Steamy Couples I: Greta Garbo and John Gilbert or How She Left Him at the Altar (or Not)

**This article is part of a special summer series focused on legendary (sometimes a bit cursed) movie couples.

The image might not mean much to us today, but in its day it was a real scandal. John Gilbert drinks from a chalice, and then Greta Garbo picks it up and kisses the same side of the chalice he had just drunk from. It was 1926 and the film in question was The Devil and the Flesh , in which the two actors had just met. " Clarence Brown, the director, said that there were moments when he wanted to stop recording and walk away, because it was obvious he was falling in love," Jose Madrid, a film expert and author of Vanitatis , told this newspaper. Vivien Leigh: The Tragedy of Scarlett O'Hara and of Titanic: The Story of a Phenomenon , among others.

"That powerful connection between actors that transcends the screen is something we usually associate with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra , but it had already happened before in silent films, with Garbo and Gibert ," says Madrid. That was the first film they made together, although they would go on to make more ( Love , an adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina the following year , then Queen Christina ). "There's always been a rumor that she left him at the altar, that they were going to get married and she abandoned him. But that's not quite the case. It's true that there was an intense relationship, that she even spent time at his house, but the altar thing is more legend than reality."

Garbo, cold, bisexual, mysterious...

It had been just two years since the Swedish director had arrived in Hollywood with Mauritz Stiller, the director (also Swedish) who discovered her. "The idea was for both of them to develop a career in Hollywood, but he didn't adapt and returned to Sweden ," says Madrid. " He died shortly after. Garbo was left alone, and what's more, her younger sister also died in Sweden at that time, and she didn't have time to return, something she never forgave herself for. She felt alone and far from her country, so she relied heavily on Gilbert . She was a very complex person; they say she was bisexual, mysterious, very reserved ... despite the fact that many biographies have been written about her, even today we don't know who she really was: whether she was funny, serious, cold... that's where the charm lies . She retired at 36 and remained a mystery even decades later."

John Gilbert, for his part, was a true heartthrob of silent film. A star in his own right, although his relationship with Garbo catapulted him even further. "But he was also a man with an exaggerated lifestyle," explains Madrid. "He had an impressive mansion; he was a symbol of Hollywood glamour . Many of the things that appear in Singin' in the Rain are based on him. His career collapsed with the arrival of sound films. It's said that he offended Louis B. Mayer, the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and that he manipulated his voice in films to ruin him. His career completely collapsed. Meanwhile, Greta Garbo was making the leap to sound with Anna Christie , whose marketing campaign was based on the slogan "Garbo speaks." Her voice was very distinctive: deep, husky, with a strong Swedish accent. But it was popular. Her first line was: " Give me a whisky ," and that shocked the public." The contrast between the two was stark: he entered a progressive decline, with a serious alcohol addiction, while she was experiencing the peak of her career and beginning to select more prestigious projects.

"Gilbert is said to have offended Louis B. Mayer, the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and that the latter manipulated his voice in films to ruin him."

However, they reunited. As Madrid explains, around that time, Garbo took a break and moved to Sweden. It was then that Salka Viertel, a screenwriter and close friend—as well as the mother of Peter Viertel, Deborah Kerr's husband and writer of The African Queen —advised her to take a new direction in her career. She told her she needed to shake off her vampish image and choose more elevated roles. "That's how the project for Queen Christina of Sweden came about, a character who meant a lot to her, being from her country, and who was also a fascinating historical figure: a queen who abdicated and converted to Catholicism... Although the latter isn't reflected in the film, of course."

Garbo had so much power that she could choose absolutely everything: the script, the director, the cinematographer, and even her male partner . They tried Laurence Olivier, who was already an emerging actor in British theater. However, it didn't work out; Garbo said she didn't want to work with him (and Olivier would tell everyone his whole life that Greta Garbo had rejected him). "It was she who asked for John Gilbert to be called in. Probably as a gesture to what they'd been through. And yes, he appears in the film. If you see it today, Queen Christina of Sweden is still gorgeous: a visual masterpiece. It's been compared to paintings by Murillo . She looks gorgeous, the dialogue is ultra-modern, and it deals with themes like power, loneliness, misunderstanding... what's aged poorly is Gilbert's performance, because his eyes are too wide and he overacts. And while his voice isn't bad, the difference is very noticeable with Garbo, who is wonderful. You might think Mayer doctored his audio, but he was also an actor out of his time."

The film was a moderate success. "After Queen Christina , Greta Garbo and John Gilbert didn't see each other much again. He continued his free fall. In 1936, he died young, not even 40. Hollywood legend says he died of a broken heart because she jilted him, but he also led a wild life. His daughter has told it in documentaries: he was one of those actors who couldn't adapt to the new era. Garbo reacted coldly to his death. At that time, she was focused on her career, making fewer but higher-quality films, like Anna Karenina and The Lady of the Camellias . She was very focused on leaving commercial cinema behind and becoming a serious actress."

In their vulnerable context , John Gilbert appeared, and the two became a sensation. They were already well-known separately, but together they were a sensation. It didn't end well, but it existed.

For his part, what is it about Greta Garbo that so fascinates us? Jose Madrid ponders. "The typical thing they say is that she had mystery. And it's true. It's something that happens even when you fall in love with someone: the more mysterious a person is, the more they obsess you. Garbo never let herself be fully known . Already retired, in the 1980s, people were killing themselves trying to take her picture in New York, and she only appeared as an old lady with sunglasses and a long coat. But beyond that, she had visual poetry. Her face fills the screen, she conveys something. She had what I call ' beautiful pain '. A mixture of melancholy, beauty, and strength. You want to protect her, and at the same time, you see that she's imposing, that she has character. That combination of vulnerability and power is very rare. She was made for a time when cinema was pure visual poetry. Today, you can't imagine a figure like her shopping in a supermarket or being photographed without glamour. Her image was meticulously curated, with perfect framing and shadows. And that's what makes her so fascinating even today ."