Product Details

• Actors: Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Jean Hersholt, John Miljan, Alan Hale
• Directors: Robert Z. Leonard
• Writers: David Graham Phillips, Edith Fitzgerald, Leon Gordon, Wanda Tuchock, Zelda Sears
• Producers: Robert Z. Leonard
• Format: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 76 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630197817X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,778 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Garbo's Tortured Love For Rising Gable, January 28, 2004

By 

Simon Davis (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Susan Lenox: Her Fall & Rise [VHS] (VHS Tape)

There are some stars in Hollywood's history that by their sheer star power and magnetism are always able to transcend inferior material and create memorable work. Greta Garbo was one such performer and in "Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise", she succeeds in making a fairly ordinary storyline (based on an early "racy" novel by David Graham Phillips), great viewing with her convincing performance and commitment to making an incredible set of circumstances more acceptable. Produced in 1931 this early sound film is unique in being the only teaming of MGM legends Greta Garbo and Clark Gable. Despite numerous reports about the pairs mutual dislike for each other and their very different acting styles, they in actual fact team well in this melodrama of one woman's quest for true love in many wrong places. Garbo is most definately the star here but as in most of the eleven roles he performed that year Clark Gable reveals a startling acting presence that matches the more experienced playing by Garbo all the way.

Garbo, fresh from her triumphs in the talkies "Anna Christie", "Romance" and "Inspiration", here plays the down trodden Helga, the illegitimate niece of a gruff farmer called Ohlin (Jean Hersholt in a brief but vivid perfromance). Used to a grim life of servitude because her mother "didn't have a ring", Helga finds herself in danger of being married off by her uncle to an uncouth older man called Mondstrum (Alan Hale). When he is forced to stay overnight in the house because of a storm Mondstrum attempts to "claim his property" early and in the ensuring struggle Helga flees the house and wanders lost out into the storm. Seeking refuge in a barn she is detected in her hiding place by weekend resident engineer Rodney Spencer (Clark Gable) Having nowhere to go Helga stays on at Rodney's Cabin and the pair fall in love and plan marriage. Rodney returns to the city for his work promising to return to Helga when his tasks are completed. However Ohlin and Mondstrum track Helga down and she is once again forced to flee without telling Rodney her whereabouts. Her flight finds Helga teaming up with a travelling carnival she encounters on a train and she becomes a dancer and the mistress of the show's owner Burlingham (John Miljan) who believes in enjoying the favours of his staff to the fullest. Rodney in the meantime manages to track down Helga who has been christened "Susan Lenox" by the troupe , however he rejects Susan when he discovers the terms of her "employment" with Burlingham. Moving on from the carnival by sheer self preservation and will power Susan finds herself the mistress of society go getter Mike Kelly who has political aspirations. By a fluke Susan runs into Rodney at one of Kelly's dinner parties where she realises her old passion for him is unchanged however Rodney still harbours the old bitterness towards her and in a nasty scene embarrasses her and storms out of the party. Susan then sacrifices her new found social position as the "kept woman", of Kelly and pursues Rodney down to South America. Encountering the decent Robert Lane (Ian Keith)who wants to marry her Susan is torn between his uncomplicated love and her unresolved feelings for Rodney. When she finally finds Rodney down on his luck she realises he will always be the one for her and at the fade out just before Rodney is due to return to his work upriver the two decide to make another go at sharing their lives.

Certainly "Susan Lenox", is a complicated and contrived melodrama with a bewildering array of men seeking the love of the elusive Garbo but out of such proceedings Garbo by her well honed abilities, succeeds in making this story a satisfying if not great one. Even with it's early origins "Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise", is a quite polished production befitting the divine Garbo's status as the aloof queen of MGM. Despite the well documented lack of offscreen chemistry between Garbo and Gable, on screen they team well and Gable performs excellently in the type of no nonsense characterisation that became his later trademark. While alot of these early characters of his were your typical "he-men" more often than not they were also intelligent and decent individuals under the outwardly gruff exteriors. His Rodney Spencer is one of his better performances from this early 30's period and his famous "roughing up" of Garbo around the time he was giving the same treatment to the likes of Norma Shearer, and Joan Crawford earned him a huge number of female fans and helped make him the uncrowned King of Hollywood. "Susan Lenox", is certainly one of Garbo's more earthy roles from this time but even in this film's surroundings of carnivals and cheap nightclubs Garbo still manages to exude that special magic thanks to the superb lighting of veteran technician William Daniels who was her favourite lighting man, and of course through the special magic of legendary designer Adrian who manages to create just the right look for Garbo whether the scene takes place in the lowly carnival or in an exclusive penthouse. Being a pre-code effort "Susan Lenox", also manages to be a bit more open and honest about Garbo's status as a "kept woman" despite her choosing the right path at the film's conclusion. Supporting performances are uniformily fine with MGM regular Jean Hersholt shining in his brief role of Helga/Susan's hateful uncle.

For anyone like myself who is an MGM buff "Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise", is required viewing if for nothing else but to experience the once only meeting on screen of Greta Garbo and Clark Gable. It certainly is a curiosity item in tracing Garbo's screen progression from her early vampish and "fallen women" roles to the grand dames of tragedy she became renowned for later in the thirties decade. There is alot to enjoy in this film despite its at times unbelievable premise and as stated previously Garbo, by her sheer star power is once again mesmerizing on screen. Highly recommended viewing for film buffs.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Three Cheers for Robert Z. Leonard, April 20, 2005

By 

Randy Keehn (Williston, ND United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Susan Lenox: Her Fall & Rise [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I watched this movie the other night mainly because it starred Clark Gable and Greta Garbo. They're both in there but there weren't many others of note in the cast. This is actually a pretty standard mediocre movie EXCEPT that the director did an excellent job in putting the film together. He couldn't do much with the cast but he did a lot with the camera and subtle suggestion. For example, the film opens with a foundling's birth. We are given just enough information in a short conversation to tell us that mom had a questionable past and that the child wasn't really wanted by her grandparents. We then get a series of silhouette shots of a growing girl. In each scene we get the message that she is overworked and underloved. There are scenes of men who try to take advantage of her as a woman. These scenes are impressively done with enough of an image of lust and fear to make a potent message. We get an understanding of a young woman who was abused every step of her life and we get this understanding with subtleties that seem quite suggestive for the era. As I watched this movie I became more and more aware of how well the director, Robert Z. Leonard, was able to make his point. An otherwise unimpressive movie became rather impressive as a result.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I CANT BEGIN TO DESCRIBE GARBO'S TECHNIQUE, July 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Susan Lenox: Her Fall & Rise [VHS] (VHS Tape)

GARBO AND GABLE HAVE MORE THAN AN AGREEABLE APPEARNCE TOGETHER,THEY ARE EXQUISTELY PAINFULLY IN LOVE. AS IN MOST GARBO MOVIES SHE SHOWS AN APTITUDE FOR THE TRAGIC-LOVE STORY(I HAVE NEVER SEEN GARBO MORE EMOTIONALY EFFUSIVE).