Queen Christina (1933)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

To me, this movie is perfection.

Just what I expected

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The actress who starred in Camille and Ninotchka only acted in twenty eight films and retired at the age of thirty five, and this is one of her most quintessential and famous roles, from director Rouben Mamoulian (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Basically, set in the 17th Century, in Sweden in the year 1632 during the Thirty Years' War six year old Christina ascends the throne, and growing into an adult Christina (Greta Garbo) often dresses as a man for a more authoritarian appearance, and has a love for literature and the arts. Massive casualties on both sides of the war are happening as it rages on, and despite the Swedish side seemingly winning, the Queen would rather have peace, and at the same time her loyal subjects have her love life on their minds and know that there should be an heir to ensure longevity of the nation. Christina is believed and seemingly assured that she will marry the hero of the battles in the war Prince Charles Gustavus (Reginald Owen), but the Lord Treasurer Count Magnus (Ian Keith) makes the mistake in the believing he can have the queen, but she is not pursuing love to pay attention to fighting the war. But she changes her mind the visiting Spanish envoy Antonio (John Gilbert) who works for King Philip of Spain, they meet in a snowbound inn, and with their forced time together they fall in love, but he has no idea who she is. When he does find out they have to decide if their relationship can work within the constraints of their duties, and the troubles for him and Christina increase when Count Magnus, who wants the Queen for himself, gets the public on his side to uprise against her love interest in the name of patriotism. Also starring Lewis Stone as Chancellor Oxenstierna, Elizabeth Young as Ebba Sparre, C. Aubrey Smith as Aage, Georges Renavent as French Ambassador, Gustav Von Seyffertitz as General and David Torrence as Archbishop. I will be honest and say that I drifted in a few moments, especially with all the political stuff, and I agree with the critics it is a bit of a slow pace throughout, but the love story going on is interesting, Garbo is of course the biggest reason to see this film, to see her looking beautiful and being all noble and dignified, overall it still a worthwhile historical romantic drama. Very good!

I admit I have to see more of Greta Garbo's films, but from what I have seen I do consider her a beautiful and wonderful actress. In one of her most famous, not to mention one of her best, roles, Garbo plays a 17th century Swedish queen who falls in love with the Spanish ambassador sent to deliver a message from his king. And she is absolutely brilliant, radiant, regal and quintessentially Garboesque, this is by far and away her best performance along with Margherite from Camille-I adore that film too- and like with Camille the whole film is well worth watching just for Garbo's performance. I also liked her in Anna Karinina but I don't consider it as a favourite like I do Camille and Queen Christina.John Gilbert, from her silent days, gives a very good performance too as the ambassador Christina falls in love with and shows great chemistry with Garbo, while the supporting cast give strong performances too particularly Ian Keith in a very slimy turn as Magnus.Garbo is not the only reason why I love Queen Christina so much though. The film also has some beautiful production values, the cinematography is stunning, evident in the gorgeous close-ups of Garbo, while the scenery and costumes are ravishing. The score is haunting, beautiful and melancholic, while the story is very well-told(I liked it when Christina travels the kingdom dressed as a man as well as when she is weighed down by the worries of her throne) the direction is sensitive and the screenplay is lovely. The pacing may be a little slow to some, admittedly Queen Christina isn't a pacey film, but it is never boring. Instead it is very beautiful and touching, and there were some parts that even haunted me such as the achingly moving abdication scene.In conclusion, a real treat for Greta Garbo fans, not only for her wonderful performance but for the rich production values too. 10/10 Bethany Cox

A 1933 film set in 1632 and still relevant today.Sadly, a poignant comment on TODAY's politics and wars. Imagine a leader willing to embrace peace, to deal in diplomacy, to realize the not only the financial, but human cost of war!Aside from reading the film as a commentary on today - it's quite good on it's own.I thoroughly enjoyed watching an early portrayal of a strong woman in a leadership role. So refreshing (esp. for the 30's) to seeing a woman refusing to marry, freely taking lovers as she wishes.Garbo is magnificent, so regal so powerful and able to pull off the independent spirit needed for this character (loosely based on the real Queen Christina).It's an interesting study of duty vs. personal needs (better than, but reminding me of Roman Holiday, The Queen).Sure it's not perfect, why do the Swedes sound like drunken American cowboys. How could a Spainard mispronounce the name of Seville? I find it interesting that so many of the characters supposedly find her a young boy simply from her male style of dress. (despite the lipstick & makeup). But these are minor flaws in a great film.*SPOILER*: my only issue is that she's willing to give up her crown to someone she said was simple and warlike. And that Count Magnus is not punished for his actions.

I spent 100 minutes trying to decide how much to penalize "Queen Christina" because a key part of the plot was ludicrous. That's how long it took me to watch this movie again.Thanks to the mistaken identity scenes, I considered giving "Christina" a thumbs-down, but ultimately rated it highly because it is a cinematic masterpiece aside from the aforementioned problem.Frankly, I was astounded that a movie this mature was produced in 1933. The dialogue is at a very high intellectual level with the characters debating topics like war and culture and challenging the conventional mores of 17th century Sweden.The dialogue fits seamlessly into the plot. In contrast, the writers of "Hamlet" and "The Lion In Winter" seem to be consciously creating memorable lines that often don't match the characters. The direction is also well thought-out. There are scenes where not one word is uttered, but Greta Garbo conveys the importance of something that just occurred via her expressions and actions.And "Christina" deserves enormous credit for boldly including topics that I thought were not permitted on the screen in the early 1930s. There is blatant lesbianism, a half-dressed hooker, talk about a queen being a slut, sex between virtual strangers, and a shot at religion.More importantly, I was very interested in the movie's primary character from start to finish. Christina was strong as a 6-year-old and as a woman with a powerful will who wanted to live her own life and was willing and able to confront people who disagreed with her.Given the movie's intelligence, how can so many people be so stupid that they believe Christina is a man just because she is wearing pants? I knew nothing about this movie before I watched it so I thought at first that the Spanish envoy believed she was a man because he first saw her from a distance and the innkeeper reflexively addressed authority-like figures as men.Then, Garbo took off her hat. She talked like a woman, looked like a woman, and made NO attempt to disguise herself. I didn't buy Dustin Hoffman and Jack Lemmon as women, but at least they wore disguises in "Tootsie" and "Some Like It Hot." And their dressing as women was explained!!This movie needed a scene where Christina says something before going horseback riding about wanting to experience life as a commoner and at least implying that this meant pretending to be a man. And she needed a disguise so the fact that EVERY stranger thinks she is a man is plausible.I was so upset by the mistaken-identity stupidity that I thought about "Christina" giving a 5. Then, I watched it again. This reinforced my appreciation for the rest of the movie.I gave "The Graduate" a 9 although Mrs. Robinson's daughter falling for Dustin after he treated her like dirt on a date and stalked her was implausible. I reasoned that a short scene with the daughter telling her Dad that she admired Dustin during their school years would have made her accepting two of his bad behaviors (but not his sleeping with her Mom) more plausible.Using similar reasoning, I gave "Christina" an 8. The absence of one 30-second scene just can't erase the fact that this movie is otherwise very smart and cinematically advanced.ZWrite