Anna Christie (1930)

Director:

Clarence Brown

Writers:

Frances Marion (adaptation)
Eugene O'Neill (play)

Release Date:

21 February 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Garbo talks!

Plot:

It has been 15 years since Chris has sent 5 year old Anna to live with relatives in St. Paul, and now she is coming back...

Plot Keywords:

Sailor | Love | Rescue | Barge | Prostitution

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Greta Garbo	...	Anna Christie
Charles Bickford	...	Matt Burke
George F. Marion	...	Chris Christofferson
Marie Dressler	...	Marthy Owens
James T. Mack	...	Johnny the Harp
Lee Phelps	...	Larry - the Bartender

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:A (Original rating) | UK:U (Video rating)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The original Broadway production won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1922.

Quotes:

Anna Christie: Gif me a visky, ginger ale on the side, and don' be stingy, baby.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Due occhi diabolici (1990)

Soundtrack:

In the Good Old Summertime

Garbo glows...the play by O'Neill is Ibsen Lite

Anna Christie (1930)

Anna Christie has some terrific parts, and some amazing performances, and yet it should be even better than it is. It has drama. Some of the scenes are really atmospheric, and if the interior shots around the table are a bore, other shots at night and at sea are really pretty exciting. Then there are the nearly historical, lively scenes set in Coney Island (even a brief jittery roller coaster ride), and the episode where two women are behind a netting in separate beds, and visitors to the midway can throw balls to try to tip them over, and the women (scantily dressed) egg the men on is weirdly sexual come-on kind of way. All the while Garbo (at the front of the crowd) watches.

Garbo of course is what makes this movie more than just another very good early talkie. She plays all sides of her character. She is coy and skeptical and in some kind of inner anguish. She laughs and cries, withdraws and pushes outward. In some ways it's a forward looking, remarkable movie (directed by Clarence Brown, who has a whole series of significant films from this pre-code sound era).

Though based on a successful Eugene O'Neil play, it's the writing that struggles a little as the actors seem to go through the paces at times. Marie Dressler is great in that exaggerated way she almost trademarked. And then there is Greta Garbo, who really does have a natural presence, even if it seems she's overacting, just slightly, at times (but then, so is everyone else). Garbo is of course famous first as a silent actress, and this is her talking film debut. Audiences loved her enough that she made a German language version the following year.