Norma Shearer's reputation has been damaged over the years and I, too, once belonged in the group of people who thought she only got so far because of her husband. But by now, I really adore her (especially in "Marie Antoinette", but we get to that later), so I have no problem voting for her performance in "The Divorcee". Greta Garbo was good, too, but I always thought of her more as a star than an actress. I never thought she was really 'great'...
Posts: 7915 | Location: Good Ol' Germany | Registered: March 27, 2005
Fritz, sometimes it's eerie how much we can agree with one another...
Lucky for me, my intro to Norma was "Marie Antoinette," so I've always had a degree of respect for her acting talent. That said, "The Divorcee" and her performance really have not aged too well (but it's still remarkable to compare it to her work in "Marie" and "The Women" at the end of the decade and see HOW MUCH she grew as an actress).
I think Garbo was supremely talented, but "Camille" is the only film of hers that really pushes all the right buttons with me from a performance standpoint. But I still think she was good enough in "Anna Christie" to best the rest of her competition this year.
