The first ten minutes, to me, were the worst part of this movie. Despite being a HUGE fan of Hollywood's Golden Age, I think that too often Garbo films are hampered by the cliché of having her play the ultimate vixen. First off, no woman is THAT attractive that men chase her and behave like drooling dogs when they eye a hunk of meat!! You can't only blame Garbo for this, as it was the creation of MGM writers and publicists--plus, Dietrich and Mae West also had this ridiculous image. Second, and I know I'll catch a lot of heat for this, but if you ARE going to try to create this persona, I just can't see anyone getting hot for this woman,...or Dietrich or especially Mae West!!! The whole "siren" idea about these odd-looking women is just silly. So, in the first scene, we see her being ardently pursued by three men who practically chase her with their tongues hanging out like a Tex Avery cartoon!!! Uggghh! What a low-point in cinematic history.
Fortunately, the "love goddess" portion of the film only lasted a short time. A seemingly fourth suitor arrives but it turns out he is looking for a long-lost heiress and thinks Greta might be the lady. Since Greta has no memory of anything before a decade ago, she MIGHT be this lady and she hates her sordid life, so she agrees to head to Italy to be reunited with her long lost husband. All this amnesia stuff was pretty hard to believe, but at least on a totally non-intellectual level, it was entertaining. Plus, the end of the film was pretty good, so I'll charitably give the movie a 5.
Fortunately, the "love goddess" portion of the film only lasted a short time. A seemingly fourth suitor arrives but it turns out he is looking for a long-lost heiress and thinks Greta might be the lady. Since Greta has no memory of anything before a decade ago, she MIGHT be this lady and she hates her sordid life, so she agrees to head to Italy to be reunited with her long lost husband. All this amnesia stuff was pretty hard to believe, but at least on a totally non-intellectual level, it was entertaining. Plus, the end of the film was pretty good, so I'll charitably give the movie a 5.