Garbo plays Zara, a singer in a tawdry Budapest nightclub who, due to a brutal assault by drunken soldiers during World War I, can't recall her past as an Italian Countess. Ten years down the road, she finds herself in the grip of Karl Salter (von Stroheim), a cruel writer who treats her as an erotic possession. When informed of her earlier existence by a nightclub patron who painted her wedding portrait (Owen Moore), Zara leaves Karl and returns to her husband, Count Varelli (Melvyn Douglas). Varelli still loves Zara, but her misadventure has tainted her standing in high society. Soon, the ever-obsessive Karl shows up with another woman in tow, insisting that she, and not Zara, is the real Countess.
Though now praised for Garbo's performance - and for her outrageously sexy stage outfits, which may have been a sarcastic poke at Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel (1930) - audiences at the time couldn't get a handle on As You Desire Me. Its troubled characters were probably too dark for American audiences who were suffering from the effects of the Great Depression.
MGM couldn't have been pleased with the public's relative lack of interest, especially since Garbo had cleverly manipulated both Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg during filming. As You Desire Me went into production very quickly because Garbo's contract was about to end, and MGM wanted to squeeze another film out of her...a move that left her decidedly cold toward the studio. Her irritation was further compounded when she requested von Stroheim for the role of Salter and Mayer and Thalberg flatly refused.
Von Stroheim, to say the least, had had a difficult past with MGM. He was a demanding but brilliant actor-director who'd been humiliated by Thalberg when the MGM mogul irrevocably altered his epic masterpiece, Greed (1925), by removing and burning several hours of footage. Knowing full well what she was asking of her bosses, Garbo insisted on von Stroheim's participation. MGM grudgingly relented, but the chess match with their star had just begun.
Von Stroheim hadn't directed a film since The Wedding March (1928), and he'd been stuck acting in mostly second-rate pictures. He took a hugely unjustified fall from glory, a situation that left him with crippling nervous attacks. Several times during the filming of As You Desire Me, he phoned Garbo, telling her that he couldn't find the courage to work the next day. Garbo would then call Thalberg, informing him that she wouldn't be able to film, thus protecting von Stroheim from Thalberg's wrath.
Director George Fitzmaurice was little more than an interested bystander once the jostle for control began. Douglas later claimed that the only thing Fitzmaurice told him about the character of Count Varelli was that he was a soldier, so he should wear a military corset. Fitzmaurice was apparently convinced of the garment's importance. He made a point of checking each morning to see if Douglas was actually wearing one.
Garbo, of course, had little use for what the industry, and fame in general, could do to people's lives, a revulsion that eventually convinced her to quit acting altogether. Douglas once said of his mysterious co-star, "She was shy, perhaps even frightened, about her own work." Garbo had announced that As You Desire Me would be her final picture, and appeared to be making good on her promise when she boarded a ship for Europe shortly after filming wrapped. Luckily, she returned to grace audiences with classic performances in Queen Christina (1933), Anna Karenina (1935), and Ninotchka (1939), also co-starring Douglas. Shortly thereafter, she left the film industry for good.
Director/Producer: George Fitzmaurice
Screenplay: Gene Markey (Based on a play by Luigi Pirandello)
Cinematographer: William Daniels
Film Editing: George Hively
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons
Costume Design: Adrian
Cast: Greta Garbo (Zara), Erich von Stroheim (Karl Salter), Melvyn Douglas (Count Bruno Varelli), Owen Moore (Tony Ferrara), Hedda Hopper (Madame Inez Montari), Rafaela Ottiano (Lena), Warburton Gamble (Baron).
BW-70m. Closed captioning.
by Paul Tatara
