the film and also of Stiller's having had an interest in directing the film. Bengt Forslund hints that the script itself had been Stiller's idea as a way for him to return from directing at Paramount. Recently, Scott Reisfield editied more than 100 photographs of Greta Garbo for the volume Garbo, Her Private Collection of Own Portraits. Reisfield is the grandson of Swedish film actor Sven Gustafsson. Greta Garbo had visited her brother while in Stockholm. Swedish actor Edvin Adolphson was behind the camera to direct Sven Garbo in the 1930 film When Roses Bloom (Na Rosorna sla ut). Gray Reisfield has recently been interviewed on Swedish radio fondly remembering her aunt and her interests. In Frankfurt, Germany, Scott Reisfield noted the development of Greta Garbo's technique as an actress as being attributable to her "poise in front of the camera" and her feminity. In a quote almost as fascinating as The Mysterious Lady we have become acquainted with through her film, Reisfield addresses questions regarding the Greta Garbo known to those whom had seen her offscreen, his adding to the extratextural discourse that had created The Swedish Sphinx of photoplay magazine and the Greta Garbo who had been seen as a recluse during retirement, "I knew her for years for before I comprehended the importance of her career.".

In his book, Greta Garbo, A Cinematic Legacy, Mark A. Vieira relates his conversation with Clarence Sinclair Bull about the original negatives of the portraits of Greta Garbo taken by the photographer. Sinclair had used a code on the edge of each photo with the date of each session and from these the date of the shooting of each sequence in each particular film can be found. The author Mark Vieira was kind enough to e-mail two pages of photos scanned from these original negatives to the present author. The second letter was just as unexpected as the first and had read, "More for you to have fun with."

Still photograph of Greta Garbo from the shooting of film The Painted Veil scanned from the original negative and sent via e-mail by author Mark A Vieira.