ABSURD MISTAKEN IDENTITY CAN'T RUIN 1933 GEM

"Queen Christina" (1933) -- 8/10

By Martin Zabell
(Wrote on Dec. 27, 2007)

I spent 100 minutes trying to decide how much to penalize "Queen Christina" because a key part of the plot was ludicrous. That's how long it took me to watch this movie again.

Thanks to the mistaken identity scenes, I considered giving "Christina" a thumbs-down, but ultimately rated it highly because it is a cinematic masterpiece aside from the aforementioned problem.

Frankly, I was astounded that a movie this mature was produced in 1933. The dialogue is at a very high intellectual level with the characters debating topics like war and culture and challenging the conventional mores of 17th century Sweden.

The dialogue fits seamlessly into the plot. In contrast, the writers of "Hamlet" and "The Lion In Winter" seem to be consciously creating memorable lines that often don't match the characters. The direction is also well thought-out. There are scenes where not one word is uttered, but Greta Garbo conveys the importance of something that just occurred via her expressions and actions.

And "Christina" deserves enormous credit for boldly including topics that I thought were not permitted on the screen in the early 1930s. There is blatant lesbianism, a half-dressed hooker, talk about a queen being a slut, sex between virtual strangers, and a shot at religion.

More importantly, I was very interested in the movie's primary character from start to finish. Christina was strong as a 6-year-old and as a woman with a powerful will who wanted to live her own life and was willing and able to confront people who disagreed with her.

Given the movie's intelligence, how can so many people be so stupid that they believe Christina is a man just because she is wearing pants? I knew nothing about this movie before I watched it so I thought at first that the Spanish envoy believed she was a man because he first saw her from a distance and the innkeeper reflexively addressed authority-like figures as men.

Then, Garbo took off her hat. She talked like a woman, looked like a woman, and made NO attempt to disguise herself. I didn't buy Dustin Hoffman and Jack Lemmon as women, but at least they wore disguises in "Tootsie" and "Some Like It Hot." And their dressing as women was explained!!

This movie needed a scene where Christina says something before going horseback riding about wanting to experience life as a commoner and at least implying that this meant pretending to be a man. And she needed a disguise so the fact that EVERY stranger thinks she is a man is plausible.

I was so upset by the mistaken-identity stupidity that I thought about "Christina" giving a 5. Then, I watched it again. This reinforced my appreciation for the rest of the movie.

I gave "The Graduate" a 9 although Mrs. Robinson's daughter falling for Dustin after he treated her like dirt on a date and stalked her was implausible. I reasoned that a short scene with the daughter telling her Dad that she admired Dustin during their school years would have made her accepting two of his bad behaviors (but not his sleeping with her Mom) more plausible.

Using similar reasoning, I gave "Christina" an 8. The absence of one 30-second scene just can't erase the fact that this movie is otherwise very smart and cinematically advanced.