In 1930, Greta Garbo's voice, heard for the first time on screen in the role of Eugene O'Neill's tragic heroine Anna Christie, was news in itself. But even at the time of its release, Anna Christie was found to have superior qualities apart from The Voice.
Sent by her sailor father to be raised by cruel relatives, Anna escapes as a young woman, making her way as a prostitute until she finds her father and joins him on his barge. She falls in love with a young seaman (Charles Bickford), who leaves her when he finds her to be a “woman with a past.” Love, of course, prevails, but in the meantime, a host of excellent characterizations have been presented, including that of Marthy (Marie Dressler), an old waterfront woman who had been Anna's father's mistress, and the sentimental old father himself, George F. Marion. (JB)