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Anna Christie
Anna Christie
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Clarence Brown
Screenplay by	Frances Marion
Based on	Anna Christie; 1921 play; by Eugene O'Neill
Produced by	Clarence Brown; Paul Bern; Irving Thalberg
Starring	Greta Garbo; Charles Bickford; George F. Marion; Marie Dressler
Cinematography	William H. Daniels
Edited by	Hugh Wynn
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	February 21, 1930;
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$376,000
Box office	$1,499,000

Anna Christie is a 1930 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pre-Code film adaptation of the 1921 play of the same name by Eugene O'Neill. It was adapted by Frances Marion, produced and directed by Clarence Brown with Paul Bern and Irving Thalberg as co-producers. The cinematography was by William H. Daniels, the art direction by Cedric Gibbons and the costume design by Adrian.

The film stars Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, and Marie Dressler. It was marketed using the slogan "Garbo Talks!", as it was her first talkie film. Of all its stars, Garbo was the one that MGM kept out of talking films the longest for fear that one of their bigger stars, like so many others, would not succeed in them. Her famous first line is: "Gimme a whisky, ginger ale on the side, and don't be stingy, baby!"^[2]

In fact, Garbo's English was so good by the time she appeared in this film, she had to add an accent in several retakes to sound more like the Swedish Anna.^[3] In addition to the English and German-language version of this film, a silent version with titles was also made.^[4] George F. Marion performed the role of Anna's father in the original Broadway production and in both the 1923 and 1930 film adaptations.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Actress (Greta Garbo) and Best Cinematography.^[5]

Plot

Chris Christofferson (George F. Marion), the alcoholic skipper of a coal barge in New York, receives a letter from his estranged twenty-year-old daughter Anna "Christie" Christofferson (Greta Garbo), telling him that she'll be leaving Minnesota to stay with him. Chris left Anna to be raised by relatives on a St. Paul farm 15 years before, and hasn't seen her since.

Anna arrives an emotionally wounded woman with a dishonorable, hidden past: she has worked in a brothel for two years. One night, Chris rescues Matt (Charles Bickford) and two other displaced sailors from the sea. Anna and Matt soon fall in love and Anna has the best days of her life. But when Matt proposes to her, she is reluctant and haunted by her recent past. Matt insists and compels Anna to tell him the truth. She opens her heart to Matt and her father, disclosing her dark secrets.

Cast

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

Academy Award nominations

Anna Christie was one of highest-grossing films of 1930 and received the following Academy Award nominations:^[6]

Best Actress – Greta Garbo
Best Director – Clarence Brown
Best Cinematography – William H. Daniels

German-language version

In the early years of sound films, Hollywood studios produced foreign-language versions of some of their films using the same sets and sometimes the same costumes. Native speakers of the language usually replaced some or all of the original cast. While many of those versions no longer exist, the German-language version of Anna Christie survives. Directed by Jacques Feyder and filmed at MGM in July and August 1930 (the English-language version had been filmed in October and November 1929),^[7] it also stars Garbo as Anna, but with Theo Shall, Hans Junkermann and Salka Viertel playing Matt, Chris and Marthy. Garbo's famous first line became "Whisky – aber nicht zu knapp!" ("Whiskey, but not too short"). The English and German-language versions grossed a combined total of $1,499,000. Both versions are available on a double-sided DVD released in the US in 2005, but the German version is sourced from an inferior subtitled print; a much better print without subtitles exists.^[8]

Reception

Garbo and Marie Dressler in *Anna Christie*

The film grossed $1,499,000, it made $1,013,000 in the United States and Canada and $486,000 elsewhere, with a profit of $576,000.^[1]

Reviews from critics were also positive. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times remarked that Garbo was "even more interesting through being heard than she was in her mute portrayals. She reveals no nervousness before the microphone and her careful interpretation of Anna can scarcely be disputed."^[9] Variety reported that it was "in all departments a wow picture" and "another marker along the line of cinematic progress."^[10] Film Daily called it "a wow for sophisticated audiences" and wrote that Garbo's performance was "superb".^[11] Although John Mosher of The New Yorker thought it "implausible that a woman so markedly beautiful should have such an extraordinarily difficult time", he called Garbo's performance "effective" and wrote that Bickford and Marion were "both excellent", concluding that it was "a picture of his play that Eugene O'Neill, I should think, would approve."^[12]

Contemporaneous reviews also expressed surprise at the low pitch of Garbo's voice. Hall wrote that "although the low-toned voice is not what is expected from the alluring actress, one becomes accustomed to it, for it is a voice undeniably suited to the unfortunate Anna."^[9] Variety said that "La Garbo's accent is nicely edged with a Norse "yah", but once the ear gets the pitch it's okay and the spectator is under the spell of her performance."^[10] Mosher called it "a boy's voice, really, rather flat, rather toneless, yet growing more attractive as the picture advances and you become somewhat accustomed to it."^[12]

In 1962, film historian Richard Schickel reviewed the film negatively, describing it as "dull", with Marie Dressler providing "the only vitality in an otherwise static and ludicrous" film.^[13]

Garbo's opening line was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.

Home media

Though the English-language version of Anna Christie has been released numerous times worldwide on DVD, the German version is only available on a subtitled US DVD.^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Anna Christie".
^ Háy, Peter (1991). MGM: When the Lion Roars. Atlanta: Turner Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 1-878685-04-X.
^ Hay, p. 72
^ Alan Gevinson (October 1, 1997). American Film Institute catalog. University of California Press. pp. 37–. ISBN 978-0-520-20964-0. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
^ "The 3rd Academy Awards (1930) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
^ Osborne, Robert (1994). 65 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards. London: Abbeville Press. p. 25. ISBN 1-55859-715-8.
^ Vieira, Mark A. (2005). Greta Garbo: a cinematic legacy. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. See pps. 107-109 and p. 117 re production dates.
^ A brief clip from a superior print with no subtitles can be seen at 0:52:37 in the TCM Garbo documentary included in the 2005 Garbo centennial DVD box set.
^ ^a ^b Hall, Mordaunt (March 15, 1930). "THE SCREEN; Miss Garbo's First Talker". The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
^ ^a ^b "Anna Christie". Variety: 34. March 19, 1930.
^ "Greta Garbo in "Anna Christie"". Film Daily: 12. February 9, 1930.
^ ^a ^b Mosher, John (March 22, 1930). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. pp. 60–61.
^ Schickel, Richard (1962). The Stars. New York City: Bonanza Books. p. 134. ISBN 9780517037713.
^ "Multiple-Language Version Film Collectors' Guide". Brenton Film. July 21, 2015.