Grand Hotel

Resensi Film: Grand Hotel (****/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1932

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Edmund Goulding

Cast: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt

Plot: Seorang tamu di Grand Hotel, Berlin, Dr. Otternschlag, berkata, "Grand Hotel ... Orang datang dan pergi -- tidak pernah terjadi apa-2." Komentarnya ini ternyata adalah ironi; karena ternyata terjadi banyak peristiwa, dari romans ke pencurian ke pembunuhan (IMDb).

Adaptasi dari novel berjudul Menschen im Hotel (People in a Hotel) karya Vicki Baum, Grand Hotel adalah cermin menarik dari hari-2 terakhir di Jerman sebelum kebangkitan Adolf Hitler dan Partai Nazi pada tahun 1933. Bersetting pada masa Great Depression, sementara sebagian orang berhasil berpegang pada sisa kekayaannya dan tinggal di Grand Hotel -- yang merupakan hotel paling tersohor dan mewah di Berlin, fim ini dengan sangat baik menunjukkan keputusasaan yang "menjalar" di bawahnya. Sutradara Edmund Goulding mengarahkan film ini dengan kecepatan yang tinggi, dimulai dengan sequence pembuka yang memperkenalkan karakter-2 utamanya secara singkat tetapi mendalam, yaitu:

• Senf (Jean Hersholt) -- kepala porter, yang menunggu berita tentang istrinya yang akan melahirkan
• Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore) -- pegawai pembukuan, yang didiagnosis dengan penyakit terminal, yang keluar dari pekerjaannya untuk menikmati hari-2 terakhirnya
• Preysing (Wallace Beery) -- industrialis kikir, hampir bangkrut, yang tinggal di hotel untuk melakukan negosiasi bisnis dengan client penting
• Suzette (Rafaela Ottiano) -- pembantu prima-ballerina Rusia di masa senja kariernya, Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo), yang mengungkapkan kekhawatiran tentang majikannya
• Baron Felix von Geigern (John Barrymore), aristokrat, sekarang hidup dalam kemiskinan terselubung, yang membutuhkan uang untuk membayar hutang, yang merencanakan mencuri perhiasan dari ballerina tersebut 
• Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone), veteran Perang Dunia Pertama dengan wajah bopeng, yang berjalan mondar-mandir di lobby hotel, mengamati kejadian di sekitarnya, sambil berkata ke dirinya sendiri "Grand Hotel ... People coming, going. Nothing ever happens."

Satu-2nya karakter utama yang tidak diperkenalkan dalam sequence pembuka adalah Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford), sekretaris muda dan cantik, yang bersedia melakukan apa saja, apa saja!, untuk mendapatkan uang. Namanya tertera nomor tiga setelah Garbo dan Barrymore (John), Crawford muncul beberapa menit setelah film dimulai dan keberadannya kontinyu terus sampai sebelum film berakhir; sedang Garbo tidak tampil sampai 20 menit setelah film dimulai dan menghilang 10 menit sebelum film berakhir. Kenyataannya, Crawford mempunyai screen time paling banyak. Namun demikian, Garbo memainkan karakter yang lebih kompleks. Pada awalnya, dia kesepian dan kelabu. Setelah dia bertemu dengan Barrymore (John), dia berubah menjadi gembira dan penuh tawa. Melihat transformasi ini adalah melihat dua sisi dari Garbo. Antara John dan Lionel, Lionel lebih menunjukkan kepribadiannya pada karakternya (dia mungkin adalah yang paling berbakat dari keluarga Barrymore). Wallace Beery sangat meyakinkan sebagai industrialis Preysing yang kampungan, egois dan jahat. Sementara Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt dan Rafaela Ottiano semuanya memberikan dukungan yang sempurna.

Gaya Goulding memulai trials and tribulations para tamu di Grand Hotel ini betul-2 mengesankan: dimulai dengan camera shot pada Dr. Otternschlag berkata, "Grand Hotel ... People coming, going. Nothing ever happens" dan scene lobby hotel yang sibuk sementara musik indah Blue Danube karya Johann Strauss melantun merdu di latar belakang, dan diakhiri dengan camera shot yang sama pada Dr. Otternschlag berkata yang sama, "Grand Hotel ... always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens" dan scene lobby hotel yang sama yang sibuk sementara musik indah yang sama melantun merdu di latar belakang. Grand Hotel adalah kemenangan dari pengarahan yang efektif, script yang pandai, dan akting yang mengesankan. Grand Hotel memenangkan Film Terbaik dalam Academy Awards pada tahun 1932.

Cerita (****)

Screenplay (****)

Karakter (****)

Akting (****)

Keseluruhan: ****/4

Grand Hotel dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

Ninotchka

Resensi Film: Ninotchka (***1/2/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1939

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Ernst Lubitsch

Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas

Plot: Seorang Comrade wanita Rusia yang kaku dan disiplin dikirim ke Paris untuk menyelesaikan tugas negara. Sesampai di sana dia jatuh cinta dengan seorang pria yang mewakili semua nilai yang dibenci di Rusia (IMDb).

