Garbo Talks (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Nov 27, 2024
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Sidney LumetRelease Date(s)
1984 (October 15, 2024)Studio(s)
United Artists/MGM/UA Entertainment Company (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: A-
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B
Review
Greta Garbo, the great icon of the late-silent and early talkie era, abruptly retired in 1941 after appearing in 28 movies. “I have made enough faces,” she later told David Niven, adamantly refusing all offers to return to the screen. She moved to an apartment in Manhattan and, hidden under big hats and hiding her face behind oversized sunglasses, would occasionally venture out for walks in the park, strolls through flea markets and the like. In the 1970s and early-‘80s, “Garbo-watching” became something of a spectator sport.
Garbo Talks (1984) is a Neil Simon-esque comedy-drama about a passionate, lifelong Garbo fan with terminal brain cancer hoping to meet her idol before she dies. The fan is played by Anne Bancroft who, while not an icon herself, was a better, more versatile actress. Written by Larry Grusin, its ambitious screenplay covers a lot of ground—death and dying, the nature of celebrity, relationships between mothers and sons, husbands and wives.
I never got to meet Garbo but I did get to meet, briefly, Anne Bancroft. She and her husband, Mel Brooks, were attending a special screening of Tunes of Glory and, after briefly introducing myself, said, “I must tell you that you had me crying like a baby at the end of 84 Charing Cross Road.” At this, Bancroft’s polite smile transformed into that luminous glow seen at least once in nearly all her films. Delighted I remembered that unjustly forgotten film (that her husband produced), and it made my week knowing my compliment pleased them a little. Garbo Talks opens with Bancroft’s character sobbing watching the end of Garbo’s Camille on The Late Show just as I was awash with tears watching the end of 84 Charing Cross Road on cable television in the ‘80s. That, in effect, is the heart of Garbo Talks, this ephemeral relationship between movie stars and their fans.
Long-divorced Garbo fan Estelle Rolfe (Bancroft) drives her adult son, accountant Gilbert (Ron Silver) nuts with her unfiltered, activist ways, fighting causes big and small, from construction workers wolf-whistling young women to nurses negotiating wage increases. He resents having to frequently bail her out of jail.
When Estelle is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and soon after has to move into a hospice-type ward at a local hospital, she implores Gilbert to arrange a meeting with Garbo, her idol. Though elusive, Garbo lives right there in Manhattan, so hard could it be?
The film is partly a series of one act-like vignettes, as Gilbert first tries to reach Garbo through aging paparazzo Angelo Dokakis (Howard Da Silva, in his last film role). Later, while staking out Garbo’s island vacation home, Gilbert meets Bernie Whitlock (Harvey Fierstein, in his film debut), a kind-hearted gay man, and later still has a brief encounter with Elizabeth Rennick (Hermione Gingold, her last film), an ancient actress once friends with Garbo. All this footwork and expense puts a strain on his marriage with materialistic Lisa (Carrie Fisher), and at work, where Gilbert’s boss (Richard B. Shull) takes advantage of him.
Garbo Talks is not a complete success. Ron Silver was a decent actor but miscast; he’s a bit too gloomy and, at times inadequately expressive when the part seems to require someone more animated and expressive like Richard Benjamin in The Sunshine Boys or Mark Linn-Baker in My Favorite Year. Fisher’s character is trite and uninteresting and Gilbert’s possible romance with co-worker Jane (Catherine Hicks) isn’t much better, though it does amusingly imply Gilbert might, in the end, wind up with a new wife whose personality is much like his mother’s.
No, what makes Garbo Talks quite special at times are its exquisitely directed performances directed by Lumet. Steven Hill has two brief scenes as Estelle’s ex-husband, a man who couldn’t live with her even though she was the love of his life. In the second scene, Hill goes to visit her in the hospital. She’s asleep and he doesn’t say a word, but the emotions he’s feeling at that moment are so palpable and heartfelt that little moment is quite moving.
The picture is full of these wonderful little scenes: Da Silva’s photographer lamenting he never made a decent living doing a job he’s good at but which others resent and thus treat him with contempt; Estelle realizing that her brain tumor has ruined her vision so badly that she can no longer read, another simple pleasure taken away from her. Ultimately, the picture works because Bancroft is so fully committed to her character that, even when her dialogue sometimes strains credibility, the sincerity of that performance keeps it believable at all times.
Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray of Garbo Talks is a solid 1.85:1 widescreen transfer provided by MGM. The image is free of damage and age-related wear, the colors are accurate and the contrast is good. The DTS-HD Master Audio (2.0 mono) is fine for what it is, and optional English subtitles are provided on this Region “A” disc.
Supplements are limited to a trailer (also in high-def) and a commentary track by film historians Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell.
The screenplay for Garbo Talks is hit-and-miss, but thanks to Sidney Lumet’s fine direction of its excellent cast, headlined by the much-missed Anne Bancroft, it has more wonderful little moments than other movies that, overall, are more consistently better. It’s a small-scale comedy-drama of the type almost never made any more by the big Hollywood studios, a little gem.
- Stuart Galbraith IV