Garbo Talks, 1984.
Directed by Sidney Lumet.
Starring Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher, Catherine Hicks, Steven Hill, Howard Da Silva, Dorothy Loudon, Harvey Fierstein, and Hermione Gingold.
SYNOPSIS:
Sidney Lumet’s 1984 film Garbo Talks may not be considered one of his top-tier efforts, but it’s still a nice little film that follows through on the promise it makes in the beginning. Kino Lorber has issued it on Blu-ray with a commentary track as the only extra, but it’s a discussion worth listening to.
I always appreciate a movie that offers a promise, fulfills it, and wraps it up without any dramatic twists and turns at the end. Case in point: Sidney Lumet’s underrated 1984 film, Garbo Talks, which was written by Larry Grusin.
Taking its title from the marketing tagline used when Greta Garbo’s first talkie was released, this film features Anne Bancroft as Estelle Rolfe, an aging ex-activist mother who wants to meet her favorite actress, Greta Garbo, before dying of brain cancer.
Ron Silver is her harried son, Gilbert, who decides he’s going to fulfill her wish. After all, they live in New York City and so does the notoriously reclusive Garbo, so how hard could it be?
Well, very hard, of course, since the aging actress has staff who can rebuff any attempts to make contact with her. Soon Gilbert is trying to do whatever he can to make contact with Garbo, at any cost, much to the dismay of his wife, Lisa (Carrie Fisher).
As the search puts a strain on their marriage, Gilbert becomes friendly with a co-worker, Jane Mortimer (Catherine Hicks), who’s an aspiring actress and takes an interest in the hunt.
The plot wraps up in a neat-and-tidy resolution that puts a nice bow on its statement about mother-child relationships. Sure, it could have also had something to say about fame and how and why some stars quickly retreat from the spotlight as soon as they can, but I’m okay with a movie that just wants to be about one thing.
I’m not aware that Garbo Talks was remastered for this release, but it’s probably not a movie that was crying out for a restoration anyway. This Blu-ray served up perfectly respectable image quality and sound on my setup, so I’m sure most fans will be fine with the way it looks.
The bonus features consist of the theatrical trailer and an audio commentary with film historians Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell. I realize that Lumet and many members of the cast have passed away, but it would have been interesting to get a look back at the movie via a Catherine Hicks interview, perhaps.
Of course, I have no idea if the powers that be at Kino Lorber tried to land any such interviews or create other extras for this one, so we’ll have to rely on the lone commentary track to serve its purpose. This is my first time with the movie on home video, so I don’t know if the commentary is new or if it’s a holdover from the DVD era.
Berger and Mitchell are both filmmakers too, so they’re able to apply a scholarly lens to Garbo Talks as well as a more nuts-and-bolts filmmaking view of the movie. Like most commentaries with such folks, it’s a solid listening experience with little in the way of dead air and plenty of interesting insights. Both of them obviously came to the recording session prepared to discuss the movie.
There’s an old saying that every movie is a favorite of someone, somewhere, so if you’re that person (or one of those people) for this one, you might be bummed by the skimpy extras found here, but I imagine you’re also happy that the film has been immortalized in high-def.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
