Helga's fall and rise

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Movie
German title Helga's fall and rise
Original title Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1931
length 76 minutes
Rod
Director Robert Z. Leonard
script Wanda Tuchcock
production Paul Bern for MGM
music William ax
camera William H. Daniels
cut Margaret Booth
occupation

Helga's Fall and Rise (OT: Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise ) is a 1931 American film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring Greta Garbo and Clark Gable . The film is based in part on the novel of the same name by David Graham Phillips .

action

Young Helga grows up as an illegitimate child with her strict uncle. She leads the life of a slave and is said to be married to Jeb Mondstrum against her will, barely adult. After an attempted rape by Jeb, Helga flees in the pouring rain and runs away. She eventually ends up in Rodney Spencer's barn, an engineer. He offers her shelter and pajamas and soon they both fall in love. When Jeb Helga gets on the track, Helga impulsively jumps onto a passing train. There she takes a job with a traveling circus under the pseudonym Susan from Lenoxville. Due to a misunderstanding, Rodney believes that Helga has meanwhile become the circus owner's lover. After more misunderstandings, Rodney meets Helga / Susan again a few years later, this time as the lover of a rich man. Again both separate. Helga / Susan then goes in search of Rodney and finds him in South America, where she takes a job in a brothel and he drinks too much. Both have a dramatic argument and finally find each other.

background

Helga's Fall and Rise was brought into national distribution on October 16, 1931 and is one of the least known Garbo films today. No fewer than 14 writers contributed to the script, including Zelda Sears, King Vidor and Edith Fitzgerald. After she had belonged to the demimonde in her previous two films Romance and Yvonne , Helga's fall and rise meant a return to the more petty-bourgeois environment of Anna Christie for Garbo . At the same time, the film still gave the followers the opportunity to see their star as a long-suffering woman who, despite morally questionable decisions, ultimately only loved one man.

The first half of the film is staged in a comparatively innovative way for an MGM production. Strong light-dark contrasts are reminiscent of German Expressionism and Garbo seems almost like a sleepwalker at the beginning and does not speak a word. However, after having confidence in Rodney, she laughs a lot and jokes. Garbo's accent, which was already quite strong in the previous roles, was even stronger in the English original of Helga's Fall and Rise . She emphasizes the R especially extensively in some words and rolls it extensively when pronouncing the name Rodney . Barry Paris reports in his biography Garbo that the actress hated the film because it would denigrate the Swedes as drinkers and brutal thugs. Initially, it was planned to give the male lead to John Gilbert , Garbo's partner in several successful silent films. With Clark Gable, Garbo got an actor at his side who had risen from extras to Hollywood's most sought-after male star within the last eight months. After appearing alongside Joan Crawford in Laughing Sinners and Wrong Paths of Life , Constance Bennett in The Easiest Way, and Norma Shearer in The Courage of Luck , Gable had the image of a sexually active man who sometimes treated women roughly. So he beat Crawford in the wrong ways of life , Barbara Stanwyck in Night Nurse and even almost raped Norma Shearer in The Courage of Happiness . After the rough treatment, however, the Shearer's character only meant a new kind of man and became his lover without hesitation.

In this respect, it was an honor for Gable to perform alongside MGMS's most prestigious star. His image as a rough leg was shown in a scene towards the end when he met Helga, who works in a brothel in Panama, again. Annoyed by the encounter, Rodney grabs a prostitute and instead of Helgas simply throws her down the stairs. The two stars didn't get along very well as Garbo didn't like Gable's macho demeanor. The studio wanted to reinstate the two stars immediately after the success of Helga's fall and rise in the jungle in the storm , but the role ultimately went to Jean Harlow .

In England, Helga's fall and rise had considerable problems with the censor because of the novel. From today's perspective, the open portrayal of violence and prostitution is surprising, as it was not uncommon in films of the early 1930s before the Production Code came into force .

Theatrical release

With a production cost of $ 580,000, the film was slightly above the MGM average. It was hugely successful at the box office, grossing $ 806,000 nationally, more than a third more than Greta Garbo's two previous films. Outside the United States, an additional $ 700,000 was added, resulting in a cumulative box office of $ 1,506,000. The profit was $ 364,000.

criticism

Most of the reviews were benevolent, especially since, in her opinion, Greta Garbo would finally be in the arms of a "real" man and be in good hands with a number of colorless male co-stars. At the same time it was pointed out that Greta Garbo had relatively little dialogue in the film and that the film therefore came across as a silent film.

The well-known columnist Elisabeth Yeaman therefore also wrote in her column of November 17, 1931:

“If you 've seen Greta Garbo in Susan Lenox , then you know MGM [also tried not to let the actress speak a word]. But instead of presenting Garbo completely inaudibly, the actress was allowed to lose a few words every now and then, which completely destroyed both the illusion of silence and a sound film. You can't do things by halves in dialogues. Either you speak when the occasion demands it or you remain silent and rely on the power of pantomime. "

Jerzy Toeplitz praised the portrayal of Garbo in his film history and said that Helga's fall and rise in particular make it clear that a superficial happy ending does not have to mean the end of the arguments between the partners.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ If you saw Miss Garbo in Susan Lenox , you know that MGM tried to do practically the same thing (..not to speak a whole word ..) with her. Only instead of making her completely inaudible she was permitted to speak a word now and again, completely destroying the illusion of silence as well as of sound. You can't go half way in the matter of dialogue. Either you speak when the occasion requires, or else you must keep silent, and rely on pantomime.