Queen Christina (1933)

Queen Christina (Greta Garbo) of Sweden is under great pressure to marry and produce an heir to the throne of Sweden. Disguised as a man, she travels outside the royal palace incognito to escape the strain of her duties. At an inn, she meets the envoy (John Gilbert) from Spain and they fall in love. When her country loudly protests at the idea of a Spaniard sitting on the throne, she must make a life changing decision. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, the film is a highly romanticized (and fictional) version of the circumstances surrounding the real Christina's abdication. No matter as the film contains one of Garbo's very best performances. This was a pre-code film so the film isn't coy about Christina and her lover sleeping in the same bed and obviously having made love. The sequence where she walks around the room touching objects to imprint the memory of that night is quite sensual still. Then there is the justifiably famous close up of Garbo that ends the film with the camera lovingly lingering over her face as if it realized it may never again have so glorious a subject. So who needs historical accuracy when Mamoulian and Garbo together whip up some real movie magic that transcends mere factual history. Gilbert, one of the big male stars of silent cinema is quite good but he would only make one more movie before dying young at the age of 38. With Lewis Stone, Ian Keith, Akim Tamiroff, C. Aubrey Smith and Reginald Owen.