Greta Garbo's last movie is nowhere near as bad
as contemporary reviews would have you believe,
and certainly didn't warrant the most fabulous screen
face of all opting for a retirement that would last until
her death almost 50 years later.
- Paul Page
THE outbreak of the war in Europe presented Greta Garbo with a new set of worries, both personal and professional. Fearing a German invasion of the Scandinavian countries, she had arranged in advance to bring her aged mother as well as her brother Sven and his family to the United States. Arriving in California at the end of December 1939, they took up residence in a modest house in a secluded section of Inglewood. Garbo's relatives were, if anything, shyer than she. They kept strictly to themselves, and Garbo seldom spoke of them. Her mother died in California, but because of Garb…