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List Price: $19.98Amazon.com's Price: $17.99 You Save: $1.99 (10%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9781419809576
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 1419809571
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 06, 2005
Running Time: 174 minutes
Sales Rank: 22796
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: February 21, 1930
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Sixteen minutes or so into this adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize play 1930 audiences got what they were waiting for when Greta Garbo made her entrance and spoke on camera for the first time in her career: 'Gimme a whiskey.' Like Lon Chaney and Charlie Chaplin the Swedish Sphinx had continued in Silents even though Talkies were the rage. Here she made her landmark transition to the new era playing a former prostitute whose past may ruin her chance for happiness. A different director and cast join Garbo in a German-language version (Side B) filmed on the same soundstages immediately after the English version. She called it the better film and many fans today agree. You decide!Running Time: 175 min.System Requirements: Running Time 175 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 012569674370
Amazon.com essential video:
It's one of the most highly anticipated entrances in movie history: Greta Garbo slinking into a sleazy waterfront bar and ordering whiskey. Well, 'visky.' A huge silent star, Garbo was speaking her first lines in her first talking picture, Anna Christie, and audiences were breathless with anticipation. As The New York Times put it, 'The low enunciation of her initial lines, with a packed theater waiting expectantly to hear her first utterance, came somewhat as a surprise yesterday afternoon in the Capitol, for her delivery is almost masculine.' Her sultry tones were nevertheless a hit, and anyway the Swedish accent fit the character.
Anna Christie is adapted from Eugene O'Neill's play, a piece of gloom about prostitute Anna returning to her seafaring father (George F. Marion) and falling for a sailor (Charles Bickford). The movie's fascination as a Garbo milestone and slice of early-sound Hollywood easily outstrip its actual value as a work of art, for it has not aged especially well. Under the direction of Garbo regular Clarence Brown, the dialogue tends to fall on long, dead pauses and creak with early-sound-era uncertainty. But the print for the DVD release looks very good, and despite her sometimes dodgy approach to English, it's still Garbo--odd, sexy, uncategorizable. The DVD also includes the German-language version, directed by Jacques Feyder, with Garbo and a German cast; the print quality is not as felicitous as the American version but it's an intriguing contrast, and Garbo looks slightly more comfortable in speaking. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - "Gimme a whiskey"
The first film talked about Greta Garbo. At first wanted to see this film in history (a prostitute marked for life, as in Susan Lenox), but I was impressed by the simple and beautiful it can be, by the images and script, in addition to knowing that the German version is a favorite Garbo that makes me even more respect. The German version is really beautiful, from the costumes, makeup until more decadent (dark circles and pallor on the face), making it more charming image of Garbo. I am delighted ... Read More
Rating: - Anna Christie
The film is an excellent rendition of a fine Eugene O'Neill play made into a movie. Garbo is superb. Of note, the "package" is two films, one in German, one in English. This is a must see for Eugene O'Neill fans as well as film buffs.
Rating:  - Garbo speaks....and speaks.......and speaks!
"Anna Christie" is most famous as the film which released Greta Garbo from the silent era, the last major star to make the transition. The marketing of the film ensured that this was a major cinematic event and the film was a box office smash but it does not really stand the test of time.
Based on a depressing Eugene O'Neill play, this is an unusual piece for Garbo because she plays a contemporary figure surrounded by 3 character actors in demanding parts. She suffers by comparison. ... Read More
Rating: - "Garbo talks." In essence, a Eugene O'Neil play.
This film is the great Eugene O'Neil in all his dark glory. Moody, dark, slow-paced, and bearing his intense psychology, it is not a film for all audiences or tastes. In addition to the great Garbo, is a magnificent perfomance by the silent film legend Marie Dressler. Before her death, she would make 3 classics with Wallace Beery, one of which was FDR's favorite film of all time: "Tugboat Annie." Her banter with Jean Harlow in "Dinner at Eight," was peerless and hysterical.
This film is a ... Read More
Rating: - o'neill was never better served on screen
garbo in her first talkie is marvelous in this adaptation of eugene o'neills pulitzer winning play, as a whore trying to reform. marie dressler is brilliant in a supporting performance as a washed-out drunk, and everyone else is letter-perfect. now the caveat: the technical shortcomings of early talkies are replete here, so you should stay away if stuff like that is what concerns you. as an added attraction, the dvd also includes the simultaneously filmed german language version of the movie with ... Read More
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