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Garbo's Back!
And the Balboa's Got Her!
Thursday, Feb. 24 — Thursday, March 3, 2005
 Greta Garbo is the extreme definition of stardom in the cinema: not only because she is the star most people would name first, but because her life and work were made into contingent expressions of the domination that a star treats us to; and because within that inscrutability, what drew audiences was the impression of its antithesis — anxiety, vulnerability, distraction. The energy needed to burn bright hurt Garbo, and that pain permeated her appeal.
Garbo's films keep her for the audiences. They allow us to leave the cinema with the thought that she escaped the plot, the settings, and the other characters to perform endlessly in our dreams. Of course, that effect was not casual. Scriptwriters produced material that was in key with the 'private' image of Garbo, itself promoted by the publicity department of MGM. There is no campaign to sell unattainability so enduring as that involving Garbo, and a few cases where the 'public' and 'private' images are so threaded together in artiface.
— excerpted from David Thomson's The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
Film Schedule | Ticket Prices | Film Descriptions
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Film Schedule
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Thursday-Friday, Feb. 24-25
CAMILLE — (1:10), 5:00, 9:00
and
QUEEN CHRISTINA — (3:10), 7:00
Film writer David Thomson (The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood) will introduce the films on Thursday evening.
Saturday, Feb. 26 and Monday., Feb. 28
ANNA KARENINA — (3:15), 7:00
and
NINOTCHKA — (1:15), 5:00, 8:45
Sunday, Feb. 27
TORRENT (1926) — 1:00
An original score will be performed live by Nik Phelps and ensemble. Doors open at 1:00; all seats $10. Includes Balboa's Birthday Bash with shorts and live vaudeville show, cake, refreshments and prizes.
Tuesday, Mar. 1
PAINTED VEIL — (2:05), 5:25, 8:55
and
WOMAN OF AFFAIRS — (12:20), 3:40, 7:00
(live music accompaniment by Jon Mirsalis at 7pm)
The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle (Complicated Women; Dangerous Men) will introduce this evening's screenings.
Wednesday-Thursday, March 2-3
GRAND HOTEL — (1:10), 4:55, 8:40
and
MATA HARI — (3:15), 7:00
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Ticket Prices
GENERAL ADMISSION: $8.50 (for double bills); Seniors and Children under 12: $6.00.
Bargain Matinees (show times in parentheses): $6.00
Anniversary Screening of TORRENT- $10.00
Discount Card: 5 admissions for $30. |
Film Descriptions
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CAMILLE
(1937) Garbo's particular tragic sense has never been more memorably displayed than as the heroine of Alexander Dumas' story of the ill-fated courtesan and her bittersweet romance with handsome, unsuitable Armand (Robert Taylor). George Cukor directs what Pauline Kael wrote was a "sublime, ironic performance by Garbo whose artistry triumphs and transforms a tear-jerker into a classic.
filmsite.org/cami.html |
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QUEEN CHRISTINA
(1933) In this story of a queen reared as a boy to succeed to the 17th Century Swedish throne, Garbo is reunited with her silent screen lover, John Gilbert. Garbo, of course, dominates every scene in this visually stunning film, directed with humor and style by Rouben Mamoulian and cited as a masterpiece of eroticism.
Film writer David Thomson (The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood) will introduce the films on Thursday evening.
filmsite.org/quee.html |
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ANNA KARENINA
(1935) Garbo's unique tragic quality strongly suited her to the role of Tolstoy's heroine, the wife of an aristocrat who falls in love with a soldier. MGM's opulence eliminates the social implications of the novel and it emerges as essentially a romantic love story. With Frederic March.
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NINOTCHKA
(1939) Ninotchka is a cold and repressed Russian agent on a diplomatic mission to Paris —selling a grand duchess' jewels to pay for food. She eventually gives in to the freedom of Paris, champagne and the romance of playboy Leon. Although they each have different plans for the jewels, Leon has the key to Ninotchka's heart. Garbo's only real comedy ("GARBO LAUGHS" the ads proclaimed) under the noted touch of Ernst Lubitsch, aided by the sophisticated dialogue of Billy Wilder, was one of her best films—and one of her last.
filmsite.org/nino.html
Read this original Box Office Magazine trade review.
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TORRENT
(1926) In her first American film, Garbo plays Leonora, a full-bodied Spanish peasant girl who falls in love with her landlord's son (Ricardo Cortez). To prevent his son from marrying beneath his station, Don Rafael's father banishes Leonora from his property. She relocates to Paris where she achieves fame and fortune as an opera singer, while back at home Don Rafael becomes a prominent politician. When Leonora returns home, she spurns his offers of marriage, even during a raging flood in which her life is in Don Rafael's hands. Superbly directed by Monta Bell.
An original score will be performed live by Nik Phelps and ensemble.
Centerpiece of the Balboa's 79th Birthday Party . . .
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PAINTED VEIL
(1934) An adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel about adultery. Feeling bored and neglected by her husband, Katrin, the wife of an English doctor working in Hong Kong, takes up with a charismatic diplomat. When her lover refuses to leave his wife, Katrin decides to follow her husband deep into China where he is headed to fight a cholera epidemic. |
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WOMAN OF AFFAIRS
(1929) Garbo was never more rapturous than as Diana, a free-spirited socialite who loses Neville (John Gilbert), her one true love, because of his father's disapproval. Heartbroken, Diana reluctantly weds David. However, her reputation is questioned when her unhappy husband takes his own life. Cast out of high-society London, she is determined to live up to her unseemly reputation. Diana begins a series of meaningless affairs with men across the globe in an "orgy of amorous adventures." Fabulous gowns by Adrian.
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GRAND HOTEL
(1932) "From her first line, 'I have never been so tired in my life,' Garbo sets the movie in vibration with her extraordinary sensual presence. She plays a premiere danseuse whose career is fading—a weary disillusioned woman briefly reconciled to life by a passion for a shady nobleman: John Barrymore" Pauline Kael. A superstar cast includes Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture.
filmsite.org/gran.html
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MATA HARI
(1931) As a beautiful spy during WWI, Mata Hari seduces her enemies in Paris to gain their secrets. She finds the first man she truly loves but is ordered to play the courtesan to another man, an Allied officer. She can't be unfaithful to her new love—leading to her eventual destruction. Her seductive dance number and fabulous costumes are not to be missed. With Ramon Navarro and Lionel Barrymore.
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