The Greta Garbo Signature Collection

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alandau
Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2004 5:37 pm
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#1 Post by alandau » Tue May 10, 2005 7:59 am

I just received some news about the Garbo collection from a trusted source. Quite disappointing news, actually. Only three films, and all silents,THE TEMPTRESS, FLESH AND THE DEVIL, and THE MYSTERIOUS LADY. Mark Vieira is doing the commentaries. He is the author of the excellent Sin in Soft Focus, a valuable companion for pre-code lovers.
Don't get me wrong, I love silents and cannot wait for films like The Wind and Docks of New York, and FLESH AND THE DEVIL for that matter. However, I thought Warners would release some of Garbo's fabulous sound pictures like Queen Christina and Camille.

The boxset is due out in September, to coincide with Garbo's centenary.Vieira has also published a book on Garbo, which promises to be as splendid as Sin in Soft Focus, also due in September.

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ola t
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#2 Post by ola t » Tue May 10, 2005 8:25 am

I think it's fabulous news, though maybe one reason I don't share your disappointment is that I've never seen any of her sound films, so I guess I don't know what we're missing. Thank you for reporting this. If you find out anything more (such as whether the surviving fragment of Sjöström's The Divine Woman will be included), please let us know.

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Ashirg
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#3 Post by Ashirg » Tue May 10, 2005 9:40 am

It's probably going to be presented same way as Lon Chaney's and Buster Keaton's sets from TCM and Warner... I'm sure they will also release her sound films in a separate boxset.

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justeleblanc
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#4 Post by justeleblanc » Tue May 10, 2005 10:39 am

That's a little dissapointing, I guess I'll just have to wait longer until Ninotchka.

buskeat
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#5 Post by buskeat » Tue May 10, 2005 10:45 am

I'll bet you there will be two box sets. One will be the TCM Archives collection and the other a Signature Collection. Makes sense to do that. Otherwise, the Signature Collection would just be too big. I know the Hitchcock box was, what 10 DVDs, but maybe they think people wouldn't fork over for a Garbo boxed set that large.

A sound collection would *have* to include Anna Christie, Queen Christina, Anna Karenina, Camille and Ninotchka at the very least. And they just love putting a wild card in there too, maybe something like Conquest or As You Desire Me.

I can't imagine they would have waited all this time for a Centennial release just for a TCM Archives set.

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Jeff
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#6 Post by Jeff » Tue May 10, 2005 9:29 pm

I think that the scenario in which there will be both a TCM Archives Collection and a Signature Collection is the most likely one. Warner have already confirmed that Ninotchka and Anna Karenina are due later this year.

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alandau
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#7 Post by alandau » Wed May 11, 2005 3:18 am

More news, and this time very positive. Apparently, two boxsets, the silents (and why not her best silent The Kiss) and her sound films, ANNA CHRISTIE, MATA HARI, QUEEN CHRISTINA, ANNA KARENINA, CAMILLE and NINOTCHKA.

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Gregory
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#8 Post by Gregory » Wed May 11, 2005 3:40 pm

I certainly hope next year they'll release a second box with the remaining sound films -- Romance, Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise, Inspiration, As You Desire Me, The Painted Veil, Conquest, and Two-Faced Woman -- even though these may not sell as well. I'm especially looking forward to Two-Faced Woman and I hope they'll go to the trouble to track down the uncensored cut.
Last edited by Gregory on Thu May 12, 2005 5:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

jcelwin
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#9 Post by jcelwin » Thu May 12, 2005 5:07 pm


jcelwin
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#10 Post by jcelwin » Thu May 12, 2005 5:11 pm

Looks like another good set from Warner. Great to see the silents included.

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alandau
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#11 Post by alandau » Fri May 13, 2005 2:23 am

I hear from a trusted source that Warners put alot of work into the CAMILLE transfer. The result, apparently, is the most stunning B/W transfer in the DVD universe to date. I am eager for Beaver to review this one.

All the silents look spectacular as well, especially FLESH AND THE DEVIL. The first ten minutes or so of THE TEMPTRESS is amazing cinema, as this footage was directed by Victor Seastrom, who was fired or quit the project. The remainder of the film was directed in typical formulaic MGM fashion by production-line director Fred Niblo. It is nothing much, albeit, elevated by the presence of Garbo, who look quite camp strutting in the Mexican desert in high stiletto. Reminds me of Dietrich in GARDEN OF ALLAH.

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Ashirg
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#12 Post by Ashirg » Fri May 13, 2005 3:32 am

I'm surpirsed they didn't include Love with Anna Karenina since it's based on the same novel and stars Garbo...

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ola t
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#13 Post by ola t » Fri May 13, 2005 3:49 am

alandau wrote:The first ten minutes or so of THE TEMPTRESS is amazing cinema, as this footage was directed by Victor Seastrom, who was fired or quit the project.
I think you mean Mauritz Stiller -- Sjöström directed The Divine Woman. Unless Kino hurry up with their announced Stiller titles or Criterion with their rumored release of The Phantom Carriage, this set will mark the DVD debuts of both Stiller and Sjöström (as director) -- what a pity that they only get about ten minutes each.

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alandau
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#14 Post by alandau » Fri May 13, 2005 5:08 am

I think you mean Mauritz Stiller
Thanks, I stand corrected.
I always get the two mixed.

IMO The Kiss, should have been included as part of the silent set. I only saw it once at the 1990 Garbo retrospective at the State Theatre in Melbourne. The print was excellent, and the art deco set design quite outstanding, which the film is renowned for.

A sad fact of all this is that we may never see the release of Garbo's other movies, silents like Love and The Torrent, and the likes of Sussan Lennox, The Painted Veil, Conquest etc. These films may not be as impressive as the boxset releases, but for a completist, they are essentilal.

A smart decision by Warners was to include Mata Hari. This was her biggest worldwide hit, even surpassing Queen Christina and Grand Hotel which were also huge. It was especially popular in Continental Europe, and is THE film that made Garbo an icon in Europe.

Unfortunately, the complete version of Mata Hari does not exist, as MGM was forced by Herr Breen to make cuts for it's reissue in 1935. The cut material is lost forever, unless it appears oneday in some hidden vault in The Netherlands or Germany. However, there are many risque scenes still left intact, including quite a few tintillating lesbian references.

Michael Strangeways
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#15 Post by Michael Strangeways » Fri May 13, 2005 2:32 pm

matt wrote:Whillikers! 10 discs!

Nice to see that they will be including the silent Nazimova and Valentino version of Camille. I hope they don't flake on that like they did with the 1929 version of The Letter.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Universal gave the same treatment to Marlene Dietrich? Oh, why couldn't she and von Sternberg have signed with MGM instead of Paramount back in the day? Damn you, Adolph Zukor!
Maybe that would be good for us in the hear and now, regarding getting these films on DVD, but MGM would never have let von Sternberg have the creative control he enjoyed at Paramount. Mayer would have blown a gasket; Dietrich was about 20 times more sexually provocative than Garbo. Garbo hinted at a lesbian undercurrent; with Dietrich, it was a raging river cascading over the confused tuemescence of Gary Cooper!!

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Jeff
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#16 Post by Jeff » Sat May 14, 2005 1:07 am

TCM Archives: Garbo Silents
This TCM Archives two-disc collection focuses on Garbo’s earliest years in Hollywood. In The Temptress (1926) Garbo establishes her magnetic screen persona as a vamp who destroys the lives of men who cannot resist her charms. In Flesh and the Devil (1927), she is an irresistible vixen who comes between lifelong friends John Gilbert and Lars Hanson, and in The Mysterious Lady (1928), she’s a Russian spy who seduces her victims. Each film greatly contributed in building the Garbo legend that still fascinates audiences almost 80 years later.

DVD Special Features include:

* Settling the Score Goes Behind the Scenes of the TCM Young Film Composers Competition and the Scoring of Notable Silent Movies, Including These Garbo Classics
* Commentary on Flesh and the Devil by Garbo Author Barry Paris
* Commentary on The Temptress by Greta Garbo: A Cinematic Legacy Author Mark A. Vieira
* Commentary on Mysterious Lady by Film Historians Tony Maietta and Jeffrey Vance
* The Divine Woman: Surviving 9-Minute Excerpt of This Lost 1928 Silent Film
* Alternate Ending on The Temptress
* Photo Montages on Garbo’s Silent Years at MGM
* Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Anna Christie (1930)
Garbo made her landmark transition to “Talkies” with this film, playing a former prostitute whose past threatens her chance for happiness. A different director and cast join Garbo in a German-language version (Side B, with English subtitles) filmed on the same sound stages immediately after the English version. Later, Garbo called it the better film, and this new DVD release gives fans the rare opportunity to compare the two versions.

