Moviola: The Silent Lovers (1980)

Starring: Brian Keith, Barry Bostwick, Harold Gould, James Olson
Adapted from a chapter of Garson Kanin's Movieola, The Silent Lovers details the Hollywood romance of silent stars John Gilbert and Greta Garbo. Garbo (Kristina Wayborn) comes to America from her native Sweden as part of a "package deal" with famed director Mauritz Stiller (Brian Keith). As Stiller's celebrity wanes, Garbo's stardom ascends, especially after her screen teaming with heartthrob Gilbert (Barry Bostwick). Gilbert and Garbo plan to marry, but the elusive Garbo fails to show up at the wedding...

[@mabella3437]

Thank you!! Great movie!! Blessed 2022 to all the viewers!

[@NotfromDetroit]

FACTS!

[@rkomgm3932]

Omg thank you I’ve been waiting since 1980 to see this again

[@stephaniestanley8041]

Me too. Love this movie 🎥

[@sheiladesoysa3157]

The acting was amazing. The scrip was so good. It was thrilling to get a glimpse of how the movie scene worked in the 20s and 30s. I think the movie moguls of that time were more vicious and cruel. The charachterisation of Garbo was interesting. She seemed like a tough woman. A very good movie.

[@stephaniestanley8041]

It's one of my favorite movies

[@user-bi8rz5ci1m]

Louis B. Mayer, when Garbo began to be an "MGM product", literally "killed" Stiller's carrier in the U.S.A. He was worried about Stiller's influence on the "new goldmine" Garbo, his independent character and craft style (not properly according to the American Industry standards of that epoch). Stiller auto-exiled back to Sweden, in 1927, two years later his coming to Hollywood. He died in 1928. Always due to Mayer, it was the final hit inflicted to Gilbert in order to alterate (technically) his natural voice timbre on his first "talkie". Nevertheless, Gilbert, knowing that dirty trick by MGM Studios, pursued his talking actor carrier until his death, in 1936. Even getting good reviews about his acting voice quality.

[@michaelchristian5089]

John Gilbert was billed as "The Great Lover". In the opening credits are his main rivals; Valentino, the other "Great Lover". John Barrymore; "The Profile", Ramon Navarro [Ben Hur], Ronald Colman, who went on to even bigger success in the talkie era & Douglas Fairbanks; "The King of the Swashbucklers" before Errol Flynn... ...I'm not sure who the last man is pictured with a young Joan Crawford. Incidentally, the first version of "A Star Is Born" [1937] was largely based on the Garbo/Gilbert story.

[@MbartM96]

William Haines

[@mingthemerciless7225]

"A star is born" was loosely based on Barbara Stanwyck/Frank Fay

[@michaelchristian5089]

@@mingthemerciless7225 I've heard that too & both are true stories of the gradual failure of a once successful, alcoholic husband/lover while the wife's career soars. Also Frank Fay was, to my knowledge a performer of relatively minor fame whereas Gilbert was a first rate superstar & talented actor in the silent era. Another Hollywood marriage that failed under similar circumstances was that of actor Owen Moore & Mary Pickford.

[@michaelchristian5089]

When L B Mayer sabotaged John Gilbert's career he didn't do it crudely by arranging the speeding up of the soundtrack to produce a "cartoon" voice; He saw to it that the script of "His Glorious Night" was over the top, requiring Gilbert to overact with a campy, 'posh' upper class English accent that was strange to his young [& more mature] female fans who expected a 'macho' American accent. This, combined with a woeful script, had the desired affect of deflating the image of "The Great Lover!"

[@Sunny25611]

Good old Hollywood.. poetic license as usual.😂 Thanks for the upload- excellent channel even if it does make me feel ancient! 😊

[@mingthemerciless7225]

The actress got Garbo's voice basically right, but the pace was a bit faster than Garbo.

[@DeepScreenAnalysis]

Garbo was more butch and Amazonian. Kristina Wayborn is more of a waif. Both beautiful women but entirely different.

[@thebritishendboardarchive]

I love these True stuff!

[@michaelchristian5089]

The 1937 original version of "A Star is Born" about the fall of a great movie star alongside the rise of his wife was based on the Garbo/Gilbert affair.

[@stephaniestanley8041]

@ 35:11 the picture of the little girl on the desk of LB Mayer is actually Lucille Ball. Prop Department...Set Designer...hello? WTH!

[@susanhorton9492]

do you have a web site where i can order this ?

[@rosemaryfranzese317]

Barry Bostwick bears no resemblance to John Gilbert and doesn’t even look as if he belongs in the period setting. Louis B Mayer didn’t sabotage Gilbert’s career, Gilbert sabotaged his own career

[@michaelchristian5089]

I think you have a point; Gilbert resented authority probably because his mother abused him... ...Errol Flynn's mother physically attacked him & Flynn rebelled against his studio head, Jack Warner. Both of these superstars could have done so much more if they'd have been cooperative. The last thing Mayer & Warner would wish to do is damage their industry's profits by petty arguments with their biggest assets.

[@truthbearer3891]

Quite the ice queen

[@MbartM96]

Emotionally distant people are usually emotionally abused kids. Garbo's mother and father were extremely distant.

[@brober]

Garbo was still alive when this was broadcast. Bet she watched it.They all do. Wonder what she thought?

[@SM-ug8sj]

GG actually had claimed that she never had and hadn’t even have heard of it.

[@DeepScreenAnalysis]

She looked nothing like Garbo. They should have cast Deidre Hall.

[@MbartM96]

She’s not a bad choice. Granted she’s not identical but she has some of Garbo’s cool reserve and a sense of changing mood.

[@Jacks_here]

There are differing stories as who was the deciding factor in Mayers mind but it seem to me Mauritz Stiller was hot property at that time. He wanted a future for Greta. When they arrived in USA there was a hold up and it took the studio while to see Greta’s potential. She surely lost weight and went through an makeover and came out as goddess. With her minimal acting she won everyone over. There’s an interesting thought whether she was a good actress or if she was just a presence. Regardless, her story is interesting and she yielded a lot of power in the end and secured her own withdrawal and the years of wondering the globe as the mysterious Garbo.

[@DeepScreenAnalysis]

It’s a shame they didn’t cast an actor who resembled Stiller. He was a strikingly fearsome figure, tall, dark with huge piercing eyes.

[@akramansari5317]

All I can say about actress in his role that she is mean and selfish and also answerless

[@mstrsims2]

WOW, what a turkey this was. NONE of the actors were even remotely like who they portrayed. Misfire on all accounts.

[@JML306]

Hated this movie; bad ending. It leaves you with a disgustingly bitter taste in your mouth. It left me very angry. L B Mayer's character is so insufferable it almost makes this movie unwatchable.

[@Sunny25611]

True. He was the Harvey Weinstein of the era. .

[@TrangTran-nb9pl]

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