The two-part Swedish documentary Greta Garbo (1986) takes an art film approach to the career and life story of the reclusive screen goddess. The film was made for Swedish television with help from MGM. It features an abundance of Garbo footage, including a number of rarely seen clips and stills.

Part 1: The Temptress, follows Garbo from childhood, through her early Swedish films, to Hollywood where, after only three pictures, she rose to stardom. Garbo was born Greta Gustafsson on September 18, 1905 in Stockholm, Sweden. Her family was not well off, and from early childhood, Garbo dreamed of a better life. These dreams included the desire to escape into the fantasy world of films. At age five she reportedly said, "when I grow up, I'm going to be a famous movie star." She studied up on famous directors, and at age 12, convinced two classmates to accompany her in approaching director Mauritz Stiller for an audition. Unfortunately, the group got lost and had to turn back home.

Garbo was, by her own account, a loner even from a young age. She once commented, "I didn't like playing with other children. Not even with my sister or my brother. I preferred sitting in a corner with a doll and my picture books. Or else I'd close my eyes and drift off to some dream world." Garbo was just fourteen when her father died. The loss made life even more financially difficult for the family. And Garbo soon went to work ¿ first at a local barber and then at a department store.

It was at the department store that Garbo had her first taste of life in the public eye. She got a job modeling hats for print ads. She also appeared in a 1921 publicity film called How Not to Dress. This footage is included in the documentary, as well as clips from another ad for a local bakery called Our Daily Bread. Garbo also met actor-director Erik Petschler while working at the department store and was quickly cast in his film Peter the Tramp (1922). This was the first of several big breaks for Garbo. She would apply and be accepted to study at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (though her teacher "had never seen a more inhibited student"). And after being turned away twice, she would finally get her audition with Mauritz Stiller who cast Garbo in his next film, The Legend of Gosta Berling (1924). It was the most expensive film made in Sweden to date - and it gained notice for both Stiller and Garbo.

Soon after, they struck a deal with MGM boss Louis B. Mayer and set sail for the U.S. in 1925. Garbo was just 19 years old. When she met the press upon her arrival in Hollywood, Garbo threw out the two English phrases she'd learned ¿ "this is the happiest moment of my life" and "God Bless America." Sadly the sentiment would not last. At first she and Stiller had very little to do in Hollywood. Greta Garbo: The Temptress includes a number of early Garbo stills highlighting her in a variety of styles. This was obviously an attempt by the studio to discover Garbo's best screen image. But she found it in her first film - Torrent (1926) where she played a sultry Spanish opera singer. Stiller was assigned to direct Garbo in her second American feature - The Temptress (1926). But when his working methods proved too slow, he was promptly fired and Fred Niblo finished the film.

Garbo was upset about the way Stiller was treated and homesick. She wanted to return to Sweden. But her next film would make it very difficult to leave Hollywood. The film was Flesh and the Devil (1926) and her co-star was John Gilbert. The chemistry between Garbo and Gilbert was unmistakable during filming - as director Clarence Brown said of their first love scene, "it felt like a mood interruption to yell cut." Garbo soon moved into Gilbert's house and though he proposed, she was not interested in marriage. Flesh and the Devil was a smash success and prompted Garbo to seek a higher salary. She went on strike until MGM gave into her demands, raising her $600 a week pay to $5000. In the early studio system such a move was unheard of. As Greta Garbo: The Temptress says, she had only been in Hollywood two years and had made three films, but already she sat on "the Queen's throne at King Gilbert's side."

Part 2: The Clown is less about the private Garbo and more about her film career; the movie clips and the films speak for themselves. There's "Gilbert and Garbo in Love" (1927), an adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. In real life, Gilbert continued to propose to Garbo but she could never commit to a firm yes. She commented, "of course I've been in love. Marriage? I don't know. I like to be alone. Not always with the same person." According to the documentary, Garbo and Gilbert would argue, she would run to Stiller, only to return to Gilbert once things had cooled. As for Stiller, he had hopes of directing Garbo in The Divine Woman (1928). But MGM had other ideas. They hired fellow Swede Victor Sjostrom for the picture and released Stiller from his contract. Stiller was ill and returned to Sweden, only to die soon after in 1928, reportedly clutching a picture of Garbo at the time of his death.

It was a difficult period for Garbo. She took Stiller's death hard. The studio had also been trying her with different leading men. In The Mysterious Lady (1928) she'd been paired with Lars Hanson (who she'd played opposite in Gosta Berling). And at the time of Stiller's death, Garbo had been filming Wild Orchids (1929) with Nils Asther. Off screen, Gilbert had apparently grown tired of chasing Garbo and married Ina Claire. Garbo was now lonely and quite homesick. She made an extra effort to make new friends, mainly Europeans she'd feel more at home with in the strange land that was Hollywood.

Her next film was The Kiss (1929) - it would be Garbo's last silent. The revolution of sound hit and everyone wondered if Garbo would make the transition. Her test came with the 1930 film Anna Christie which she filmed in both German and English. The movie was a success and Garbo passed the sound test. She was 27 years old and at the peak of her career. She was able to renegotiate her contract and earn $250,000 a film and have the privilege of choosing her roles, her co-stars and her directors.

Ninotchka (1939), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, would be a successful attempt at comedy by Garbo. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said of the film that followed. In Two-Faced Woman (1941), Garbo played a woman who pretends to be her twin sister and seduces her own husband. It was an "attempt to spoof the Garbo myth." But the joke was lost on audiences and critics. One reviewer for Time said the film was "like seeing your own mother drunk." The censors also had a problem with the movie. It was condemned under the Hays Code and by the League of Decency. MGM had to add a scene (with husband Melvyn Douglas discovering the scheme) to negate the suggestion of adultery.

Two-Faced Woman would be Garbo's final film appearance. There seems to be no single reason why her career came to such an abrupt end. Several projects were in development but never got produced. MGM canceled her upcoming film The Girl from Leningrad. And as the story goes, Mayer wrote out a check for $250,000 (a pay out on Garbo's contract) and gave it to her. She handed it back saying she hadn't earned it. Garbo, once the queen of Hollywood, quietly left for New York rarely to be seen in public, much less on screen, again.
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by Stephanie Thames