Garbo is Great but the Guy is a Slog: My Take on 1930's Romance

You should probably only watch this if you’re a die-hard Garbo fan or someone who really loves the clunky charm of early sound movies. If you want a fast plot or a relatable hero, you’re gonna hate it. It’s slow, it’s loud in the wrong places, and the main guy is kind of a pain. But hey, it has Greta Garbo, so it's never totally a waste of time. 🎬

The movie starts with this frame story. There's this old Bishop, Armstrong, and his grandson Harry wants to marry an actress. The family is acting like he’s marrying a bank robber. It’s funny how people used to look down on performers back then, considering we basically worship them now.

Anyway, the Bishop starts telling a story about his own youth to warn the kid. This is where we jump back to the 1860s. The makeup they put on the old version of the Bishop is... interesting. It looks like he’s wearing a rubber mask that’s slowly melting off his ears. 👂

Then we meet the young version of the Bishop, played by Gavin Gordon. Oh boy. This guy is intense. Not in a cool way, but in a "please stop shouting your lines at the ceiling" way. He’s a 28-year-old rector who has clearly never met a woman who wasn't his mother or a parishioner.

Then Garbo enters as Rita Cavallini. She’s an opera star. She has this thick accent that’s supposed to be Italian, but it’s mostly just Garbo being Garbo. She carries this tiny monkey around. The monkey is honestly the most natural actor in the whole film. It looks around with this expression like it’s wondering when lunch is. 🐒

There is this one scene at a party where everyone is standing around in these giant, stiff costumes. It feels like they’re all terrified to move because they might knock over a lamp. The camera just sits there. It’s very 1930. They hadn't quite figured out how to move the equipment and record sound at the same time yet.

Rita and the rector fall in love, I guess? It happens really fast. One minute they’re talking about music, and the next he’s obsessed. He thinks she’s this pure, angelic soul. He has no idea she has a "past." Which, in 1930s movie language, means she’s had more than one boyfriend.

I found myself thinking about Forbidden while watching this. That movie feels a bit more modern in its guts. Romance feels like a stage play that someone accidentally filmed. It’s very heavy on the dialogue and very light on, well, everything else.

There’s a sleigh ride scene that is actually pretty charming. The snow is obviously fake—it looks like soap flakes or maybe shredded paper. But the way Garbo looks under those furs is just magic. She has this way of looking at the camera where you totally forget the leading man is a dud. ❄️

Wait, I have to talk about Gavin Gordon again. There’s a moment where he finds out about Rita’s past and he has a total meltdown. He starts talking about sin and his voice goes up about three octaves. It’s supposed to be dramatic, but I actually laughed a little. It’s just so much. He’s like a person who has only ever seen acting in a silent movie and is trying to do it with his voice too.

Rita is actually the more mature one. She knows they can’t be together. She knows his world wouldn't accept her. There’s a real sadness in her eyes when she looks at him. It’s like she’s looking at a puppy that she knows she has to give away.

The middle part of the movie drags quite a bit. There’s a lot of sitting in parlors. There’s a lot of talk about Cornelius, who is played by Lewis Stone. Lewis Stone is in every single movie from this era, I swear. He’s always the guy who looks like he knows exactly what’s going on but isn't going to tell anyone. He’s great, as usual.

The Little Things I Noticed:

• The way Garbo says "Beeshop." I’ve been saying it to my cat all morning.
• There is a background extra in the party scene who looks like they are genuinely falling asleep. I don't blame them.
• The costumes are so huge that people have to stand about four feet apart just to talk.
• The sound of the film has this constant hiss, like there’s a tea kettle boiling in the next room.

It’s weirdly similar to Time to Love in its vibes, but way more serious. This movie really wants you to feel the tragedy of it all. But it’s hard to feel tragic when the hero is so annoying. You kind of want Rita to just stay with her monkey and her opera career and leave this guy to his church pews.

The ending is actually kind of okay. It doesn't wrap up in a neat little bow. It feels a bit more honest than I expected. The Bishop finishes his story, and we go back to the grandson. It makes you think about how many old people have these wild, secret histories that they never talk about.

One reaction shot of Garbo near the end lingers for a long time. It’s just her face in the dark. That one shot is better than the first forty minutes of the movie combined. She doesn't have to say anything. You just see her heart breaking in real time.

Is it a masterpiece? No way. It’s clunky and the acting is all over the place. But if you want to see why people were so obsessed with Garbo, this is a good place to look. She’s doing all the heavy lifting. 🏋️‍♀️

I also noticed that the set design in Rita's apartment is incredibly cluttered. There are statues and vases everywhere. It looks like a place where you'd break something every time you sneezed. It definitely matches her character's "live for the moment" energy, though.

If you're looking for something else from this period, maybe check out A Texas Steer if you want something lighter. Romance is strictly for when you want to feel a bit moody and look at 19th-century dresses.

I’m still thinking about that monkey. I hope it got a good treat after filming. It was definitely the most grounded thing in the whole production. 🍌

Final thought: The movie gets noticeably better once the rector stops preaching and starts actually acting like a human being, which happens for about ten minutes near the end. Before that, it's a struggle. But Garbo makes the struggle worth it. Mostly.