DVD Special Features include:

* German-Language Version
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Mata Hari (1931)
Garbo is mesmerizing as a dancer turned German secret agent in wartime Paris seething with secrets and betrayal. The notable supporting cast includes Lionel Barrymore as a Russian general in love with her, Lewis Stone as an icy master spy and Ramon Novarro as a handsome aviator who wins the heart Mata Hari did not know she possessed.

DVD Special Features include:

* Theatrical Trailer
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Grand Hotel (1932)
Ruined aristocrat John Barrymore. Terminally ill clerk Lionel Barrymore. Ruthless tycoon Wallace Beery. Scheming stenographer Joan Crawford. And disillusioned ballerina Greta Garbo. Based on Vicki Baum's novel and produced by Irving Thalberg, this radiant film captured the 1932 Best Picture Academy Award.

DVD Special Features include:

* New Documentary Checking Out: Grand Hotel
* Premiere Newsreel
* Vintage Musical Short Nothing Ever Happens
* Just a Word of Warning Theatre Announcement
* Trailers of the film and the 1945 Remake of Week-End at the Waldorf
* Languages: English & French
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Queen Christina (1933)
To escape the burdens of the monarchy, Sweden’s Queen Christina (Garbo) rides into the countryside disguised as a boy. She meets and secretly falls for a dashing Spanish envoy on his way to the royal court. When her lover’s true identity is revealed, Christina knows her people will not accept her marriage to a foreigner. Torn between her duty and her heart, she must make a fateful decision. Garbo is luminous in this lavish costume drama, starring with her one-time off-screen fiancé John Gilbert under the direction of Rouben Mamoulian.

DVD Special Features include:

* Theatrical Trailer
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Anna Karenina (1935)
Leo Tolstoy’s novel of a dutiful wife and doting mother who gives up her life of contentment to experience real passion, receives sumptuous treatment in a David O. Selznick production. Clarence Brown directs a stellar cast – including Fredric March, Basil Rathbone, Maureen O’Sullivan and Freddie Bartholomew. Greta Garbo is the soul of the film in a nuanced performance that won the New York Film Critics Best Actress Award. At the height of her art, Garbo is unforgettable as a woman helpless in love’s grasp and heartbroken at the loss of her son.

DVD Special Features include:

* Theatrical Trailer
* Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Camille (1936)
Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier (Garbo), the Camille of this sumptuous romantic tale based on the enduring Alexandre Dumas story.

Garbo earned an Academy Award nomination and the New York Film Critics Best Actress Award for her memorable work in this George Cukor-directed film.

DVD Special Features include:

* 1921 Silent Version Starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino
* Audio Bonus: Leo Is On the Air Radio Promo
* 1936 Version Theatrical Trailer
* Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Ninotchka (1939)
Garbo shines in her first comedy, a frothy tale of a dour Russian envoy sublimating her womanhood for Soviet brotherhood until she falls for a suave Parisian man-about-town (Melvyn Douglas). Working from a clever script written in part by Billy Wilder, director Ernst Lubitsch knew better than anyone how to marry refinement with sublime wit. That’s how we see Garbo’s love struck Ninotchka: serenely dignified yet endearingly ridiculous.

DVD Special Features include:

* 1967 BBC Show Garbo – hosted by Joan Crawford
* Theatrical Trailer of this Film and Its Musical Remake Silk Stockings
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

TCM Original Documentary: Garbo (2005)
A brand-new Turner Classic Movies original, feature-length profile from legendary documentarian Kevin Brownlow and his Photoplay Productions, Garbo offers an intimate look at the life and career of Greta Garbo. Brownlow’s unique portrait of the enigmatic actress is drawn through rare footage, new and vintage interviews with biographers and admirers, plus many of the friends, relatives and associates who came closest to penetrating the lonely star’s veil of solitude. Her career is illustrated with clips from all her movies, ranging from her early film work in Sweden to such Hollywood triumphs as Anna Christie, Grand Hotel, Camille, Ninotchka and her swan song in 1941’s Two-Faced Woman.

