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.Okay.’s BBC 4 is now unearthing on August 14 and 15 — concerning the largest legend of all of them: Greta Garbo. Each stars had been below contract at MGM again within the ’20s and ’30s, through the heights of the studio system in addition to that patricular studio. The 2 icons, nonetheless, barely crossed paths.
Garbo — an notorious recluse till her dying day — didn’t socialize along 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 Lodge,” the 2 didn’t share any scenes. MGM truly needed to composite a forged picture to make it seem like Garbo was ever within the room with extra folks than completely essential:
Crawford talked about Garbo a couple of instances, although, and her description of their transient conferences made it look like Crawford not often obtained in additional than a greeting. But Crawford remained in awe of Garbo’s well-known magnetism.
So I suppose it is sensible that the BBC doc “Garbo, By Joan Crawford” exists as an unimaginable cultural rarity. Its exact broadcast historical past is just a little 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 by some means 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 by some means obtained and uploaded a replica of the not often screened documentary eight years in the past, listed beneath. It’s in tough form, and the timecode is seen. However what a time capsule. Contemplate 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 personal particular person,” she says. “She frees herself from all of the myths and legends that burden majesty, she step by step passes into historical past.”
(The drama and its meta interpretation nearly make it look like she’s foretelling her personal passing into fantasy just some years later.) Crawford continues:
“However a movie star like Greta Garbo finds that her stardom won’t let folks overlook that, although Garbo nonetheless turns deaf ears to the hundreds of thousands of people that entreat her to return to the display screen, she has extra substance than a reminiscence. Garbo herself is ageless. The nice romantic movies she made are rediscovered by every new era, 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 Outdated 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 realized English after securing a contract with MGM and transferring 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 along with her indelible, husky accent, changing into synonymous along with her line, “I need to be alone,” first spoken in “Grand Lodge” 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 via Manhattan grew to become 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 specifically from 1937 painted an remoted portrait of the star: “It’s laborious and unhappy to be alone, however typically it’s much more tough to be with somebody… Once we are right here on Earth it will be a lot extra type if for this brief time we’d be ceaselessly sturdy and younger. I’m wondering why God most well-liked it this manner… someplace on this world are a couple of beings who do not need it as we’ve, of that I’m sure. And if I’d cease making movie I may go and see if I may discover out just a little 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 can be ceaselessly intermingled along with her daughter Christina’s tell-all e-book “Mommie Dearest” and Faye Dunaway’s unrestrained portrayal within the ensuing 1981 movie adaptation — although there have been latest makes an attempt (like Ryan Murphy’s “Feud”) to raised contextualize the Oscar-winning “Mildred Pierce” star.
That these legends would nearly cross paths on movie in “Grand Lodge” is an thrilling sufficient historic anomaly. That a complete hour-long documentary exists the place one waxes on concerning the different? That’s merely divine.
“Garbo, by Joan Crawford” will air August 14 and August 15 on BBC 4 within the U.Okay. Let’s hope it will assist facilitate a higher-quality streaming copy, however for now, experience its glory right here:
