Search - Anna Christie on DVD

Elizabeth B. (bethieof96) from NINETY SIX, SC
Reviewed on 6/20/2021...

This one here goes way back with screen sensation Greta Garbo. Good film.

William B. from NINETY SIX, SC
Reviewed on 5/12/2021...

In New York, the alcoholic skipper of a coal barge Chris Christofferson receives a letter from his estranged twenty year old daughter Anna "Christie" Christofferson telling that she will leave Minnesota to stay with him. Chris left Anna fifteen years ago to the countryside to be raised by relatives in a farm in St. Paul and he has never visited his daughter. Anna Christie arrives and she is a wounded woman with a hidden dishonorable past since she had worked for two years in a brothel to survive. She moves to the barge to live with her father and one night, Chris rescues the sailor Matt and two other fainted sailors from the sea. Soon Anna and Matt fall in love with each other and Anna has the best days of her life. But when Matt proposes to marry her, she is reluctant and also haunted by her past. Matt insists and Anna opens her heart to Matt and to her father disclosing the darks secrets of her past.

German with English subtitles version is better!

12/21/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Of the two versions I saw, I preferred the German version with English subtitles. Garbo's performance as well as that of the supporting cast was more inspired. I will keep looking for that version before I buy!"

A GARBO MILESTONE.

scotsladdie | 11/12/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The once highly esteemed script-writer, Frances Marion, faithfully followed the text of the famous Eugene O'Neil play which starred Blanche Sweet on Broadway in the early twenties. Bette Davis, who was a devout "Garbomaniac" (as Garbo fans were called in the thirties), once stated about Garbo's acting: "What Garbo did on the screen was sheer witchcraft... I cannot analyze this woman's acting". In her first sound film, after what seems an eternity, Garbo finally comes into view, weary and cynical, she says to the bartender: "Gif me a viskey - chinger ale on the side. And don't be stingy, baby!". Her voice was blissfully right on target! This 1930 antique is very talky and reminds one of a silent movie with dialogue. If it were not so well-acted, it would be very tiresome indeed. Garbo's voice was noted as being in strange and beautiful accord with the Garbo personality of the silent pictures. Garbo had, more than than any other actress on the screen in the early thirties, the ability to emit the power of suggestion, and, in infinite degrees, expose the isolated mysteriousness of the human soul. Charles Bickford does quite well as the Irish seaman, and as the the old waterfront hag, Marthy Owens, Marie Dressler put an infinite amount of detail in her excellent (albeit a bit hammy) characterization; Garbo was so impressed by Dressler's performance that she personally brought a bouquet of chrysanthemums to Dressler's home in appreciation. On both the stage and screen, George Marion seemed destined to be old Chris; his remarks about "Dat old davil sea" has made audiences laugh for over 70 years."

Garbo speaks....and speaks.......and speaks!

Douglas M | 07/06/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Anna Christie" is most famous as the film which released Greta Garbo from the silent era, the last major star to make the transition. The marketing of the film ensured that this was a major cinematic event and the film was a box office smash but it does not really stand the test of time.



Based on a depressing Eugene O'Neill play, this is an unusual piece for Garbo because she plays a contemporary figure surrounded by 3 character actors in demanding parts. She suffers by comparison. George Marion as her father and Marie Dressler as the mistress create incredibly real people. The scenes with Dressler are wonderful; Garbo, the mistress of underacting, with Dressler, the mistress of overacting, and meeting in the middle with genuine rapport. Charles Bickford as the boorish Irish lover is good too but he has no charisma, no screen magnetism. It is just not convincing that Garbo could fall for him.



The film has endless talk, little action, a static camera and a soundtrack which is often hard to understand. Garbo's unease with the Amercian slang is obvious with some of her line readings emphasing the wrong words. The story has a poor ending, flicking from hysteria to rationalisation in the flick of an eye and with what has gone on before, it is easy to speculate that this motley group have got lots of bad times ahead.



The print of the film is surprisingly good and far superior to other Garbo DVDs of later talkies. The DVD comes with the German version of the film too. This version is shorter and darker. Garbo looks more seedy and it is obvious that she is more comfortable with the German language.



The DVD is best purchased as part of one of the Garbo collections because only then will you obtain any extras which will tell you more about the star and the film."