Garbo Talks . . . and It’s in German as ‘Anna Christie’

As an added attraction to its recently concluded Garbo series, LACMA, in association with Turner Entertainment, will present on Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Bing Theater the newly discovered German-language version of “Anna Christie” (1930) in what is believed to be its American premiere. In the early talkie era, Hollywood studios attempted to overcome the language barrier with the costly practice of shooting several language versions simultaneously of their important films.

In the instance of “Anne Christie,” in which Garbo would make her crucial sound debut, MGM imported veteran actor Hans Junkermann to play her coal barge captain father and rugged Theo Shall to play the sailor who falls in love with her. In the American version they were played by George F. Marion and Charles Bickford, respectively. Salka (Steuermann) Viertel, the Polish-born actress who was to become one of Garbo’s closest confidantes and a writer on several of her films, was cast in Marie Dressler’s big comeback role as the waterfront souse, Marthy. The distinguished Belgian-born director Jacques Feyder, who had already directed Garbo in her last silent, “The Kiss,” took over the reins from Clarence Brown.

Although the German-language version is a bit shorter--there’s less of Viertel than of Dressler--the two films are strikingly similar, especially in the level of artistry. “Anna Christie,” recently revived on stage in New York, holds up very well.

Garbo, who had filmed in Germany before coming to Hollywood, is equally impressive in German as she is in English, creating a weary young Swedish immigrant prostitute from St. Paul who seeks shelter in Manhattan from the father she hasn’t seen since he abandoned her in childhood. (Curiously, our first glimpse of her finds her wearing smarter, flashier attire in the German version than in the American version.)

In the English-language version, which Frances Marion adapted from the Eugene O’Neill play, there’s an all-American breeziness whereas the German-language version, written by Walter Hasenclever and Frank Reicher and said to be a fairly free translation, seems in comparison more complex and world-weary. The film will be shown with English subtitles written by William Moritz for the screening. Information: (213) 857-6110.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive has joined with the consulates of the European Economic Community nations and Sweden, Finland and Switzerland to present “Multicultural Europe: A Film Series and Symposium.” The series runs Thursday through Saturday, March 20, in UCLA’s Melnitz Theater and commences at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday with Carlo Mazzacurati’s “Another Life” (1992).

The symposium, to be held March 20 from 1 to 6 p.m. in Melnitz Theater is titled “Multicultural Europe: Cultures in Contact Over the Last Decade,” which will deal with the effects and contributions of immigrants to European society and will be moderated by Warren Olney.

“Another Life” is an absorbing, gritty study of a solitary, unhandsome Roman dentist (Silvio Orlando) whose life is turned upside down when he lets a beautiful but battered Russian woman (Adrianna Biedrzynska) talk him into treating her damaged tooth after office hours. The woman is continually disappearing but he’s soon caught up in the fast, restless life led by the woman’s erstwhile lover (and abuser), a handsome, ambitious, reckless petty crook (Claudio Amendola) of considerable charm with whom he strikes a wholly unexpected acquaintance.

Low-key but genuine suspense develops over whether the dentist will be able or willing to back away from increasing danger before it will overtake him.

Similarly, a young Swede (Per Lorberg), in Saed Assadi’s awkward but powerful “The Ebro Runs Dry” (1991), which screens Saturday at 7:30 p.m., goes to Spain upon the death of the father, a member of the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, only to become an inadvertent target of neo-fascists; the picture benefits from a strong finish. It will be followed by Juha Rosma’s “Who Is Joe Louis?” (1992), a hard-to-follow Finnish-Polish co-production in which the action is constantly--and confusingly--switching back and forth between countries.

In essence, it’s a conventional tale of rekindled tempestuous love, set in motion when a beautiful Polish woman (Anna Majewska), on the eve of her wedding, races to Finland to see her ex-lover (Ilkka Herskanen, a burly Rutger Hauer look-alike), a boxer on the eve of his ring comeback.

Information: (310) 206-FILM.