OVP: Camille (1937)

Film: Camille (1937)

Stars: Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Jessie Ralph, Henry Daniell

Director: George Cukor

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Actress-Greta Garbo)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Today is my little brother's birthday, and as we are in a pandemic (and as I am 27 days away from being outside of my vaccine window-get your shot as soon as you can, wait your time frame, & remember that Covid is still deadly even if the weather is nicer so don't lose the race minutes before the finish line) I cannot spend it with him.  But he is a devoted reader of this blog, and one of my favorite people to talk about movies with, and so we will be celebrating him (long distance) today with his favorite Oscar category.  He has seen most of the Best Actress nominees, and as a result I thought it would be fun for us to do two Best Actress reviews to close out the week (that I recently saw), and since it's a special occasion, we're going to start with arguably the most famous Best Actress-nominated performance I had never seen, Greta Garbo's beautiful, tragic Camille.

(Spoilers Ahead) Based on the novel by Alexander Dumas fils (which would inspire not only countless movies but also the famed opera La traviata), the film is about Marguerite Gautier (Garbo), a courtesan who has no money to her name, and instead gets by through benefactors, many of whom dote on her beauty.  In the opening scenes she mistakes Armand Duval (Taylor) for the Baron de Varville (Daniell).  The Baron is wealthy, while Armand is of a good family (but of little money), and while the Baron makes more sense for her, she falls passionately in love with Armand.  The film continually milks this love triangle for all it's worth, with the Baron clearly the loser but still batting because he's bring much-needed cash to the table.  The film has a ticking clock as Marguerite's lavish lifestyle is exacerbating her consumption, and she will surely die if she doesn't change her ways...which she does in the end, in the arms of Armand as they realize they will always love each other.

The film doesn't have a lot going for it.  Taylor & Garbo are both sizzling (and weirdly gorgeous-one of the most attractive screen pairings in film history), but the plot isn't there.  The film constantly just keeps barking between the three legs of the love triangle, but the Baron is obviously meant to be such a villain (and Taylor so dashing) that it's not a fair fight in the world of the cinema. It's clear that Garbo must die, as she's too beautiful to grow old & too tragic to get a happy ending.  But as a result, the movie is forever repetitive.

However, you're not going to care.  This is really stylized acting, but the movie is eminently watchable (it is a guilty pleasure that clicked for me).  It's a grand picture, one with a lot of swoonworthy kisses & embraces, and you'll fall into it like thick molasses.  Did Garbo deserve an Oscar for the performance?  Probably not...there are better performances that came out in 1937 we could cling to.  But this isn't necessarily an "Oscar first" kind of performance...it's more a "swing for the rafters, land among the stars" piece of work, and in that way it's more than successful.  Oscars may be about honoring the best movies of the year, but Garbo's legendary work here has its eyes on something far more spectacular: cinematic immortality.  As perhaps the defining performance of one of the screen's most lasting stars, it gets that.