Among those offering analysis and reminiscences are biographers Barry Paris; actor/playwright Charles Busch; Garbo’s niece and great nephews, Gray, Derek and Scott Reisfeld and friends Gore Vidal, Gavin Lambert, Jack Larson and Sam Green, Garbo’s confidante and walking companion for 20 years. Archival interviews include those with childhood friend Mimi Pollak, author Adela Rogers St. Johns and her favorite director Clarence Brown. The new documentary (a co-production with Turner Entertainment Co.) features a rousing musical score from the eminent film composer Carl Davis and premieres on Turner Classic Movies in September as part of a month-long tribute to the enigmatic beauty.

milkcan
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#17 Post by milkcan » Sun May 15, 2005 11:37 pm

I was surprised when I first saw Flesh and the Devil. I generally can't stand these types of films, and this one is like an amalgam of every sappy, ironic, romantic idea. But I absolutely fell for it all. The production values of this film are wonderful, with excellent camerawork. And the story is presented in a very mature manner as well. It also features some good acting too. What stood out most, however, was Greta Garbo: oh, how captivating she was! Garbo has a face torn from a fantasy.

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devlinnn
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#18 Post by devlinnn » Mon May 16, 2005 12:59 am

Hard to quibble over such a set, but....

Warner obviously feels they don't need to go that extra distance when it comes to 'women's' pictures. The 'male' domain films of noir, gangster films, Flynns, upcoming Lewton's, key directors etc. all seem to have relevant commentaries (good or bad). Yet most of the musicals, the recent Davis, Crawford, Day and Garbo sets miss out (unless it's 'silent', lending the DVD to necessary scholarship). Anna Christie, Queen Christina, Camille and Ninotchka are all major MGM works by prominent artists and directors that are worthy of critical analysis and historical detail.

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Steven H
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#19 Post by Steven H » Thu May 26, 2005 1:55 am

There's a listing now at dvdplanet.com. I don't see how I could avoid picking this up. $70 is extremely reasonable, I agree it is comparitively light on extras though.

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devlinnn
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#20 Post by devlinnn » Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:26 am

Have been studying, reflecting and dreaming about Garbo and the artwork for Mata Hari for a few weeks now. I'm presuming her eyes were even more divine in reality. Could you imagine what Micky Powell and Jack Cardiff would have achieved with those blue eyes and bone structure in glorious 3-strip Technicolor. Oh well, back to dreams....

Image

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Derek Estes
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#21 Post by Derek Estes » Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:41 am

You know just today I was staring at her eyes on that cover and marveling at their beauty. I just ordered this set today from Ch.com for $59.95 not a bad price if I do say so.

filmfan
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#22 Post by filmfan » Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:48 am

These releases, are as they say, on the Street ! So you can imagine actually picking these up in your hands ! (I didn't realize I would be this wacky about a dvd release...and I though the Lugosi collection was THE MOTHERLOAD of recent releases !)

I was very tempted to pick up the individual titles, but I'm holding out for the box set.

The TCM silent collection will have to hold me a few days until then !!!!

Eclisse
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#23 Post by Eclisse » Thu Sep 01, 2005 8:29 am

Garbo won an Honorary Oscar in the mid-50s I think.Does anyone know if she went to the ceremony?

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devlinnn
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#24 Post by devlinnn » Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:06 am

Garbo won an Honorary Oscar in the mid-50s I think.Does anyone know if she went to the ceremony?
Far too busy passing the hours walking New York streets, drinking with friends and admiring her collections to fuss about awards, I should think.

(Counting the minutes for the set to arrive.....)

Arcadean
Joined: Tue May 10, 2005 5:33 am

#25 Post by Arcadean » Thu Sep 01, 2005 7:28 pm

I kept an article I read recently on Garbo's attempted comeback in 1949.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 96,00.html

It was rather sad after I had just watched several movies with her in them.

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