Berdasarkan script karya Melchior Lengyel, Ninotchka adalah komedi romantis dengan latar belakang konfrontasi antara kapitalisme Barat dan sosialisme Rusia. Dengan Rusia sebagai sasaran guyonan -- dengan menggambarkannya sebagai kaku dan kelabu (dibandingkan dengan Paris yang bebas dan hangat), script yang rapi dan tajam ini mempunyai kombinasi yang pas antara satire, sentimen dan humor. Ya betul, konfrontasi antara kapitalisme dan sosialisme dilebih-2kan, tetapi tetap terasa lucu dan menimbulkan tawa. Greta Garbo membawakan perannya sebagai Ninotchka dengan mengesankan: sebagai Comrade Yakushova, dia menggelikan ketika memasuki layar dengan wajah tanpa ekspresi, dan meyakinkan dengan aksen Rusianya; tetapi ketika dia akhirnya tertawa terpingkal-2, transisi yang terjadi betul-2 meyakinkan. Garbo mampu memikat hati penonton dengan pandangannya, dengan perkataannya, dan dengan tingkah lakunya. Dia memainkan Yakushova yang dingin dan tanpa emosi dan Ninotchka yang pemalu dan penuh canda dengan pesona yang sama. Wajahnya betul-2 cocok untuk kamera dan Ernst Lubitsch berhasil menangkapnya dengan sangat indah. Garbo membuktikan dirinya dalam komedi semampu dalam drama. Penampilannya dalam film ini memberinya nominasi Oscar untuk Aktres Terbaik yang keempat kalinya. Ninotchka adalah salah satu dari film terbaik dan akting terbaik dari Garbo. Melvyn Douglas memainkan perannya sebaik seperti dalam film-2nya yang lain. Chemistry antara Garbo dan Douglas sangat pas. The three stooges: Iranoff (Sig Ruman), Buljanoff (Felix Bressart) dan Kopalski (Alexander Granach) memberikan humor slapstick yang lucu dan menyenangkan. Dan The Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire) betul-2 sama seperti yang dikatakan legenda selama ini: dingin dan penuh perhitungan. Secara keseluruhan, Ninotchka adalah film yang manis tentang kemenangan cinta atas ideologi. Film ini terpilih sebagai salah satu dari 100 film komedi paling top sepanjang masa menurut American Film Institute.

Cerita (***)

Screenplay (***1/2)

Karakter (***)

Akting (***1/2)

Keseluruhan: ***1/2/4

Ninotchka dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

Anna Karenina

Movie Review: Anna Karenina

Year of Release: 1935
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Clarence Brown
Cast: Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Freddie Bartholomew, Maureen O'Sullivan

Plot outline: The married Anna Karenina falls in love with Count Vronsky despite her husband's refusal to grant a divorce, and both must contend with the social repercussions (IMDb).

Greta Garbo radiates passion, exuberance and pathos as the tragic Leo Tolstoy heroine in this, possibly the finest screen adaptation of Anna Karenina. Garbo cited this as her favourite of the seven movies she made with director Clarence Brown, and the part won her the New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress Award in 1936. A lavish David O. Selznick production, this version of Anna Karenina captures the essence of Tolstoy’s great novel, focusing on the heroine's experience of a love that consumes her and then drives her to destruction. The moody photography heightens the sense of impending tragedy as Anna Karenina’s ill-fated love carries her to an inescapable doom. The movie’s climax is devastatingly poignant - so cruel that it is almost unbearable to watch, a striking visual symbol of the destructive power of love. (JT)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Mata Hari

Movie Review: Mata Hari

Year of Release: 1931
Country of Origin: USA
Director: George Fitzmaurice
Cast: Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone

Plot outline: Mata Hari is a German spy, working in Paris. She has already seduced the Russian general Shubin, and has now set her eyes on lieutenant Rosanov (IMDb).

Loosely based on the life and death of Mata Hari, this movie is the one that contributed most to the myth of the infamous dancer-turned-spy. It also added to the mystique of the actress who played her, Greta Garbo, who by this stage in her career was the most famous actress in the world. The Swedish Sphinx is a perfect casting choice for the part of the alluring temptress, combining an obvious earthy beauty with an ethereal exotic charm that makes her an unattainable object of desire (!) Though the movie may not be Garbo’s best movie, it was her most commercially successful. Although daring and ambitious when it was made, when viewed today the movie creaks with age, and it is hard not to laugh at some of its unintentionally funny clichés. In common with many early sound movies, the quality of the visuals is badly restrained by the limitations of the recording technology of the period, although there are a few sequences which rise above this and make a great impact. Whilst the movie may fall down in its production design and screenplay, this is more than compensated by the quality of the performances. Not only is Garbo on fine form, there are some equally impressive contributions from her co-stars. Lionel Barrymore and Lewis Stone. Mata Hari may not be perfect but it occupies an important place in movie history and, whilst it may not be historically accurate, it has great entertainment value. (JT)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Camille

Movie Review: Camille

Year of Release: 1936
Country of Origin: USA
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore

Plot outline: A Parisian courtesan must choose between the young man who loves her and the callous baron who wants her, even as her own health begins to fail (IMDb).

