AS YOU DESIRE ME

AS YOU DESIRE ME
(USA 1932)
ALTERNATE TITLES
Wie du mich wünschst (GERMANY) Comme tu me veux (FRANCE) Som du vill ha mig (SWEDEN) Come tu mi vuoi (ITALY) Como me Queres (BRAZIL) Jaka mnie pragniesz (POLAND)
FILM SCENES

COMPANY
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) MGM Production: 615
CREDITS
Directed by George Fitzmaurice. Produced by Paul Bern and Irving Thalberg (uncredited). Adaptation and dialogue by Gene Markey, from the play by Luigi Pirandello. Photographed by William Daniels. Edited by George Hively. Recording supervised by Douglas Shearer. Art Direction by Cedric Gibbons. Gowns by Adrian. Hively.
TECHNICAL SPECS
70 minutes
GRAND HOTEL TRAILER
See HERE!
CAST
Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Erich von Stroheim, Owen Moore, Hedda Hopper, Rafaela Ottiano, Warburton Gamble, Albert Conti, William Ricciardi, Roland Varno...
GARBO'S CHARACTER
Zara aka Maria Varelli
FILM POSTER
More HERE!
SYNOPSIS
Zara (Greta Garbo), is a cafe entertainer in Budapest. She has amnesia. Tony Boffie (Owen Moore) sees her and identifies her as Maria. Maria is the wife of Count Bruno Varelli (Melvyn Douglas). Boffie, a portrait painter, had done a painting of Maria at the time of her marriage. She was believed to have been killed when the Austrians invaded Italy during the war. Zara, wanting to escape from Carl Salter (Erich von Stroheim). Salter, a novelist who has a hypnotic influence over her. He decides to go back with Boffie. Varelli accepts her as his wife and she falls in love with him. Salter, wanting her back, brings another woman to Varelli saying Zara is an imposter. But does not succeed in his venture. Zara continues to be Varelli's wife, although she is still not certain of her true identity.
QUOTES FROM THE FILM
(in Treatment)
MOVIE PROGRAM
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PREMIERED/RELEASED
Premiere date: May 28, 1932 Release Date in Germany: 03.10.1933.
LOBBYCARDS
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PRODUCTION
Production Dates: March–April 1932 Production Location: Hollywood/Los Angeles/USA
MOVIE STILLS
The Stills were made during the production by an Unknown photographer. 63 Movie Stills were shot. More HERE!
TRIVIA
Although this was Garbo's first film with Douglas, they were to make a screen hit together years later. They again starred in Ninotchka and Two faced Woman. As You Desire Me was filmed in 42 days. Both Paul Bern & Irving Thalberg were the uncredited Producers of the film. In the early 1930s MGM did not list their films producers in their credits. Bern was married with Jean Harlow and did suicide 3 month after the films premiere. The original Pirandello's play Come tu mi vuoi premiered in Italy on 18 February 1930. Actress Judith Anderson played the Zara on stage in America. The character of Karl Salter was loosely based on Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. Nils Asther was the strong contender for the lead of the Italian captain in As you desire me but a newcomer named Melvyn Douglas slipped in to and stealed the assignment.
AS YOU DESIRE ME - CARICATURE
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BACKGROUND STORY
(in Treatment)
BUSINESS DATA
Budget:469.000 Dollar. Gross: USA: 705.000 Dollar; Non-USA: 658.000 Dollar; World: 1.362.000 Dollar. Profit: 449.000 Dollar.
PORTRAITS
Clarence Sinclair Bull made the portraits of Garbo for the film on April 13, 1932. More HERE!
REVIEWS
Photoplay:
We hate to write the words, “This may be the last Garbo picture you will see,” but at this moment it appears that she will not make any more now–if ever. And Garbo has never been more marvellous; never has she possessed such youthful beauty or such wistful appeal. She appears in a platinum wig, and without the wig looks like a girl of eighteen. The love scenes between Douglas and Garbo are the high points of the film, and they almost equal the ones played so long ago by Gilbert and Garbo. If this must be her last picture, we are glad it is such a fitting swan song.
J.C.M. for The New Yorker:
I am inclined to think that there is altogether too much discussion of Garbo these days. It is enough to say that this is not one of her most ambitious offerings, yet by no means one of her most trivial. As you have heard, she wears a blond wig in it; but only for a moment, and I was glad when she got back to her own locks. As you have heard also, it may be her last picture. She is said to be going back to that farm of hers. Well, I shall wait and see, and occupy my mind, if possible, with other matters in the meanwhile, and try to endure the suspense. I must say, though, that the Pirandello idea of the doubtful identity which is the core of the tale–being, anyhow, a little more elaborate, we might say, than the usual movie embroilment–lifts the film above the commonplace.
FANART
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PICTURE FROM THE FILM-SET
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STORY FROM THE FILM-SET
Garbo once quoted with amusement during the filming of As You Desire Me (1932) an von Stroheim's remark “when I took off my shoes before a certain shot, looking at my feet, he observed, 'I don't think they're as ugly as everyone says.'
A TOKEN OF APPRECIATION
Written by co-star Erich von Stroheim, after filming was completed. The inscription was on the flyleaf of a german book called Alraune.
THE ORIGINAL PLAY
Based on the play Come tu mi vuoi by Luigi Pirandello play.
DVD/VHS
Available on VHS. See HERE!
VIDEO-FILE
See More HERE!
	SOURCE
	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.
	OTHER SOURCES
	Karen Swenson – A life Apart Barry Paris – Garbo IMDB – International Movie Database plus many other books, magazines and internet sites.


	Film - Introduction