Tag Archives: Greta Garbo

“I never said, ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, ‘I want to be left alone.’ There is all the difference.” — Greta Garbo

Posted on September 18, 2025 by sheila

It’s her birthday today. She is a difficult subject, not just because she was a private woman, but because her onscreen persona was so fluid, mercurial, hard to grasp. Her gestures could be operatic and swanlike (watch Grand Hotel), but … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day | Tagged drama, Greta Garbo, H.D., historical drama, silent films, Sweden | Leave a comment

For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

Posted on March 8, 2025 by sheila

I post edited versions of this every year. I add names. I take names off if I feel like it. I enjoy compiling it. It’s not just about enjoyment. As women’s rights are up for grabs more than ever, like … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors, Art/Photography, Directors, Personal, writers | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Abigail Adams, Agnes Varda, Aline MacMahon, Amy Heckerling, Ann Savage, Anna Karina, Anne Frank, Anne V. Coates, Annie Proulx, art, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Austria, Barbara Bel Geddes, Barbara Stanwyck, Barbra Streisand, Bette Davis, Bibi Andersson, Brazil, Britney Spears, Busby Berkeley, Camille Paglia, Canada, Carole Lombard, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte Rampling, China, Croatia, Diane Keaton, Dolly Parton, Drew Barrymore, Dubravka Ugrešić, Edie Sedgwick, Ellen von Unwerth, England, Etta James, Eve Babitz, France, Frances Farmer, Gena Rowlands, George Eliot, Georgia, Germany, Gloria Grahame, Golshifteh Farahani, Greta Garbo, Greta Gerwig, Harriet Andersson, Hediyeh Tehrani, Hong Kong, Ida Lupino, Ingrid Thulin, Iran, Ireland, Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Huppert, Italy, Janet Malcolm, Japan, Jean Arthur, Jeanette Winterson, Jill Clayburgh, Joan Crawford, Joan Didion, Joan Jett, Joanna Hogg, Josephine Decker, Judy Garland, Julie Christie, Kate Lyn Sheil, Kay Francis, Keri Hulme, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Dern, Laurette Taylor, Leila Hatami, Lily Tomlin, Liv Ullmann, Louise Glück, Madeleine L'Engle, Madeline Kahn, Maggie Cheung, Maggie Smith, Marianne Moore, Marilyn Monroe, Martha Graham, Mary Oliver, Maud Gonne, Mélanie Laurent, Mia Hansen-Løve, Nancy Savoca, Natalie Portman, Nina Hoss, Nina Simone, Olivia Laing, Olympia Dukakis, Patricia Highsmith, Pauline Kael, photography, Poland, Rebecca West, Romania, Rosalind Russell, Russia, Sandrine Bonnaire, Shabnam Toloui, Shirley Jackson, Sophia Takal, South Korea, Spain, Supernatural, Sweden, Tana French, Taraneh Alidoosti, The Netherlands, Tiffany Haddish, Tina Turner, Tuesday Weld, Wanda Jackson, women directors | 106 Comments

February 2023 Viewing Diary

Posted on March 6, 2023 by sheila

Reboot (2022) Allison and I watched it together when I was in New York for the first half of this month. I adore this series and am so bummed it wasn’t picked up for Season 2. We had a blast … Continue reading →

Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television | Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Aline MacMahon, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Barbara Stanwyck, biopic, Boris Karloff, Brad Pitt, Busby Berkeley, Charlotte Bronte, comedy, Douglas Sirk, drama, Emily Bronte, England, film noir, France, Fred MacMurray, Ginger Rogers, Gold Diggers of 1933, Greta Garbo, Hugh Grant, Hungary, Ireland, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Kay Francis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Loretta Young, Madonna, Mervyn LeRoy, musicals, Pre-Code, Quentin Tarantino, reviews, William Powell, William Wellman, women directors | 18 Comments

Stuff I’ve Been Reading

Posted on October 13, 2021 by sheila

Lots of re-reads because 1. I’m in turmoil. The familiar is a comfort. 2. The majority of my books have been in storage for almost a year. We all have been reunited but they’re still in boxes stacked against the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged Evelyn Waugh, fiction, Greta Garbo, Memoirs, Nancy Lemann, Robert Conquest, Sergei Kirov, Stalin, stuff I've been reading | 1 Comment

