In 1930, Garbo's voice, heard for the first time in the role of Eugene O'Neill's tragic heroine, was news in itself; director Clarence Brown made his own excellent use of The Voice by retaining the monologue-like nature of the role. Garbo was well cast as the Swedish girl who makes her way as a prostitute until she returns to her father's fishing barge, falls in love with a seaman (Charles Bickford), and then must pay for her "past." Brown creates an effective, theatrical atmosphere, relying on the enclosed settings of barroom and barge to frame some superior characterizations--notably, Marie Dressler as an aging waterfront denizen and George F. Marion as the sentimental old father.