Greta Garbo was charisma personified

GARBO. Flair for drama

ONE afternoon, my niece, Rovi, and I decided to watch a film starring screen icon, Greta Garbo, who was courted by men like Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck (it is said that she had affairs with both hunks).

Garbo was discovered in Sweden. Later, she became the reclusive queen of Hollywood. When “talkies” came, many careers waned because of stars’ bad speaking voices. But, neither her accent nor her voice affected Garbo’s stellar reign. As one of her films proclaimed, “Garbo talks!”—and fans around the world continued to listen to her in movies like “Grand Hotel,” “Camille” and “Mata Hari.”

Costumes

We thoroughly enjoyed “Mata Hari,” which demonstrated the actress’ dramatic flair. The costumes in the black-and-white film were fabulous. Garbo’s long, lean body lent a model’s stance to her splendidly beaded costumes, and her face was finely made-up, accentuating her high cheekbones and expressive, deep-set eyes.

In “Grand Hotel,” the icon shared the screen with John Barrymore and Joan Crawford. By this time, Garbo had already perfected the use of makeup to cleverly sculpt her classic features for great cinematic effect—a look imitated by women around the world!

Ethereal beauty

In contrast, Ingrid Bergman was prettier. With or without makeup, the star of “Intermezzo” was ethereal onscreen. Who can forget her closeups in “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “Gaslight” and “Saratoga Trunk”? She was gloriously beautiful in those films.

While Bergman conveyed muted eroticism, Garbo displayed blatant sex appeal. After watching “Mata Hari,” we searched for copies of “Camille” and “Grant Hotel”—which made me realize the secret of Garbo’s charisma: You enjoy her screen performance so much that you want to see more of her!