Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)

Or was that the publicity line for some other MGM picture with the king of their lot?

Susan Lenox, Her Fall and Rise is taken from the David Graham Phillips novel of the same name and in this 77 minute film hardly any of the story gets to be told. Probably a lot was left on the cutting room floor of MGM and you have to be able to bridge some gaps if you haven't read the book.

The book itself was published posthumously in 1917 six years after its author was killed by a disgruntled reader of his work. I'm guessing it was written years earlier because it's attitudes and subject matter were distinctly Victorian. Greta Garbo plays the daughter of Jean Hersholt who wants to sell her in marriage to the local lout played by Alan Hale. One thing that was interesting was seeing both of those players in unlikely unsympathetic parts.

She flees Hersholt's farm in the rain and gets taken in by Clark Gable who's renting the cabin on the lake down the road. The romance kindles, but Gable has to make a quick trip to town, meanwhile Hersholt and Hale come looking for Garbo and she flees again.

Garbo gets taken by some carnival people including the wolfish owner, John Miljan, whom she submits to. When Gable finds her, his attitude is most Victorian. In fact the rest of the film through their respective ups and downs Gable and Garbo do a lot to hurt each other.

Susan Lenox is one heavy handed melodrama and no one would remember it at all today, but for the fact it was the one and only teaming of Gable and Garbo. Being paired with Garbo was a big milestone for Clark Gable. Also he was not paying thugs any longer, charismatic thugs, but thugs nonetheless. He was leading man material after this film.

It only gets as much as six stars from me because of the cast.

I had to watch SUSAN LENOX - HER FALL AND RISE several times because I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. It's such an odd film, mostly because it was obviously cut here and there, down to a paltry 75 minutes long film, and because what occurs in the movie is such a smorgasborg of melodramatic situations squeezed in in such a brief amount of time, that the film becomes truly surreal.

The film starts broodingly enough, with the illegitimate birth of Helga (soon to be Susan Lenox, of Lenoxville) seen in shadows. We see her grow in her miserable life in shadows and the next thing we see is Helga is sent to live/marry a man she doesn't know. She runs away from the creepy ugly man and ends up with Rodney (Clark Gable) and the two fall in love overnight(!). When Rodney leaves for a business trip, Helga comes across her evil family and runs away from town, only to end up in circus, where Helga becomes known as Susan Lenox, is forced to work as a performer (a belly dancer of sorts) and is under the control of the circus boss Burlingham. After an ill-fated meeting with Rodney at the circus, Holga runs away (yes, again) and becomes a socialite in New York. After another ill-fated meeting with Rodney at a party, the two fight and separate again. Holga still goes after him, all the way down to South America(!) where she works in a seedy bar (keeping men company)and where she waits for him.

Got that? Anyway, the movie is like one of those action packed serials, but instead of showing a hero going from one pitfall to another, SUSAN LENOX is a melodramatic serial, where our heroine goes from one melodramatic pitfall to another, with very little time to digest one situation from the next.

The fast pace and wonky style is actually endearing, keeping the sometimes questionable subject matter light and airy. Notice the scene when Garbo undresses at the circus when she meets Rodney again, with the kooky music, giving a cartoony feel to the whole moment.

If there was a theme in SUSAN LENOX, it's how women are constantly used and abused in society. But the film never becomes too depressing because Garbo gives weight and importance to a character that's not easy to play, a character forced to do unpleasant things. Susan is hopelessly naive yet determined, all this beautifully played by Garbo.

Gable is good too but his character is a little too dense to be likable. I don't hate Rodney but he should have been a bit more understanding about Susan's circumstances or her background.

There are some great bits of dialogue in SUSAN LENOX. My favorite line (and one of my favorite lines in any movie)is uttered by Garbo: "This hurt we have inflicted upon each other. It's become a bound. Nothing can break it. We're just like two cripples. Twisted. Only together can we ever become straight." Brilliant. That lines basically surmises the whole movie: two beautiful losers, miserable in the company of others and only happy with each other, yet they can't seem to be able to live together because of wonky circumstances.

And to think that the two only met each other for one night. Arf! Is SUSAN LENOX a great movie? No, it's not. But in its odd way (sorta like Susan and Rodney), it's infinitely watchable and endearing.

I'm usually against remakes but I believe they should remake SUSAN LENOX. Obviously, no one can top Garbo as Susan Lenox of Lenoxville, but this odd story, in the hands of a director like David Lynch, would be amazing.

(update: I recently read the Taschen book Icon series on Garbo and according to it, this film had 21 writers! No wonder it's so wonky!)

This film is noteworthy because of the unique, mysterious, and wonderful screen presence of Greta Garbo. She is thoroughly convincing as the vulnerable young woman at the beginning of the film, and as her character becomes more worldly but still vulnerable she remains convincing. Occasionally she might lapse into acting that would seem to the modern viewer to be overly dramatic, but overall she is brilliant. Clark Gable is okay, but the construction of the film from a plot standpoint left something to be desired. Some things needed to be explained better. This seems to be a common problem with many early sound films as most of the 1928-31 sound films that I have seen are at times disjointed, leaving the viewer wondering why something occurred. That said, I recommend this film because of Garbo.

The first twenty or so minutes of this film is about as good as you can find for Greta Garbo and Clark Gable. When poor little Greta is forced to run from her abusive and cold home, the movie really becomes marvelous as the relationship between Garbo and Gable begins. During all this time, the cinematography is tops, with wonderful camera-work, lighting and composition. And, the romance between the leads is really compelling and beautiful. However, after this wonderful start, the film quickly falls apart. Through a series of misunderstandings, the lovers inexplicably become cold and angry towards each other--and after such a great start, this really makes no sense at all! Then, for the rest of the film, we see Clark and Greta periodically "stumbling upon each other" and then mistreating each other even though EVERYONE watching the film knows they really love each other and KNOWS they will ultimately admit this to each other. So, you KNOW what will happen and there is no suspense at all--NONE! It's really sad when a film starts off so well and then fizzles into a dull and predictable mess that could have simply been handled if either Garbo or Gable had just said "let's stop the bickering and marry--after all, YOU know and I know that it's meant to be!". But, for some odd reason, the writers want us to just assume the leads are too stupid and too proud to admit it. Gimme a break!

This film could be summarized as 'just another Garbo redemption yarn'... well, it is and it isn't. If you're familiar with the Garbo films (silents & talkies), you'll find yourself knowing the script before it happens onscreen, so, yes, indeed, Garbo will fall first then unwillingly rise from the gutter, sit on top of the world, then fall again, willingly or not. Some have written very intelligent lines on the subject (Mick Lasalle in 'Complicated Women' for instance) so I won't ad lib on this.

But this particular film adds another element: its photography. Splendid throughout all of Susan's cahotic life, the images crafted by Bill Daniels are simply amazing and on par with any Sternberg film - yes, that good. I can't remember precisely at the moment but the film was almost entirely redone before being released, either by R.Z. Leonard or by somebody else and R.Z. kept the credit...

Whatever. If script-wise quite predictable, this film should be seen if only for the sake of its images. Also, Garbo gives a performance worthy of the one she had in Grand Hotel - glimpses of eternity perhaps.

Too bad the big guys think this one's not worth more than a crappy VHS - photography on this level IS art... And Garbo's face eludes all possible descriptions.