It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Garbo had retired long before I became a cinema-goer but I heard about her all my life and eventually I caught the odd performance - Queen Christina and Grand Hotel spring to mind - on TV and saw for myself what all the fuss was about. As a Billy Wilder fan I watched Ninotchka over and over but that was about it until this week when I bought a boxed set of six of her talkies. This, of course, was the first one, produced right at the dawn of Sound in 1930 with all the attendant problems connected with new technology and yes, it is static and yes, it is an obvious stage play adapted crudely for the screen but above and beyond this is GARBO, a towering presence, the personification of charisma and yes, she does render everything else inconsequential. O'Neill didn't do happy endings so it's not the faithful adaptation of his Pulitzer prize-winner that it might have been but here again Garbo makes that academic.

Garbo's first speaking line, and it must have been thrilling to have such a tremendous foreign star able to make that transition from silent to sound.The movie is "Annie Christie," the year is 1930, and it is an adaptation of the play by Eugene O'Neill. It concerns a young farm woman, Anna, from Minnesota who comes to New York to find her father, whom she hasn't seen in 15 years. Molested some time earlier, she hates men and has prostituted herself. Her father takes her on his barge, and she comes to love the sea. One day, they rescue a young man (Charles Bickford), and he and Anna fall in love. However, neither he nor her father know anything of her past.Garbo is very beautiful and her command of English is amazing. You can tell that she understands every word she is saying, just as you can tell when some actors have learned their role by rote. She acquits herself very well.Marie Dressler as Marthy, a friend of her father's whom Anna meets in a bar, is marvelous, playing each scene as a drunk. And you really think she is. As someone wrote, you can smell the alcohol on her breath.That's the good news. The bad news is that this is a very difficult film to watch. Sound and dealing with the camera when you have sound was all very new. The camera didn't move around so it is a very static movie. The actors have several scenes where they all talk at once. An acting teacher once said, "Eugene O'Neill was our greatest novelist." The actors don't just talk at once, they talk incessantly. There is no action to be had. I love Eugene O'Neill, I have seen his plays on stage. This film is 85 years old, and it shows.Definitely worth seeing, however. After all, "Garbo talks!"

This movie is a toned-down adaptation of the play by Eugene O'Neill. The main problem with the movie is the portrayal of Anna Christie. In the play, Anna Christie is a whore. She is explicitly described as being as such. This point is crucial to the story. Yet, when Greta Garbo enters the movie, her attire is anything but garish. She simply does not look like a hard-bitten street-walker. As for Greta Garbo, she is absolutely beautiful. She is the star of the movie. She is exquisite and her performance is superb. Marie Dressler's performance is wonderful too. As far the male actors, their acting is stagy and hammy. This movie is definitely dominated by the female performers and it is because of them that this movie is watchable. Nevertheless, by toning down the dialogue, the movie loses the dramatic power of the play, and although the movie is good, if it had stayed true to the original story, it could have been great.

Anna Christie (Greta Garbo) returns to see her father Chris (George F Marion) after 15 years. He is the skipper of a boat and she stays to travel with him. During this time, she meets Matt (Charles Bickford) and they fall in love. Matt and Chris don't see eye to eye and Anna has a secret to confess.....................What a boring story......it starts badly with George F Marion and Marie Dressler playing drunks in a bar. The scene goes on forever and they are both terrible. Its also hard to understand them. In fact, its difficult to understand the whole cast. I missed whole sections of dialogue between Bickford, Marion and Garbo because it is incomprehensible! Garbo is obviously something special as you are drawn to her every time that she is on screen and her presence gives this film the 4 stars that I have given to it. But nothing really happens - its a boring story with atrocious accents. You'll do well to stay awake.