Downstairs 1932 - John Gilbert's best performance of the sound era

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: Monta Bell
Main Cast: John Gilbert, Virginia Bruce, Paul Lukas, Hedda Hopper, Reginald Owen, Olga Baclanova

"Anyone who believes that the career of silent screen idol John Gilbert ended because his voice has too high for the talkies hasn't seen this marvelously black comedy. In perhaps his best performance of the sound era (with his supporting role in 1934's The Captain Hates the Sea running a close second), Gilbert plays a rogue who can get away with just about anything because of his charisma and charm -- and his voice suits his character perfectly. Karl (Gilbert) is a chauffeur who goes to work for a Viennese Baron and Baroness (Reginald Owen and Olga Baclanova) on the day that two of their servants - head butler Albert (Paul Lukas) and maid Anna (an astonishingly lovely Virginia Bruce) - are being wed. Almost immediately Karl creates havoc in the household - he flirts with the innocent, susceptible Anna, blackmails the Baroness, who is having an affair, and seduces the middle-aged head cook, Sophie (Bodil Rosing), only so he can get his hands on her life savings. In spite of his wickedness, there is something magnetic about Karl, and Anna - who is vaguely dissatisfied with her loving but dogmatic husband - finally succumbs. But all of his schemes inevitably backfire on him and after Albert gets Sophie's money back, he gladly tosses Karl out of the Baron's mansion. The next we see of him, he is charming his way into yet another chauffeur position (hinting at a potential sequel that, unfortunately, never came).
Gilbert, who wrote the story four years earlier, originally had an appropriately macabre ending - after a brutal fight, Albert drowns Karl in a vat of wine. When he first came up with the idea, Gilbert had wanted Erich Von Stroheim to direct. By 1932, this was out of the question (MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer had little use for Stroheim). Instead, the highly capable Monta Bell was given the job - sadly, it was one his last directing assignments. During the shoot, Gilbert and Virginia Bruce fell in love and they were married in August, 1932, the month that the film was released." - www.allmovie.com

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Queen Christina 1933 - Luxuriously romantic Garbo

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024481/
IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Main Cast: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert

"Displaying the full range of Greta Garbo's mystique, Queen Christina is usually considered one of Garbo's best works, as well as her most erotically complex. Working from the true story of the 17th century Swedish queen who abdicated her throne for love, MGM surrounded Garbo with the kind of beautifully detailed period sets and costumes for which it was known in the 1930s, including Christina's preferred male drag. Gracefully directed by Rouben Mamoulian, Garbo silently yet powerfully communicates Christina's ill-fated love for John Gilbert's Spanish envoy as she moves around their room at a snowbound inn, 'memorizing' every object. Despite Garbo's reunion with three-time silent movie romance partner Gilbert, Queen Christina is more renowned for its (relatively) clear treatment of Christina's bisexuality, as she declares that she'll 'die a bachelor', kisses her favorite countess on the lips, and disguises herself as a man. Equally unforgettable is the final shot of Garbo staring enigmatically past the camera (a signature Garbo moment of secret emotions, hidden passions, and mysterious allure), allowing the viewer to 'fill in' her thoughts (director Rouben Mamoulian always claimed that he ordered Garbo to think about 'absolutely nothing', but one wonders).
Queen Christina did not perform as well as MGM had expected, making it a rare disappointment for Garbo and the end of Gilbert's career.
While some of Garbo's earliest talkies tend to creak a bit, Queen Christina is as fascinating today as it was nearly eight decades ago, and will undoubtedly continue to remain just as fascinating for the next eight decades." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/queen-christina-v39808

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