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Reviews
Queen Christina (1933)
Exquisite Expression
There were great beauties in Hollywood prior to this, and good actresses, but Garbo was the one with both: a perfect face, at once impassive yet exquisitely expressive. Her reported reluctance to enter the sound era proves groundless; her voice is pleasant, low, accented just enough to give her a touch of mystery and worldliness. With Dietrich, the illusion is part and parcel of the package; change a light or a camera angle and there is not a lot of there there. Garbo is substance writ large on a flawless surface.
Her charisma is so great that even the creaky script – the first few minutes, before she appears, signal a movie every bit as old-fashioned as Orphans of the Storm – comes to life. She holds her gazes exactly the right amount of time, and exudes a restless individuality with an unrushed exterior. She's a glory of contradictions, and you simply don't want to look away from her or miss a second of her complexity.
Read more at Cinema 1001. This movie is #76 in the Schneider list of 1001 Movies.
Las Hurdes (1933)
Weirdest Exploitation Film Ever
Unsettling and confusing, primarily because of the stilted narrative. Since it's Buñuel, you should know better than to take it at face value. The tip-off comes early, in the odd phrase, "the expedition meets a choir of idiots," with no choir of any kind visible and a jump cut to another scene. Throughout the film, as the pompous voice drones on, odd things continue. We look into the mouth of a girl reported to be dying of inflamed gums; it looks healthy enough. We are shown impeccably groomed children and told they are dressed in filthy rags. By the time we are shown a child and told, "This man is 28 years old," it's become obvious that some serious leg-pulling is going on. Yet it's all set in an unfaked location known for its extreme poverty. Naturally, Buñuel never wastes an opportunity to aim his deadly sniper fire at the Catholic church and other purveyors of an inequitable system that ensures that the peasants of Las Hurdes will remain securely malnourished and undereducated. It's got to be one of the strangest exploitation pictures ever made, which is of course a big part of the point.
Read the full review at Cinema 1001. This movie is #77 in the Schneider list of 1001 Movies.