Series: Stars Wearing Big Sweaters

Posted on September 27, 2020 by sheila

Greta Garbo James Dean Carroll Baker A mostly-forgotten one-hit wonder Marilyn Monroe Elizabeth Taylor To be continued …

Posted in Actors | Tagged Carroll Baker, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Greta Garbo, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe | 15 Comments

For Film Comment: on H.D. and the film journal Close Up

Posted on May 8, 2020 by sheila

The piece I referenced a while back, the one I had been working on for about 4 months, researching from this towering stack of books, has finally gone live over on Film Comment. It’s a doozy. Get a cup of … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, writers | Tagged Greta Garbo, H.D., poetry | Leave a comment

From Lillian Gish to James Dean: My Interview with Dan Callahan

Posted on May 9, 2018 by sheila

I had a lot of fun interviewing Dan Callahan about his new book The Art of American Screen Acting, 1912-1960. It’s now up at Slant Magazine: Mystery of Screen Acting: An Interview with Dan Callahan.

Posted in Actors, Books, Movies | Tagged Bringing Up Baby, Cary Grant, friends, Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo, Holiday, Humphrey Bogart, interviews, James Cagney, James Dean, Joan Crawford, Josef von Sternberg, Katharine Hepburn, Kim Stanley, Lillian Gish, Louise Brooks, Marlene Dietrich, Marlon Brando | 6 Comments

March 2018 Viewing Diary

Posted on April 3, 2018 by sheila

Supernatural, Season 13, episode 14 “Good Intentions” (2018; d. P.J. Pesce) Probably not a good sign that I can’t remember anything about this episode. Queer Eye (2018) My friend Mitchell has been raving about the new version of Queer Eye … Continue reading →

Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television | Tagged Asghar Farhadi, Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Reynolds, Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Denmark, documentary, England, France, Germany, Greta Garbo, Harrison Ford, Henry Fonda, Iran, Iranian film, Ireland, Jack Black, Jared Padalecki, Jean Harlow, Jensen Ackles, Lars von Trier, Matthias Schoenaerts, Mike Nichols, Owen Wilson, Rebecca Hall, Seth Rogen, Steve Martin, Supernatural, women directors, X-Files | 25 Comments

Now THIS Is a Love Scene

Posted on March 14, 2018 by sheila

Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in Flesh and the Devil (1926). A famous kiss in cinema, but it’s the buildup to it that is so CRAZEEEEEE. They just put it off … and put it off … and tease … … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors | Tagged Greta Garbo | Leave a comment

December 2016 Viewing Diary

Posted on January 1, 2017 by sheila

Supernatural, Season 7, Episode 22, “There Will Be Blood” (2012; d. Guy Norman Bee) I had started a re-watch of Season 7 in November, so I finished it out this month. Season 7 was one of my least favorites, when … Continue reading →

Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television | Tagged Akira Kurosawa, Belfast, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, Channing Tatum, Chantal Akerman, Claude Rains, Coen brothers, Cyd Charisse, documentary, East of Eden, Elia Kazan, Ewan McGregor, France, George Clooney, Gloria Grahame, Greta Garbo, Horton Foote, Humphrey Bogart, Isabelle Huppert, James Dean, Japan, Jean-Luc Godard, Jeff Bridges, John Steinbeck, Julie Harris, Kentucker Audley, Kristen Stewart, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Scorsese, Mélanie Laurent, Nicholas Ray, Norway, Robert Duvall, Robert Mitchum, Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Scarlett Johansson, Supernatural, Tilda Swinton, Warren Oates, William Faulkner, women directors | 148 Comments

Tag Archives: Greta Garbo

“I never said, ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, ‘I want to be left alone.’ There is all the difference.” — Greta Garbo

For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

February 2023 Viewing Diary

Stuff I’ve Been Reading

Series: Stars Wearing Big Sweaters

For Film Comment: on H.D. and the film journal Close Up

From Lillian Gish to James Dean: My Interview with Dan Callahan

March 2018 Viewing Diary

Now THIS Is a Love Scene

December 2016 Viewing Diary

Categories

Archives

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Writing