Steve D
Provides little insight but Garbo is good.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
07/22/23
Full Review
Matthew D
Greta Garbo delivers regal majesty and stern countenance as Queen Christina!
Russian director Rouben Mamoulian's pre-code historical biopic Queen Christina (1933) is magnificent. Mamoulian's direction is gripping with playful scenes of Greta Garbo flirting as the Queen of Sweden and raining down condemnations to her treacherous council. Mamoulian has a searing style of dreamy romance and elegant court drama. The way the camera sweeps around to the masterful sets is all amazing. Greta Garbo's lovable charisma, cute humor, and devastating dramatic heart is phenomenal.
Writers Ben Hecht, Claudine West, Rouben Mamoulian, S. N. Behrman, H.M. Harwood, Salka Viertel, and Margaret P. Levino does very creative and enjoyable writing for Queen Christina. They create a romantic comedy out of history that is not real, but keep to implying Queen Christina's love of women, men's clothes, and manly responsibilities as regent. It's interesting that Queen Christina was interested in her Countess lover Ebba Sparre in real life and it's even alluded to here because of the pre-code era.
Greta Garbo is dazzling and endearing as the freewheeling intellectual Queen Christina of Sweden. She did not want to marry a Swedish prince to produce an heir and instead preferred to never marry and abdicate so that she could convert to Catholicism and live her life freely. It's interesting that Christina was really in love with Elizabeth Young's charming Countess Ebba Sparre. Garbo does justice in this older era by hinting at Christina's love of women with several tender kisses to Young. What a fascinating woman with her love of reading, art, culture, and progressive ideas besides her patronage of the arts. She has a fierce desire for peace and an end to the Thirty Years War. Her little giggles fill me with glee like Garbo's mastery of her expressive eyebrow acting. I adore her sweet Swedish accent and touching performance in Queen Christina.
John Gilbert is likable as Christina's love interest the Spanish envoy Antonio Pimentel de Prado. He gets along with Garbo and can be seen as suave. C. Aubrey Smith is hilarious as Christina's steadfast servant Aage with his honest council and Lewis Stone's concerned council member Axel Oxenstierna is faithful in his guidance, if too devout to tradition. Georges Renavent is quite pleasant as the amiable French Ambassador Chanut. Reginald Owen is too proper and traditional as Prince Charles Gustavus of Sweden.
David Torrence feels quite pompous and demanding as the arrogant and bloodthirsty Archbishop. His calls for wars and Christina's marriage are chilling like Ian Keith's creepy advances as Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie.
Gustav von Seyffertitz feels loyal and at the ready as Christina's General of Sweden's armies. Ferdinand Munier is funny as the easy to bribe Innkeeper. Cora Sue Collins is cute during her crowning speech as Christina as a child. C. Montague Shaw gets a cool moment saying he was once King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in the opening scene. Akim Tamiroff is loyal as Antonio's page Pedro. Barbara Barondess is pretty as the blond inn girl Elsa.
Editor Blanche Sewell's swift cuts and dissolves let Queen Christina flow gently and quickly. This is a very fast paced 99 minutes. Cinematographer William H. Daniels uses these amazing dolly shots that slow zoom out during speeches in the throne room. The stunning black and white shots close in on Greta Garbo's breathtaking beauty with her stern or gleeful faces. You can tell Christina's love for Ebba and her desire to never marry. The depth of the dark halls are hypnotizing.
Production designer Edgar G. Ulmer creates lavish Swedish royal halls to an ornate wooden inn. Art director Alexander Toluboff creates brightly lit faces and moodily dark rooms for a dramatic flair in Sweden. I loved the falling snow everywhere in Sweden. Set decorator Edwin B. Willis has long wooden tables and huge mugs in the inn or the giant throne in the royal hall. I liked the carved beds.
Composer Herbert Stothart's film score has a grandeur and a romantic sweetness. Audrey Scott does neat stunt horseback riding. Sound designer Douglas Shearer records fun noises for the clatter of metal or footsteps on wood. Costume designer Adrian took loyalty to history with his amazing outfits for Greta Garbo. I liked his masculine outfits that are historically accurate to the tomboy Christina, raised as if she were a boy, besides her fancy royal gowns. She delights in the knightly armor or queen's dress. I really think Garbo's ethereal beauty is visible in Adrian's fuzzy fur coat and fur hat during the peasant revolt.
In all, Greta Garbo shines as the intelligent and spirited Queen Christina of Sweden.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
06/09/23
Full Review
Russ G
Better than average period costume drama. Romance, palace intrigue, mobs being provoked to near riot, and a tragic ending, all while Garbo lights up the screen. Some scenes probably drove the Hollywood censors of the day to distraction as they could have been lifted straight from Miss Garbo's own biography.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
11/23/22
Full Review
huck d
Greta Garbo is absolutely breathtaking. As they wrote back in '33, "she appears to be suffering from an acute case of glamour." She fills the screen not just with her beauty, but as Queen, she is powerful, commanding, articulate, and supremely capable. Based on the true saga of Queen Christina of Sweden, the story is a captivating romance filled with diabolical intrigue, and more than anything else, a philosophical commentary on individualism vs duty. Ayn Rand loved Garbo, and no doubt, she loved Queen Christina. Everyone should add this to their must see list, but Rand fans should put it in the top slot.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
In the 1600s a headstrong young queen reigns over war-torn Sweden, but infuriates people by falling in love with a dashing Spanish ambassador. Both a dramatic and lighthearted look at a woman caught between true love and her duties. Greta Garbo and John Gilbert are superb as the star-crossed lovers. The stodgy opening seems unnecessary though Gilbert enlivens both the narrative and Garbo and the final moments are emotional not just hoked up for easy tears. Well directed by Mamoulian, with beautiful black and white cinematography and sharply written and stage sequences.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
Full Review
William L
The story is often plodding and largely fictitious, but often classically passionate and surprisingly progressive in its portrayal of the independently-minded Queen of Sweden, and benefits from being almost entirely built around the incredible capability of Garbo in a leading role. Unlike many of her contemporaries in the early years of Hollywood's Golden Age, Garbo could actually act convincingly (and often in demanding roles) rather than settling for melodramatic or overblown performances, even if the films she ended up in were often lackluster. Here, she is completely in control when establishing and sustaining her character, with a real gravitas that makes the other characters appear shoddy rather than just insubstantial. The film gives far greater preference to the romance between Christina and Gilbert's Antonio rather than the rushed political upheaval that the historical Queen navigated (removing all of th complexity associated with her decision-making), which isn't to the film's benefit. Keith's Magnus, the main antagonist of the film, is pretty insubstantial and nonsensical; if you want to woo a queen, make sure to deliberately antagonize her through political maneuvering, guys. Garbo more than compensates for the film's shortcomings to deliver one of her great performances, even if the rest of the film isn't up to snuff. (4/5)
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/24/21
Full Review
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