ANNA CHRISTIE (1930)

 

Directed by: Clarence Brown

Based on the stage play by: Eugene O'Neill

Screenplay by: Frances Marion

Starring: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler, James T. Mack, Lee Phelps

89 minutes

(NR - adult themes)

PLOT:

Chris Christofferson, the alcoholic skipper of a coal barge in New York, receives a letter from his estranged twenty-year-old daughter Anna "Christie" Christofferson, telling him that she'll be leaving Minnesota to stay with him. Chris left Anna to be raised by relatives on a St. Paul farm 15 years before and hasn't seen her since. Anna arrives an emotionally wounded woman with a dishonorable, hidden past: she has worked in a brothel for two years. One night, Chris rescues Matt and two other displaced sailors from the sea. Anna and Matt soon fall in love and Anna has the best days of her life. But when Matt proposes to her, she is reluctant and haunted by her recent past. Matt insists and compels Anna to tell him the truth. She opens her heart to Matt and her father, disclosing her dark secrets.

Released following a German-language version, also released in 1930 and starring Greta Garbo.

CLIP: