In 1969, the BBC scored a coup. The community tapped none aside from Joan Crawford, one of many largest (or larger-than-life) movie legends to relate a documentary — which the U.Ok.’s BBC 4 is now unearthing on August 14 and 15 — in regards to the largest legend of all of them: Greta Garbo. Each stars had been beneath contract at MGM again within the ’20s and ’30s, in the course of the heights of the studio system in addition to that patricular studio. The 2 icons, nevertheless, barely crossed paths.
Garbo — an notorious recluse till her dying day — didn’t socialize together with her fellow actors. Private appearances had been off the desk and, regardless that she co-starred with Crawford in 1932’s Oscar-winning “Grand Resort,” the 2 didn’t share any scenes. MGM really needed to composite a solid picture to make it seem like Garbo was ever within the room with extra individuals than completely essential:
Crawford talked about Garbo just a few instances, although, and her description of their transient conferences made it seem to be Crawford hardly ever bought in additional than a greeting. But Crawford remained in awe of Garbo’s well-known magnetism.
So I suppose it is smart that the BBC doc “Garbo, By Joan Crawford” exists as an unimaginable cultural rarity. Its exact broadcast historical past is slightly hazy, although the BBC lists it as having premiered November 11, 1969. (IMDb says it aired three days earlier within the U.S., though 154 customers have one way or the other erroneously rated it as solely 2.7/10 so I’m unsure what to belief over there.)
Fortunately, the YouTube web page The Concluding Chapter of Crawford one way or the other obtained and uploaded a replica of the hardly ever screened documentary eight years in the past, listed under. It’s in tough form, and the timecode is seen. However what a time capsule. Take into account Crawford’s characteristically posh introduction, spoken on to digital camera as Crawford herself is spectacularly coiffed and bejeweled:
“When a queen offers up her throne, she turns into a non-public particular person,” she says. “She frees herself from all of the myths and legends that burden majesty, she regularly passes into historical past.”
(The drama and its meta interpretation nearly make it seem to be she’s foretelling her personal passing into delusion only a few years later.) Crawford continues:
“However a movie star like Greta Garbo finds that her stardom won’t let individuals neglect that, although Garbo nonetheless turns deaf ears to the thousands and thousands of people that entreat her to return to the display screen, she has extra substance than a reminiscence. Garbo herself is ageless. The good romantic movies she made are rediscovered by every new technology, and her spell has misplaced none of its energy as Hollywood’s biggest star. Nobody ever created such an impression as a lady. Nobody ever tempted so many individuals to attempt to penetrate her thriller.”
In traditional movie circles, this austere description will not be not like how others focus on Garbo. Among the many Previous Hollywood set, Garbo was typically spoken about in such phrases — together with by Crawford’s supposed nemesis Bette Davis, who mentioned of the “Camille” actress, “Her intuition, her mastery over the machine, was pure witchcraft. I can not analyze this lady’s performing. I solely know that nobody else so successfully labored in entrance of a digital camera.”
The Swedish Garbo, who solely discovered English after securing a contract with MGM and shifting to Hollywood in 1925, was actually an enigma. After a sequence of silents, typically reverse her occasional real-life lover John Gilbert, Garbo efficiently transitioned to sound together with her indelible, husky accent, turning into synonymous together with her line, “I need to be alone,” first spoken in “Grand Resort” after which typically referenced in her succeeding work — together with memorably in her first comedy, 1939’s “Ninotchka.”
When she retired in 1941, Garbo settled in New York Metropolis and, regardless of sometimes flirtations, by no means returned to Hollywood. Recognizing her on her prolonged every day walks by Manhattan turned such a sport {that a} 1984 movie made the pursuit its central plot: “Garbo Talks.”
Garbo did write many letters all through her lifetime, a lot of which had been auctioned in 2019. One particularly from 1937 painted an remoted portrait of the star: “It’s onerous and unhappy to be alone, however generally it’s much more troublesome to be with somebody… Once we are right here on Earth it could be a lot extra sort if for this brief time we’d be endlessly robust and younger. I’m wondering why God most popular it this fashion… someplace on this world are just a few beings who do not need it as now we have, of that I’m sure. And if I might cease making movie I might go and see if I might discover out slightly about it.”
Crawford herself would, mockingly, finish her life as a NYC recluse. After recognizing a press picture in a newspaper that she discovered unflattering in 1974, Crawford stopped making appearances. She died in 1977. Her personal legend could be endlessly intermingled together with her daughter Christina’s tell-all guide “Mommie Dearest” and Faye Dunaway’s unrestrained portrayal within the ensuing 1981 movie adaptation — although there have been current makes an attempt (like Ryan Murphy’s “Feud”) to higher contextualize the Oscar-winning “Mildred Pierce” star.
That these legends would nearly cross paths on movie in “Grand Resort” is an thrilling sufficient historic anomaly. That a whole hour-long documentary exists the place one waxes on in regards to the different? That’s merely divine.
“Garbo, by Joan Crawford” will air August 14 and August 15 on BBC 4 within the U.Ok. Let’s hope it will assist facilitate a higher-quality streaming copy, however for now, experience its glory right here: