The film La Traviata (1936) is an American DVD cover
Greta Garbo (1905–1990) was recognized as her best professional performance in Camille la Traviata (1936), and the film also brought her a second Oscar nomination.
But during the filming phase of the film, Irving Thalberg (1899-1936), the producer of MGM and one of Greta Garbo's benefactors in Hollywood, died unexpectedly, leaving the whole of Hollywood in shock and sorrow.
Image of Greta Garbo in the film La Traviata (1936).
Some commentators believe that Greta Garbo's wonderful performance at the end of the movie "La Traviata" may be related to her personal great sadness.
La Traviata is a play that Greta Garbo waited for for ten years to finally get a role she craved, Margaret. The "queen" was crying, but Greta Garbo was laughing.
Greta Garbo's version of Margaret defines Dumas's immortal classic, but fortunately, the character that infused his soul does not become the epitome of Greta Garbo's own life.
She successfully blended her own qualities with her character to create a complex courtesan image, which can be called a great performance and a great character in the gallery of film history.
After filming Films such as Anna Christie (1930), Marta Hari the Witch (1931), Queen of Sweden/Joan Court Hates Queen Christina (1933), Anna Karenina (1935), Greta Garbo in 1935, has been in Hollywood for a decade, and the star's reputation is still in the sky, but in the delicate director George Karenina (1935), Greta Garbo has been in Hollywood for a decade, and the star's reputation is still in the sky, but in the delicate director George W. Bush, the star has been in the sky. Cook George Cukor (1899-1983) it seems that Greta Garbo did not get the joy that belonged to the actor.
Promotional photo for the movie La Traviata (1936), Greta Garbo
Some people do everything they can to make trouble to win attention, and Greta Garbo has nothing to do, but it is still in the spotlight. Like Margaret, she chose a life from which she gained something, but could lose more.
MGM amplifies Greta Garbo's tranquility and avoidance, but the motivation is to create her unique mysterious temperament.
Behind the MGM luxury star phalanx, there is an almost strict and dogmatic filming arrangement, not what you want to act, you can act.
On the set of the film La Traviata (1936), director George Cook stood on the left, Robert Taylor on the right, and Greta Garbo on the second from right
MGM had two plans at the time, one was this La Traviata and the war epic Conquest/Conquest (1937), which told the legendary story of Maria Valesca (she was Napoleon's wife), which had more advantages at the box office, mgm very much wanted Greta Garbo to play Maria, but Greta Garbo wanted to play Margaret.
At this point, George Cook, who will be the director of any film, can make a decision, and George Cook has not ruined his reputation for judging women's plays, and decisively proposes that La Traviata is the best fit for Greta Garbo (although Greta Garbo still filmed Maria's story according to the contract).
On the set of the film La Traviata (1936), directors George Cook and Greta Garbo discuss the plot
In the movie world, the relationship between the two identities of the actor and the star is very delicate, and for many people who seek fame and fortune, the actor may be just a shortcut to becoming a star, but for the really great movie actor, the star is often a byproduct that she does not want.
They were so radiant that people either blindly admired her—even though she might not have performed well, or made people overlook her talent—even if her performance was equally unparalleled.
For Greta Garbo, at least the American film schools have never "acknowledged" her performance.
Fortunately, however, the film is so open that we are able to get testimony from countless onlookers, and it allows us to see something beyond the award.
Even more fortunately, Greta Garbo did not become another Margaret, overwhelmed by her chosen life, she was able to stay away from the crowd, erase the halo, and become a lonely camellia flower.
Images of Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor in the film La Traviata (1936).
However, her "disappearance" is undoubtedly a huge misfortune for many viewers and fans.
What is the quality of this character that Greta Garbo is obsessed with, and first listen to George Cook's "testimony", "she can show extraordinary movement even in a static state".
Unfortunately, the actor's performance is an aesthetic of feeling and experience, it is difficult to describe in words, we can watch her looks, actions, we can listen to her words and voices, but the best pen may not be able to convey a successful performance.
Images from the film La Traviata (1936).
But there is one thing that the pen can do. Sometimes, acting is indeed a flash of inspiration, but when you really understand the industry, you will know that it is more often the result of repeated polishing and rehearsal.
Before this play, many of Greta Garbo's roles had to be played, so she also turned herself into an assembly line tool, only for functionality, not for creativity, she didn't want to think about it, she wanted to go, she wanted to laugh.
Image by Robert Taylor in the film La Traviata (1936).
But for La Traviata, she has invested a lot of effort. We think that Margaret's smile is just a natural expression of her charm, but only director George Cook knows that every small expression and action of her has taken a lot of time, pondering and deliberating.
There is a scene in which Margaret walks through the crowd of the theater, followed by Armand, and George Cook thinks Greta Garbo should go slower, but Greta Garbo goes fast.
It wasn't until she suddenly stopped that George Cook realized that her speed was not to avoid Armand, but to avoid the countless sneaky fishing eyes throughout the theater, and this rate was an outpouring of the character's inner activity.
In addition to the rhythm, every scene scheduling is an opportunity for actors to express their creativity.
Images of Greta Garbo and Lionel Barrymore in the film La Traviata (1936).
Of course, she had to understand the director's position requirements, which were not stages after all. There is a scene in which Margaret negotiates with Armand's father, she is asked to leave Armand, the old-school gentleman is not aggressive, but talks about the stakes, and Margaret is always moving.
This time, she was avoiding the conversation, and the deeper the conversation, the more she felt that her father's words were reasonable, but her love was resisting, and she was once forced into a cramped space, with the recliner occupying the foreground and the father "covering" the right side of the camera.
Stills from the film La Traviata (1936), by Greta Garbo and Lionel Barril Barrymore
She clutched the handkerchief in one hand and rubbed the edge of the recliner with the other, and then she came to the table again, her hands on it, trembling constantly, and she finally made up her mind to break up with Armand, and she almost collapsed on the ground weakly.
She climbed the edge of the table with both hands and looked up at the mirror with tears in her eyes.
Much of the movement and body language of the scene did not exist at the time of the first rehearsal, and George Cook marveled at Greta Garbo's play of these details, constantly adjusting the position and the combination of shots.
Afterwards, Greta Garbo told him that she kept coming up with images that told her what to do! Greta Garbo was so devoted to Margaret that after the shutdown, she was even a little intimidated, feeling that she still had a lot of dramatic energy and did not exert it.
In addition, as mgm's boss Luis B. Meyer Louis B. Mayer (1884-1957), the very important Robert Taylor (1911-1969), for the first time arranged for this handsome young student to carry the then "top" Greta Garbo, to play the young Armand in "La Traviata".
Robert Taylor brought Armand's attachment to love and jealousy in love and his own sense of powerlessness vividly, although he could not compete with the Earl financially, but he still worked hard for the people he loved, won the opponent in the casino, won the opponent in the duel, although he still loved the person in the days of exile, but he did not want to see each other.
He was full of affection and impulsiveness, he was warm and jealous, he was so childish, he gambled and went to the corner, he left with a straight face, he threw away the flowers and was silent all the way, he was sensitive to the slightest thing that was rubbing with the baron, he came for her, he gambled for her. But how excited he was when he saw her smile at him for the first time, so excited that he wanted to fly to her side at once and tell her the most touching love words.
Stills from the movie La Traviata (1936), Robert Taylor
Because when I was young, I wanted to prove myself, and if you abandoned me, I would give up on you, not wanting you to see the slightest pain of mine. This made the picturesque Robert Taylor play such a simple and cute young role, and was also loved by the audience.
Robert Taylor was 25 years old, and Greta Garbo was 31. Under the "guidance" of his agent, in 1936, Robert Taylor had just begun a relationship with barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990), an actress who was older than him, and was bent on making money to "prove" to his mother.
And during the filming of La Traviata, 31-year-old Greta Garbo finally ended the love affair that began 10 years ago with actor John Gilbert (1897-1936).
In Greta Garbo's first days in Hollywood, John Gilbert gave her great help, teaching her to be a star, socialize, and deal with bosses. He proposed marriage countless times, and she agreed countless times but regretted it at the last minute.
In 1935, director George Cook's home in Hollywood had just been redecorated and became a meeting place for gay people in Hollywood. At the time of filming La Traviata, George Cook, who was already 37 years old, had an open secret in Hollywood. As his best friend, Catherine Hepburn Hepburn (1907-2003), was very supportive of his "coming out".
On the set of the film La Traviata (1936), directors George Cook (right) and Robert Taylor
It is said that George Cook "took good care" of Robert Taylor on the set, after all, Robert Taylor was still a quasi-newcomer at that time, but Robert Taylor always left the studio quickly after filming, leaving George Cook and Greta Garbo, the boss at the time. B. Meyer heard the report from his subordinates and just laughed.
However, interested viewers look back at Robert Taylor in "La Traviata", and it is true that the director gave him a lot of beautiful shots.
Promotional photo for the movie "La Traviata" (1936), Robert Taylor - as a big heroine of the play, the director really gave him a lot of shots in the video
In an interview with George Cook in his later years, he once told reporters that the American film industry today can no longer make a real period drama.
The period dramas here do not include costume epics or war films with scenes, action, and war as the main selling points. Rather, it is a work like "La Traviata", which reflects the life style of the times and condenses individual emotions (although this tradition is still relatively well preserved in ancient England).
On the set of the film La Traviata (1936), director George Cook (right) speaks to Greta Garbo and Linor Ulric (left).
The reason why period dramas became popular in Hollywood from the 1930s to the end of World War II also has its own specific "era factors".
The severe economic crisis forced the set to find the most attractive subject matter for the audience, and classic literature was one of the treasures, coupled with the influx of European cultural people into the United States at that time, which created the necessary conditions for this adaptation and provided the basis for expanding its needs.
In 1937, the Chinese poster of the movie "La Traviata" (1936) landed in Shanghai, where many Hollywood movies were also publicly screened
From a production point of view, those expensive costume sets, those beautiful male and female stars, also need a genre to amplify its own charm index, and these films will not be as extravagant as war epics.
It is from this trend that George Cook has risen from this trend and gradually become a major director of the era drama with delicate style, good at grasping and improving the style of the times, and has a unique vision for guiding female characters.
But perhaps also because George Cook's expertise is too prominent, he is not as resilient as more typical on-set directors such as Howard Hawks (1896-1977). After the era drama was gradually forgotten by mainstream Hollywood productions with the change of the times, George Cook's own creative career also fell into a low ebb.
Since the set did not shoot literary masterpieces for reasons of cultural tradition, their consideration of the market and audience repercussions was far greater than that of the original book, enough to lead to unrecognizable deletions In Hollywood, it was never a difficult decision.
If one were to watch The Wuthering Heights (1939) by Samuel Goldwyn (1879-1974) and William Wheeler William Wyler (1902-1981) in 1939, it was a disaster compared to the original, typifying a poor adaptation.
Many times, it is the original book that matches the shooting conditions of the film set. George Cook had encountered a similar situation when he had previously directed Manhattan Melodrama (1934), with art director Cedric Gibbons (1893-1960) not bothering to adjust the lighting and set as needed, but following the so-called Hollywood tradition (which was more convenient and familiar).
Inside the set of the movie La Traviata (1936).
But conversely, any literature, especially classical literature, is impossible without making changes in the process of visualization.
This requires the creator to have a deep or unique understanding of the essence of the original work, and to know how to correctly choose and transform.
If George Cook's epoch drama can be called artistic creation, then his adjustment to the original work is an aspect of his skill.
The original novel is not large, using interludes, flashbacks, and first-person narration, but the protagonist of the movie version can only be Greta Garbo, so George Cook must abandon the first person, and there is no need for an "I" to connect the story, in fact, every audience is in the movie, incarnated as that "me".
George Cook is also unusually crisp about the deletion of some unnecessary, sprawling characters, and almost every supporting role in the entire film has sufficient dramatic space.
Although from the perspective of shaping, they are too easy to summarize certain qualities, such as the greed and slipperiness of the lady, but these characters are closely related to the main line, providing a rich plot conflict for each emotional development and crisis of Margaret and Armand.
At the end, George Cook chooses to let Margaret finish the film by saying the sound of death, and this kind of ending in a moment of shock is a narrative strategy often used in Hollywood movies of that period, if it is powerful enough - like Traviata, it will leave a shocking aftertaste in the process of the film's darkening.
In fact, the crew has another version of the ending, in which Greta Garbo's dialogue is longer and more charming, but it has a fatal flaw, and the already dying Margaret simply cannot have the energy to make another affectionate confession, between drama and rationality, George Cook chose the latter.
Although it is a black-and-white film, George Cook also thinks a lot about color, focusing on the use of black. In this gray and white world, the bouquet of white camellias is a metaphor for Margaret, but the metaphor of her fate is drawn with the help of the often eye-catching black outline.
Stills from the movie La Traviata (1936), Greta Garbo
She and Armand had a wedding in the countryside for their friends, but she was wearing a black coat—she was negotiating marriage with Armand, which was like a verdict on her marriage; and after having to leave Aaron and return to the Earl, Margaret's first appearance was a black hat, a black veil, a black dress, a black glove, and even a black fan dress, and Death had signed a contract with Margaret at this moment.
Poster for the Japanese version of the movie La Traviata (1936).
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