Queen Christina (1933)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Rouben Mamoulian

Writers:

H.M. Harwood (screenplay) and
Salka Viertel (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 February 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance | War

Plot:

Queen Christina of Sweden is a dominant European ruler in the 17th century, and has never thought of romance...

Plot Keywords:

Queen | Throne | Cross Dressing | Male Female Relationship | War Hero

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Greta Garbo	...	Queen Christina
John Gilbert	...	Antonio
Ian Keith	...	Magnus
Lewis Stone	...	Oxenstierna
Elizabeth Young	...	Ebba
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Aage
Reginald Owen	...	Charles
Georges Renavent	...	French Ambassador
David Torrence	...	Archbishop
Gustav von Seyffertitz	...	General (as Gustav Von Seyffertitz)
Ferdinand Munier	...	Innkeeper

Runtime:

99 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G (TV rating) | Sweden:11 (re-rating) (1964) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Australia:PG | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved | UK:U (re-rating) (2005) (uncut) | UK:U (re-rating) (2005)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The scene where Christina goes around the room at the inn, remember the night she spent with her lover, was choreographed so meticulously that Greta Garbo performed the scene to a metronome.

Goofs:

Continuity: When being crowned, the Chancellor is to the right of the throne, then is further away, then step up to the young queen twice.

Quotes:

Antonio: You are very pretty, Elsa. Are you also good?
Elsa: When I do not like a man, yes.
Queen Christina: That's a true virtue.
Antonio: The basis of all morality in a sentence.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Double or Nothing (1940)

Exceptional Garbo performance in fine film biography

Although it is short on fact and large on fiction this beautiful biographical film of Sweden's Queen is a marvelous vehicle on its own, quite aside from containing one of Garbo's finest performances, second only to her Marguerite Gauthier in CAMILLE. She is strong, yet delicate in her portrayal of Christina. There are subtle undertones of lesbian tendencies and her scenes with John Gilbert are pulsating with true feeling for the man, though he is woefully inadequate as an actor opposite her. Her abdication scene is a classic, her movement about the inn room where she and her lover met, touching everything for memory's sake is another classic scene (exceptionally composed and lit) and her final close-up is yet another. This is a solid drama and a solid romance. Overlooked at the time of its release, it is now considered one of her finest films, exceptionally directed by master Rouben Mamoulian. Do not miss this one - a true cinema classic.