Yvonne (film)

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Movie
German title Yvonne
Original title inspiration
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1931
length 74 minutes
Rod
Director Clarence Brown
script George Markey
production MGM
camera William H. Daniels
cut Conrad A. Annoying
occupation

Yvonne (OT: Inspiration ) is an American feature film directed by Clarence Brown with Greta Garbo in the leading role. It was brought into rental on February 6, 1931. The script is based on the novel Sappho by Alphonse Daudet .

action

Yvonne Valbret is an artist model. She falls in love with André Montell, an aspiring diplomat. The two spend idyllic hours, but in the end the relationship fails because of their dubious past. Yvonne writes a farewell letter and leaves André.

background

After the success of Romance , which hit cinemas in mid-August 1930, the studio put Greta Garbo back to life as a woman with a dubious lifestyle and a dark past. Today the film would be called Romance II , because almost the entire technical staff that had been available for the previous production worked together again here. Not for the last time Garbo was presented as a woman who lives only for and in love and who moves outside of the usual moral concepts. One of the best-known lines of dialogue in all Garbo films can be found at the beginning of Yvonne . André asks Yvonne who she is. She answers with a smile:

“I am a nice young woman. Not too nice and not too young. "

The studio made sure that the actress again suffers from glamor with the greatest possible effort. Gilbert Adrian designed splendid costumes and since the film was shot before the strict censorship regulations of the Production Code came into effect , the cutouts and necklines were correspondingly meaningful. Today the film is best known for Karen Morley's suicide scene. Lewis Stone, who plays Morley's lover, is tired of her and presents her with a check in recognition of her service. He leaves the apartment and slowly goes down the stairs. Downstairs, in front of the door, he finds Morley's body, which has jumped out the window in the meantime.

With Robert Montgomery, Greta Garbo got an actor at the side, in whom the studio had high hopes. Montgomery had come to fame in the early sound film days alongside Joan Crawford in Untamed and Norma Shearer in Their Own Desire . It was specifically built to succeed William Haines , who had fallen out of favor with Louis B. Mayer . He didn't get along very well with Garbo. In his biography Garbo , Barry Paris reports that the two of them had a distant relationship during the filming.

Theatrical release

The production cost was $ 438,000, which was slightly above the MGM average cost. It was reasonably successful at the box office, grossing a total of $ 725,000 in the US and another $ 402,000 in the rest of the world. The end result was a cumulative box office of $ 1,127,000 and a profit of $ 286,000. Against the background of the worsening global economic crisis and in view of the not very original topic, that was an acceptable result.

criticism

In the New York Times , Mordaunt Hall wrote benevolent words for the leading lady on February 9, 1931:

“Greta Garbo, as attractive as ever, can initially be seen with a fluffed hairstyle, probably to clarify the character of Yvonne, but with the course of the plot, in which she becomes more and more serious through her love for André, changes too her hairstyle towards a conservative cut. Miss Garbo looks very good. "

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ I'm just a nice young woman. Not too nice. Not too young.
  2. ↑ Greta Garbo, alluring as ever [...] is first beheld with a fluffy coiffure, apparently to symbolize Yvonne's nature, but as time goes on and she becomes more subdued through her love for André, her hair is dressed more conservatively. Miss Garbo makes a stunning figure.