Based on the 1848 novel and the 1852 play La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady of the Camellias) by Alexandre Dumas, fils (French for son), Camille is a classic romance that teaches high respect for precious values in life. Alexandre Dumas, fils was the illegitimate child of novelist Alexandre Dumas. At that time, the law allowed the father to take the son away from his mother. As a result, in almost all of his writings, Dumas, fils was inspired by his mother agony to write about tragic female characters. Verdi's 1853 famous opera, La Traviata, was based on this Dumas, fils' play. The movie industry has also made a lot of adaptations of the play, but the one that usually comes into mind is the movie by George Cukor with Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor. Garbo is in her favourite role and one of her finest performances. She performs with her voice, body and face. She illuminates the screen from start to finish, from frolicsome flirtatious scenes to heartbreaking dying scenes. She is luminous, mysterious, cruel and weak at the same time. Robert Taylor is gorgeous as a love-smitten callow young man. But, he does not have the emotional depth to be a convincing love object for a woman of Garbo's dimensions. On the other hand, Henry Daniell is a perfect choice for callous Baron De Varville. His cruel strength makes him a more equal partner for Garbo than Taylor. Daniell continued on his career to be one of Hollywood's greatest villains. While Lionel Barrymore, though not given much screen time, is memorable in the scene of his meeting with Garbo. What a moving dialogue of two different worlds: Marguerite attached to love and emotions and Monsieur Duval to reputation and social ties. Great comic relief is provided by Laura Hope Crews as frivolous Prudence and Lenore Ulric as envious Olympe ... what a pair of vultures (!) Two great scenes that I cannot forget are: 1) The scene when Gaston, Marguerite's true friend, is putting a beautiful bunch of camellias at her side while she is dying in her bed ... what a touching moment. 2) The last scene when Armand holds Marguerite, her inspiring words about spiritual love and her last look to her beloved before she closes her eyes. It's rich with details, it's magic (!)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

Queen Christina

Movie Review: Queen Christina

Year of Release: 1933
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Cast: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert

Plot outline: Queen Christina of Sweden is pressured to marry her cousin, Charles Gustav, but she falls in love with Spanish envoy, Don Antonio. As Protestant Swedes are aghast at the possibility of their queen marrying a Catholic, she must deal with the political realities of her society and make a fateful decision (IMDb).

Loosely based on the life of the 17th century Queen Christina of Sweden, this movie is Hollywood's interpretation of the character and events leading up to her abdication. The story does not make a serious distortion as it shows a lot of true facts about her life: e.g. her coronation when she was only five years old, her desire for peace, her inquisitiveness and her bohemian characteristics (she loves arts, books and paintings). The only fictitious event added is a clandestine love affair between her and a Spanish envoy, and this becomes a major plot that serves as a catalyst for questions about Christina's self identity, duty and perspective. Garbo's performance as Christina is something to behold, something you will never forget (!) It is a perfect blend of masculinity, passion and sensuality. It is a convincing portrayal of the queen's decisions, dilemmas and desires. It catches the audience's attention and holds it to the end of the movie. Consider these three scenes:

Christina (speaking in front of the Parliament when she argues an end to the Thirty Years' War): "Spoils, glory, flags and trumpets! What is behind these high-sounding words? Death and destruction, triumphals of crippled men, Sweden victorious in a ravaged Europe, an island in a dead sea. I tell you, I want no more of it. I want for my people security and happiness. I want to cultivate the arts of peace, the arts of life. I want peace and peace I will have!"

Christina (speaking to Chancellor Oxenstierna): "There is too great a burden you put on me. I have grown up in a great man's shadow. All my life I've been a symbol, a symbol of eternal changelessness, an abstraction. A human being is mortal and changeable with desires and impurities, hopes and despairs. I'm tired of being a symbol, Chancellor. I long to be a human being, this longing I cannot suppress."

Christina (speaking to Don Antonio): "I thought you would understand when you saw me again what had happened. That it had been so enchanting to be a woman, not a Queen, just a woman in a man's arms."

Garbo plays the role of Christina with majesty and vulnerability, she also presents assurance, clarity, determination and style of a great leader. What an outstanding performance! John Gilbert is great as Spanish envoy, Don Antonio; Ian Keith is good as wicked Count Magnus; but both don't come close to Garbo in charisma - who does? The cinematography is beautiful. The script is excellent - it is full of memorable dialogue, which is endlessly quotable. My favourites scenes are: 1) Garbo's speech in front of the Parliament, 2) Garbo's touching all objects in the inn's room in order to memorize them, 3) the final scene - Garbo's tight close-up while standing at the bow of the ship as it sets sail (this is possibly the most famous close-up in movie history). This movie boasts some of Garbo's most gorgeous close-ups you've ever seen. It has been 75 years since it was released but yet it is still a pleasure to see.

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars