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 ROMANCE |
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(USA 1930)
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| ALTERNATE TITLE | ||
Romanze (GERMANY)
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| FILM SCENES | ||
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| COMPANY | ||
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
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| CREDITS | ||
Directed by Clarence Brown.
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| TECHNICAL SPECS | ||
76 minutes
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| ROMANCE - GIF | ||
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| CAST | ||
Greta Garbo, Lewis Stone, Gavin Gordon, Elliott Nugent, Florence Lake, Clara Blandick,
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| GARBO'S CHARACTER | ||
Madame Rita Cavallini
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| FILM POSTER | ||
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| SYNOPSIS | ||
Harry (Elliott Nugent), the grandson of a bishop, (Gavin Gordon) wants to marry an actress. When the bishop learns of this, he tries to dissuade him by relating a part of his own life when he was still Rector Tom Armstrong. The bishop says that he met a prima donna named Rita Cavallini (Greta Garbo) and fell in love with her. She fell in love with him also and finally confessed that until she met Armstrong she had been the mistress of wealthy Cornelius Van Tuyl (Lewis Stone). After her final performance, Van Tuyl tried to get her to return to him, but she refused. When Armstrong learned that she had seen Van Tuyl, he came to her and denounced her. Then he pleaded with her to spend her last night with him. She begged him not to treat her as other men had, and began praying. Armstrong came to his senses and left. He never saw her again. His story, however, does not change Harry's mind about marrying an actress. Later, Armstrong reads of Rita's death in a newspaper.
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| QUOTES FROM THE FILM | ||
| (in Treatment)
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| MOVIE PROGRAM | ||
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| PREMIERED/RELEASED | ||
Release date: August 22, 1930 (New York) and August 26, 1930
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| LOBBYCARDS | ||
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| PRODUCTION | ||
| Production Dates: March–May 1930
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| MOVIE STILLS | ||
| The Stills were made during the production by Milton Brown. 106 Movie Stills were shot.
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| TRIVIA | ||
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| THE REAL RITA CAVALLINI | ||
| The character of Rita Cavallini is based on the real life opera singer Lina Cavalieri (1874–1944). Lina was an Italian operatic soprano known for her great beauty.
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| BACKGROUND STORY | ||
| (in Treatment)
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| MADAME CAVALLINI SINGS | ||
| In one scene from the film, Madame Cavalllini is on stage and sings a part from the opera Martha. It is known that Garbo was on stage and that her singing for Romance was dubbed by soprano Diana Gaylen and it was written that they used another stand in (extra) for the shots as Martha.
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| BUSINESS DATA | ||
| Budget : 496.000 Dollar.
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| PORTRAITS | ||
George Hurrell made the portraits for the film, in late May–early June 1930.
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| REVIEWS | ||
Mordaunt Hall for New York Times: |
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Although Greta Garbo's performance in Romance is perhaps as good as anything she has done on the screen, it would have made the picture far more credible had the producers seen fit to recognize that she is no Italian soprano.... Miss Garbo, in this her second talking film, appears to be quite as much at her ease in speaking her lines as she was in her old silent picture performances. She is a breath of life in this love story, which, old as it may be in theme, really is no more old than love itself.... Her fascinating countenance and her graceful movements are admirably suited to the role in this slender narrative which moves along so easily that there is never an instant one would take one's eyes from the screen.
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| Norbert Lusk for Picture Play: | ||
Hollywood's favourite adjective “marvellous” is the word that first comes to mind on viewing Greta Garbo in Romance. Her performance is a thing of pure beauty, an inspiring blend of intellect and emotion, a tender, poignant, poetic portrait of a woman who thrusts love from her because she considers herself unworthy of the man who offers it. Since no mention of Miss Garbo can be made without reference to her voice, it is a simple matter to dispose of it at the outset. It is the same voice that was heard in Anna Christie, but it is better suited to the present role, because the character has many moods and none of the bitterness of Anna. Rita Cavallini, the Italian prima donna, is mercurial, bantering, tender, wistful. What matter if Garbo's accent only occasionally suggests the Italian's efforts to speak English? The Garbo voice itself is not of Italian quality or inflection, but for all any one cares Rita Cavallini might as well be Portuguese or Roumanian, for it is her emotions that are conveyed by Garbo to the spectator, and her nativity counts for nothing at all. What matter, too, if the picture as a whole is slow, even draggy, and lacks climaxes? It is nevertheless absorbing because of Garbo–her inescapable magnetism, her sure intelligence, her clear, unflagging talent for communicating to the spectator her every thought and feeling.
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| SIMILAR FILMS | ||
| La donna più bella del mondo (The World's most beautiful Woman) Gina Lollobrigida (Italy/France, 1956)
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| ROMANCE COLORIZED PORTRAITS | ||
Colorized by Leslie Penn.
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| ROMANCE FAN ART | ||
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| PICTURE FROM THE FILM-SET | ||
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| STORY FROM THE FILM-SET | ||
One day, while working on Romance, Garbo saw Joan Crawford drive by in her chauffeur-driven limousine. Garbo turned to her friend and laughed: “I read last night that I was queen of the movies and look at me now, riding around in this old car. Gott! What a funny joke!”
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| THE ORIGINAL PLAY | ||
| Based on the play Madame Cavallini (USA 1913), by Edward Sheldon.
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| NICI'S WALLPAPER | ||
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| DVD/VHS | ||
Available on VHS.
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| VIDEO-FILE | ||
See HERE!
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SOURCE |
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Greta Garbo: A Cinematic Legacy – by Mark A. Vieira (Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York 2005). This is the best and most accurate book about Garbo's-Films.  |
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OTHER SOURCES |
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Karen Swenson – A life Apart Barry Paris – Garbo IMDB – International Movie Database plus many other books, magazines and internet sites. |
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Film - Introduction |
© Copyright 2005 – www.GarboForever.com – Germany – TJ & John – The Webmasters
Garbo's fifteenth film marked Lewis Stone's third appearance with her.
