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DVD Camille
One of Greta Garbo's touchstone films, this 1937 adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel finds the actress playing a dying courtesan who falls in love with a young nobleman (a slightly miscast Robert Taylor) and must sacrifice her happiness. Directed by George Cukor (The Philadelphia Story), the supreme "women's director" in Hollywood at the time, the film could have existed just to give Garbo room to be luminous (despite her character's illness) and a great star. But it is also a gorgeous MGM production with strong performances from Lionel Barrymore and the rest of the cast. (Henry Daniell is a standout as the villain.) --Tom Keogh
I enjoyed this DVD very much. It is also intereting as there is the silent version with Valentino on it too.
Greta Garbo's finest performance and movie
Customers buying the Greta Garbo CAMILLE, either in the GARBO boxed set or alone, are in for a treat-the 1921 silent version, starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino, as a lovely bonus. And it IS lovely. Running 70 minutes, it is Alexandre Dumas' tragic love triangle updated to Jazz Age Paris with Nazimova as Camille and Valentino as Armand, her poor but romantic suitor. The script is by June Mathis and the beautiful settings are by Natasha Rambova, friend/lover to Valentino.
But the real gem in this single disk is the George Cukor-directed CAMILLE (1936, MGM), starring Garbo at her very best as Camille, the consumptive courtesan in 1847 Paris. She is romantically torn between poor but sweet Armand (Robert Taylor) and the wealthy but unpleasant Baron de Varville (Henry Daniell at his nastiest). All three actors are in peak form and make this a dynamic love triangle, but could not do it without brilliant writing and direction.
And, of course, no studio in Hollywood could match MGM for opulent production design-the wealthy salons and fancy balls. Laura Hope Crews, Aunt Pittypat in GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), looks like she is having fun smoking cigars and hiking up her fancy dress. And Lionel Barrymore, as Armand's father, has one of his last roles before crippling arthritis forced him into a wheelchair. This CAMILLE is a movie masterpiece that may have Garbo's finest performance. She deserved her Oscar nomination (and probably should have won) and received the prestigious New York Film Critics Award for Best Actress.
As icing on the DVD cake, CAMILLE comes with a theatrical trailer for the 1936 version and a "Leo is On the Air" radio promo. This is a worthy addition to your DVD collection, either alone or as part of the huge and fabulous GARBO Signature Collection.
Another mediocre DVD transfer from Warner Brothers
This great classic has finally come to DVD and what has Warner Brothers given us? Lovely new artwork for the cover and the same old tired print that has been used for the VHS copies for the past 20 years. Scratchy, contrast occasionally rough, and lots of remnants of age. I'm sure they were working with the best print they had, but why didn't they bother to restore it -- the technology is available and relatively inexpensive. I'm happy to have this wonderful film on DVD, but that doesn't forgive Warner Brothers for not bothering to restore it to its original magnificence.
Ah, those fun-loving Communists! In Ninotchka three Soviets make their way to Paris to sell off imperial jewels to raise money to buy tractors for the USSR. When Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire), former owner of the jewels, discovers what's happening, she deploys her lover Leon (Melvyn Douglas) to recover her gems. He starts a court proceeding while seducing the three bumbling Soviets with the luxuries of capitalistic life. The delay of the sale is noticed in Moscow, and Comrade Ninotchka (Greta Garbo) is dispatched to Paris to settle the matter. Soon after arrival, she meets Leon, who is charmed by her severe, uptight manner and her stunning beauty ("I love Russians! Comrade, I've been fascinated by your five-year plan for the last 15 years"), and he sets about wooing her, despite... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Greta Garbo - Melvyn Douglas Director(s): Ernst Lubitsch DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Arguably Greta Garbo's best MGM movie--depending how you feel about Camille and Ninotchka--this tale of the 17th-century Swedish monarch who preferred men's togs to gowns plays the most provocative games with the great star's ambisexual personality. At her request, Rouben Mamoulian directed (all three Garbo's-best-movie candidates were done by the best directors she worked with: Mamoulian, George Cukor, and Ernst Lubitsch). Two sequences are legendary: Christina memorizing the room at a snowbound inn where she has first experienced love; and the long, concluding closeup of a queen become ship's-figurehead--as blank as a tabula rasa, and filled with all the meaning and emotion seven decades of audiences have chosen to see there. Those scenes are anthology pieces, but... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Greta Garbo - John Gilbert Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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