Ninotchka was a long-awaited, classic romantic comedy, with a clever and witty script and the magnificent presence of actress Greta Garbo in her first official American comedy (in her next-to-last film). The charming film about clashing ideologies … [Read more...]
Ninotchka~Greta Garbo 1939~III
Greta Garbo was a beautiful and talented actress. She played the strict Bolshevik with an expressionless and cold face. Then, when she succumbed to the love of a man and the pleasures of Capitalism, she was her gorgeous and seductive self. … [Read more...]
Ninotchka~Greta Garbo 1939~II
The prologue for the classic 1939 Greta Garbo film reads, “This picture takes place in Paris in those wonderful days when a siren was a brunette and not an alarm - and if a Frenchman turned out the light it was not on account of an air raid!” As … [Read more...]
Ninotchhka~Greta Garbo 1939~I
Thanks to my son-in-law in Atlanta, I watched the 1939 film “Ninotchka” starring the famous Greta Garbo. What a treat, so funny. Set in the pre WWII Paris, three goofy Bolsheviks come from Moscow to sell jewels taken from a famous Grand Duchess and … [Read more...]
Tolstoy in Long Beach
Portrait by Ilya Repin, 1887 The great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy will be celebrated in October of this year, 2010, The Leo N. Tolstoy Centennial Festival will be held at California State University, Long Beach. It may seem a bit strange that a … [Read more...]