Greta Garbo, as Seen Through Family Eyes

‘Greta Garbo and the Rise of the Modern Woman’By Scott ReisfeldVenders Publishing, 618 pagesGreta Garbo has never lost her place as one of the great screen actresses, far greater than most of the films in which she appeared. She has been the subject of many biographies that have to be read with caution, as Scott Reisfield explains in a helpful appendix that provides a history of Garbo biography, with its regrettable number of unreliable sources.Absent, though, from Mr. Reisfield’s account is Lois Banner’s feminist biography I reviewed in the Sun (March 22, 2024). Ms. Banner also corrects many of the errors and misconceptions in previous Garbo biographies, but she presents a figure much more enamored of her screen image and its preservation than Mr. Reisfield, who depicts a down-to-earth, dedicated actress, who learned quickly how to navigate the duplicities of Hollywood producers and to guard her privacy — not as a recluse, Mr. Reisfield insists, but simply as a woman who wanted to be left alone.It is Garbo’s integrity and devotion to her art that stand out in Mr. Reisfield’s account. She reminds me a good deal of her contemporary, Ronald Colman, who shied away from publicity and insisted on an artistic independence rare among Hollywood stars. The biographer provides many accounts by her fellow actors and directors who were deeply impressed by her careful preparation for her roles.Garbo’s health broke down doing four pictures a year. Eventually she was able to reduce the number to three and, in some periods, to one. Like Ms. Banner, Mr. Reisfield’s views “Queen Christina” as Garbo’s crowning achievement, creating a feminist character that surpasses any of the roles she played later in her career.Like Colman, Garbo pioneered naturalistic acting — not only on screen but in still photography. She kept apace of the developments in cameras that allowed her to pose in ever more intimate closeups. Like Marilyn Monroe, Garbo did not need to take direction from photographers. They learned from her.Like Ms. Banner, Mr. Reisfield put to rest the legend of the recluse. In fact, he puts the case much more strongly, showing how many friendships Garbo maintained and how much she enjoyed walking the streets of Manhattan in her later years, when he got to know his great aunt, although he was not to learn that she was Greta Garbo until he was much older. As a result, we get a wonderful insight into the person, not just the star.Mr. Reisfield establishes that Garbo never intended to quit film acting in the early 1940s, but most projects offered to her did not match her high standards. Scripts were poor, or financing fell through, or she simply did not trust the producers who came to her with attractive proposals but no concrete plans. Roles for middle-aged women were hard to come by in Hollywood. In that respect, Garbo’s plight was no different from, say, Joan Crawford’s or Bette Davis’s.Garbo wanted to play strong women. One great missed opportunity was a film about George Sand, who, like Garbo, liked to dress in men’s clothing — and for the same reason: They associated that attire with the exercise of power. Sand and Garbo were not lesbians, but they were certainly intent on defying conventional standards. The rumors that Garbo was lesbian, Mr. Reisfield points out, had a lot to do with how unconventional women were treated. If a woman did not marry, many assumed it was because of her same-sex preferences.Garbo found filmmaking exhausting. She suffered all her life, Mr. Reisfield explains, from pernicious anemia, an incurable but manageable disease. So unless a film was of such great quality and the personnel involved in producing it first class, she saw no reason to act again. She had many other interests, including her family, which Mr. Reisfield is able to explore with an intimacy and empathy that sets his biography apart from every other Garbo biography.Much else — perhaps a little too much — is to be learned about the Swedish film industry and the biographies of those closest to Garbo, but then, Mr. Reisfield might reply: “Isn’t that what is wrong with so many biographies? They don’t treat the individual as part of the human family.”Mr. Rollyson is the author of ‘Ronald Colman: Hollywood’s Gentleman Hero’ and “Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress.‘

Greta Garbo, as Seen Through Family Eyes

Greta Garbo, as Seen Through Family Eyes

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