MOVIES
March 15, 1930
In her first talking picture, an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, the immensely popular Greta Garbo is even more interesting through being heard than she was in her mute portrayals. She reveals no nervousness before the microphone and her careful interpretation of Anna can scarcely be disputed. She is of the same nationality as Anna is supposed to be and she brings Anna to life all the more impressively through her foreign accent being natural, because it is something for which she does not have to strive.
Miss Garbo's voice from the screen is deep toned, somewhat deeper than when one hears her in real life. The low enunciation of her initial lines, with a packed theater waiting expectantly to hear her first utterance, came somewhat as a surprise yesterday afternoon in the Capitol, for her delivery is almost masculine. And although the low-toned voice is not what is expected from the alluring actress, one becomes accustomed to it, for it is a voice undeniably suited to the unfortunate Anna.
Unlike most of the film actresses in their debuts in talking films, Miss Garbo suits her actions to the words. She thinks about what she is saying and accompanies the lines with suitable gestures and expressions. There is no hesitancy in her speech, for she evidently memorized her lines thoroughly before going before the camera, and not in a single instance does she seem to be thinking about what she must say next, which has been the case in the first audible efforts of many of the male and female performers.
In her opening scene she enters the "ladies' entrance" of a wharf saloon in New York. Marthe, her father's mistress, a drink-sodden creature well on in years, is seated at a table endeavoring to satisfy an almost unquenchable thirst with a large glass of ale and lager. Marthe quickly realizes that the girl, who orders whisky and lights a cigarette, is Chris's daughter, from whom he had just received a letter. Chris knows nothing of his daughter's crimson career, and at that moment he has gone to eat soup and drink coffee to sober up for the meeting with the girl, whom he has not seen since she was five years old.
"You're me, forty years from now," says Anna to Marthe. The older woman lets the girl know that Chris believes his Anna to be an example of purity. When Chris, played by George Marion, who figured in the same role on the stage and in the excellent silent pictorial version of several years ago, enters the bar section of the saloon, he is heard and Marthe decides to go and collect her belongings from Chris's barge and make herself scarce.
Marie Dressler, who plays Marthe, may overact occasionally, but most of her performance is exceptionally clever. She, with all Marthe's bibulous nature, elicits sympathy for the dissolute woman and often she relieves the sordid atmosphere with effective comedy. Miss Dressler has done good work in audible screen offerings, but her speech, expressions, and her general gesticulations make this far and away her outstanding film characterization.
The nervous Chris is told that the girl he was expecting is in the room set apart for women. He enters and gazes upon the daughter he has not seen for fifteen years. After the preliminary greeting and explanations, he says that he thinks that it is a suitable occasion to be celebrated with a glass of port. So the girl who had imbibed spirits sips the glass of wine and subsequently is seen living on her father's coal barge.
Clarence Brown, who has directed a number of Miss Garbo's silent films, is also responsible for this audible picture. He depicts with marked ability the girl and the father renewing relations, without the old man ever suspecting his daughter's wayward life in the middle West. Then Matt, the stoker, is washed up with others on a stormy sea and Chris resents this man's attentions to his daughter. Matt, impersonated by Charles Bickford, is a powerful physical specimen of humanity, who scoffs at Chris's interference. He falls in love with Anna, and during one interlude they are seen at Coney Island, where Matt has an opportunity of demonstrating his strength and his prodigious lung-power.
The reproduction of the voices was often much too loud yesterday afternoon, but the scenes of the altercation between Chris and Matt and those wherein Anna confesses to her florid past are a compliment to the screen, for these players make the most of their respective opportunities, especially Miss Garbo. Anna's scorching tirade against her father and her revelations of her scarlet days are delivered in a highly dramatic fashion. Matt's disappointment, his eventual return, and his satisfaction in knowing that Anna had at least never loved any other man but himself are equally satisfying.
Mr. Bickford succeeds splendidly with his portrayal of Matt. Mr. Marion's familiarity with the role does not diminish the importance of his present interpretation of the man who shakes his fist at that "Ole Devil Sea."
ANNA CHRISTIE (MOVIE)
Directed by Clarence Brown; written by Frances Marion, based on the play by Eugene O'Neill; cinematographer, William Daniels; edited by Hugh Wynn; art designer, Cedric Gibbons; released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Black and white. Running time: 86 minutes.
With: Greta Garbo (Anna), Charles Bickford (Matt), George F. Marion (Chris), and Marie Dressler (Marthe).
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