{"id":12863,"date":"2010-11-08T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2010-11-08T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=12863"},"modified":"2010-12-27T13:33:49","modified_gmt":"2010-12-27T18:33:49","slug":"greta-garbo-in-ninotchka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=12863","title":{"rendered":"Greta Garbo in “Ninotchka”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Guest blogger Fritz writes:<\/p>\n

“Garbo laughs!”\u00a0 It’s\u00a0a slogan that is\u00a0as fascinating today as it was 70 years ago.<\/p>\n

In Ninotchka<\/a>, the legendary Greta Garbo<\/a> plays Nina Yakushova Ivanoff, a no-nonsense Russian Comrade doing Soviet business in Paris. But very soon, this stern and dutiful woman begins to be enchanted by Paris and a charming count played by Melvyn Douglas<\/a>.
\nWhat amazes most when watching Ninotchka is how this could have been Greta Garbo\u2019s first comedy. For years, she was Hollywood’s queen of drama and suffering, but here she shows that she was just as perfectly cast in a charming, light and romantic comedy.
\nThe most hilarious parts of her performance are the early scenes when Nina is that humorless, grim and stone-faced Comrade, praising the Soviet Union and putting down the West.<\/p>\n

Greta Garbo has such a perfect comedy timing that she can get laughs out of almost every line she is saying without even moving one muscle in her face. In fact, that static face is maybe\u00a0the best thing about her.<\/p>\n

<\/a>She can deliver so many lines in the most amusing way without emphasizing the comedy but rather playing her part as natural as possible and that way making Nina totally funny. That\u2019s the real talent of a great comedian! Garbo\u2019s deadpan delivery of lines like \u201cThere are going to be fewer but better Russians\u201d or \u201cWho am I to cost the Russian people seven cows?\u201d or that totally stone-faced expression on her face when she is watching Paris from the Eiffel Tower\u00a0are just unforgettable.<\/p>\n

Garbo also has wonderful chemistry with Melvyn Douglas and their first scenes together, when Nina is trying to resist him and asks him with her deep voice \u201cMust you flirt?,\u201d are just as sweet as funny. The way Garbo keeps her strict behavior while kissing Douglas is wonderful and the ways she orders kim to kiss her with a decisive \u201cAgain!\u201d is too good! And who can forget the scene when she first meets Douglas\u2019s butler and says \u201cThis man is very old. You shouldn\u2019t make him work. Do you whip him?\u201d and tells the butler \u201cGo to bed, little father.\u201d Garbo\u2019s total seriousness in all these scenes turns them into comedy gold.\u00a0The legendary \u201cGarbo laughs!\u201d scene doesn\u2019t disappoint. It\u2019s not just a laugh, it seems like something that has been inside of Nina for all her life and is finally allowed to get out. With this laugh, Nina becomes a new person.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the movie now focuses more on the romantic part of the story and loses some of its comedy but romance (and later a little suffering) is nothing new to Garbo and so she also handles these scenes beautifully. All her later parts with Melvyn Douglas are just hopelessly romantic and it’s a joy to watch these two together! Her process of \u201cblossoming up\u201d is played very naturally and very charmingly and makes Ninotchka one of the all-time classics. Garbo laughs and so do we!<\/p>\n

Now enjoy Garbo at her best in the theatrical trailer for Ninotchka from 1939:<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/div>\n

For more information, visit <\/em>Fritz and the Oscars.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger Fritz writes: “Garbo laughs!”\u00a0 It’s\u00a0a slogan that is\u00a0as fascinating today as it was 70 years ago. In Ninotchka, the legendary Greta Garbo plays Nina Yakushova Ivanoff, a no-nonsense Russian Comrade doing Soviet business in Paris. But very soon,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":12869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1449],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-12863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-articles","tag-greta-garbo"],"yoast_head":"\nGreta Garbo in "Ninotchka"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Greta Garbo stars in the 1939 comedy Ninotchka. 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