Two-Faced Woman (1941)

After a ski instructor catches her husband flirting with an old flame, she decides to pose as her (fictitious) twin sister in an attempt to keep him faithful.

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

S.N. Behrman (original screenplay), Salka Viertel (original screenplay)

Stars:

Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Greta Garbo	...	Karin Blake
Melvyn Douglas	...	Larry Blake
Constance Bennett	...	Griselda Vaughn
Roland Young	...	O.O. Miller
Robert Sterling	...	Dick Williams
Ruth Gordon	...	Miss Ellis
Frances Carson	...	Miss Dunbar

Storyline

While at a ski lodge, Larry Blake sees instructor Karin Borg and decides to sign up for private lessons. The next thing he knows, she is Mrs. Blake. When he announces that he is going back to work on his magazine in New York the next day, Karin refuses to go with him. She later comes to New York, buys expensive clothes, and goes to meet him when she sees he is with old flame Griselda. Caught by Blake's business partner, O.O. Miller, before she can leave, she explains that she is really Karin's twin sister Katherine. Hard to believe, but that is what she tries to make everyone, including Larry, believe. Larry, however, has serious doubts, but plays the game to the hilt as the worldly Katherine tries to take him away from both Griselda and Karin.

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Plot Keywords:

twin | screwball comedy | twin sister | magazine | ski lodge | 

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Taglines:

Garbo rhumbas! Garbo skis! Garbo swims! Garbo laughs! Her first picture since "Ninotchka," and it's twice as hilarious! (original newspaper ad)

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 March 1942 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Twins

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$316,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$875,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$925,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Within a year of this film's failure essentially having ended Greta Garbo's career, another George Cukor film (Her Cardboard Lover) "finished off" the career of another high profile MGM star, Irving Thalberg's Oscar-winning widow, Norma Shearer.

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Goofs

In the downhill skiing toward the end of the film, Larry does a number of tumbles and somersaults. One time he flips over a ledge and comes down without any ski poles. The next scene shows him with ski poles as he comes to a stop.

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Quotes

Katherine Borg: This is a strange rendezvous. In fact, in my experience, unique.

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Alternate Versions

Although given a PCA approval certificate, the released film was heartily condemned by the Catholic Church, which applied enough pressure to force MGM to revise the film, and replace the existing copies for future bookings. The major problem was that Melvyn Douglas thought he was seducing his wife's twin sister in the original version, which also had a few risque scenes. These were eliminated, and a scene was added where Douglas calls the ski lodge to find out his wife left, so that he knows the twin is really his wife. The net effect was to reduce the movie's running time to 90 minutes (from the original 94 minutes). This is the version Turner Classic Movies shows every once in a while. This also might also explain the late copyright date and copyright length of 90 minutes.

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Connections

Featured in Greta Garbo: A Lone Star (2001)

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Soundtracks

Chica-Choca
(uncredited)
Music by Bronislau Kaper
Lyrics by Roni
Danced by Greta Garbo, Robert Alton and chorus of nightclub patrons

User Reviews

Two Faced Woman Not The Reason For Garbo's Retirement

While this film is hardly the classic that Ninotchka is, it can be hardly faulted for it, as even Garbo could hardly be expected to top her stellar performance in that great comedy! I was actually quite surprised how good this film is, especially given the volume of negative press it has received through the years. Garbo, even in a slightly lesser effort, is still leagues ahead of most actresses of her day (I find Joan Crawford to be especially overrated!). Besides her forever enigmatic image, she was, perhaps surprisingly, quite adept at comedy. This film actually did very well in its day.

The reasons of Two Faced Woman ultimately being Greta Garbo's last film are a bit complicated and multi-faceted. A big reason why she didn't make any films after this one was the especially strong European Box Office returns that her films enjoyed during the 20's and 30's were, with few exceptions stopped dead in their tracks by the coming of the Second World War in 1939. No doubt, the U.S. entry near the end of 1941 also impacted in a number of ways, effectively keeping Greta out of films during the remaining war years.

Garbo was actually coming out of retirement in 1949 to do a film for MGM. Sadly, the project got cancelled, and Greta was apparently humiliated by the experience, and didn't wish to be in that position ever again.

There are likely other details that I have missed. Suffice it to say, the film itself had nothing to do with Garbo's permanent retirement from film! If you haven't seen Two Faced Woman and get the chance to do so, check it out!