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sabotai · 07-31-2018, 08:33 PM

Queen Christina (1933)

Directed By: Rouben Mamoulian
Written By: Ben Hecht
Starring: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith
Length: 97 min.
Genre: Drama / Romance

King Gustav dies on the battlefield during the 30 Years War in 1632, and Christina is named queen at the age of six. Fast forward a few decades, and Queen Christina (Greta Garbo) welcomes home her cousin and battlefield hero Karl. He's also the latest possible candidate to marry Queen Christina. She deflects that while carrying on a secret love affair with Count Magnus (Ian Keith).

She takes off one day to go horseback riding in normal clothes. She has a few run ins with a group of Spaniards headed by Antonio (John Gilbert). He mistakes her for a man due to her clothes...you know, despite the fact that she looks like Greta fucking Garbo. They end up sharing a room for the night, Antonio finds out about her being a woman, and they fall in love.

Antonio is in the country to present the Queen with an offer a marriage to the Spanish King. At the inn, Antonio finds out the person he's run into a few times was a woman. It's not until he shows up in the capital that he finds out she's the Queen. The Queen doesn't accept the offer, but the Spanish envoy stays as guest of Christina and so the love affair continues.

Magnus gets the people to turn on Christina. "Why are the Spanish still here!?" they say. In the end, the Spanish envoy is forced to leave. Christina then abdicates the throne to her cousin Karl and leaves the country. She intended to leave with Antonio, but he got himself killed when he dueled Magnus and lost. And so she leaves alone headed for Spain.

It was a decent romantic historic drama. The ending was pure fiction, though. The real Queen Christina did abdicate, but she went to Rome and converted to Catholicism. Antonio is based on a real person, and there were rumors of their involvement, but he wasn't killed in Sweden and continued to serve Spain to the 1670s.

This was one of the last moves for John Gilbert. He goes on to act in The Captain Hates the Sea (1934), but that would be it. Years of alcoholism took its toll on Gilbert's health. In December 1935, he would suffer a heart attack and then a second heart attack a month later would be fatal. He was 36 years old when he died.

My Rating: 6/10
IMDB User Rating: 7.8/10 (6k votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 89% Critics (17-2), 84% of Audience (3.9 / 5 ; 3k votes)

07-31-2018, 08:33 PM	#266
sabotai General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Satellite of Love	Queen Christina (1933) Directed By: Rouben Mamoulian Written By: Ben Hecht Starring: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith Length: 97 min. Genre: Drama / Romance King Gustav dies on the battlefield during the 30 Years War in 1632, and Christina is named queen at the age of six. Fast forward a few decades, and Queen Christina (Greta Garbo) welcomes home her cousin and battlefield hero Karl. He's also the latest possible candidate to marry Queen Christina. She deflects that while carrying on a secret love affair with Count Magnus (Ian Keith). She takes off one day to go horseback riding in normal clothes. She has a few run ins with a group of Spaniards headed by Antonio (John Gilbert). He mistakes her for a man due to her clothes...you know, despite the fact that she looks like Greta fucking Garbo. They end up sharing a room for the night, Antonio finds out about her being a woman, and they fall in love. Antonio is in the country to present the Queen with an offer a marriage to the Spanish King. At the inn, Antonio finds out the person he's run into a few times was a woman. It's not until he shows up in the capital that he finds out she's the Queen. The Queen doesn't accept the offer, but the Spanish envoy stays as guest of Christina and so the love affair continues. Magnus gets the people to turn on Christina. "Why are the Spanish still here!?" they say. In the end, the Spanish envoy is forced to leave. Christina then abdicates the throne to her cousin Karl and leaves the country. She intended to leave with Antonio, but he got himself killed when he dueled Magnus and lost. And so she leaves alone headed for Spain. It was a decent romantic historic drama. The ending was pure fiction, though. The real Queen Christina did abdicate, but she went to Rome and converted to Catholicism. Antonio is based on a real person, and there were rumors of their involvement, but he wasn't killed in Sweden and continued to serve Spain to the 1670s. This was one of the last moves for John Gilbert. He goes on to act in The Captain Hates the Sea (1934), but that would be it. Years of alcoholism took its toll on Gilbert's health. In December 1935, he would suffer a heart attack and then a second heart attack a month later would be fatal. He was 36 years old when he died. My Rating: 6/10 IMDB User Rating: 7.8/10 (6k votes) Rotten Tomatoes: 89% Critics (17-2), 84% of Audience (3.9 / 5 ; 3k votes)