Anna Christie (1930)

A young woman reunites with her estranged father and falls in love with a sailor, but struggles to tell them about her dark past.

Director:

Clarence Brown

Writers:

Frances Marion (adapted by), Eugene O'Neill (from play "Anna Christie")

Stars:

Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Greta Garbo	...	Anna Christie
Charles Bickford	...	Matt Burke
George F. Marion	...	Chris Christopherson
Marie Dressler	...	Marthy
James T. Mack	...	Johnny the Harp
Lee Phelps	...	Larry the Bartender

Storyline

In New York, the alcoholic skipper of a coal barge Chris Christofferson receives a letter from his estranged twenty year old daughter Anna "Christie" Christofferson telling that she will leave Minnesota to stay with him. Chris left Anna fifteen years ago to the countryside to be raised by relatives in a farm in St. Paul and he has never visited his daughter. Anna Christie arrives and she is a wounded woman with a hidden dishonorable past since she had worked for two years in a brothel to survive. She moves to the barge to live with her father and one night, Chris rescues the sailor Matt and two other fainted sailors from the sea. Soon Anna and Matt fall in love with each other and Anna has the best days of her life. But when Matt proposes to marry her, she is reluctant and also haunted by her past. Matt insists and Anna opens her heart to Matt and to her father disclosing the darks secrets of her past.

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Plot Keywords:

pulitzer prize source | f rated | character name as title | female protagonist | runaway girl | 

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Taglines:

Garbo Talks and the World listens. (Print Ad- Dansville Express, ((Dansville NY)) 11 April 1930)

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Broadway play "Anna Christie" by Eugene O'Neill opened at the Vanderbilt Theater in New York on 2 November 1921 and ran for 177 performances. George F. Marion (Chris) and James T. Mack (Johnny) originated their movie roles in the play. Marion also starred in the earlier silent movie version Anna Christie (1923). To date, the play has been revived 3 times, most recently in 1993 with Natasha Richardson as Anna, Rip Torn as Chris, Liam Neeson as Matt and Anne Meara as Marthy.

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Quotes

Anna Christie: I'll try anything once.

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Alternate Versions

Two versions of this film exist: this English-language version was directed by Clarence Brown, while a simultaneously filmed German-language version was directed by Jacques Feyder. The German version has a different running time and features a different supporting cast.

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Connections

Version of Kiri no minato (1923)

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Soundtracks

The Frozen North
(uncredited)
Music by William Axt and Erno Rapee

User Reviews

"Give me a whiskey, ginger ale on the side, and don't be stingy, Baby."

Garbo's first speaking line, and it must have been thrilling to have such a tremendous foreign star able to make that transition from silent to sound.

The movie is "Annie Christie," the year is 1930, and it is an adaptation of the play by Eugene O'Neill. It concerns a young farm woman, Anna, from Minnesota who comes to New York to find her father, whom she hasn't seen in 15 years. Molested some time earlier, she hates men and has prostituted herself.

Her father takes her on his barge, and she comes to love the sea. One day, they rescue a young man (Charles Bickford), and he and Anna fall in love. However, neither he nor her father know anything of her past.

Garbo is very beautiful and her command of English is amazing. You can tell that she understands every word she is saying, just as you can tell when some actors have learned their role by rote. She acquits herself very well.

Marie Dressler as Marthy, a friend of her father's whom Anna meets in a bar, is marvelous, playing each scene as a drunk. And you really think she is. As someone wrote, you can smell the alcohol on her breath.

That's the good news. The bad news is that this is a very difficult film to watch. Sound and dealing with the camera when you have sound was all very new. The camera didn't move around so it is a very static movie. The actors have several scenes where they all talk at once.

An acting teacher once said, "Eugene O'Neill was our greatest novelist." The actors don't just talk at once, they talk incessantly. There is no action to be had.

I love Eugene O'Neill, I have seen his plays on stage. This film is 85 years old, and it shows.

Definitely worth seeing, however. After all, "Garbo talks!"

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 1930 (USA)

Also Known As:

Anna Christie

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$376,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1