Don't listen to the negative reviews

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

"As shocking as seeing your grandmother drunk!" I believe Louis B. Mayer said about this film. Certainly, after performances as Anna Christie, Mata Hari, Anna Karenina and the lady of the Camillas, Garbo's reputation made her the Eleanor Duse of the silver screen. But after success in the subtle comedy "Ninotchka", Garbo was ready for something quite different, and proves that, just like Meryl Streep did after her series of accent laden weepers, that she could be really funny! Unlike Streep who turned to song in a few films, Garbo dances, and quite delightfully in the "Chica Choca", a dance she makes up quite by accident, getting her evening gown stuck in her shoe to the orchestra leader's delight.The basic storyline surrounds ski instructor Garbo who spends six months teaching people how to ski and the rest of the year waiting for it to snow. When New Yorker Melvyn Douglas comes to her resort for a vacation, she rescues him after a bad fall, and they are impulsively married. But his business takes him away from her the morning after, and Garbo decides to see if he truly loves her as she is by posing as her more scandalous sister. Not much in the way of reality, but still delightful and witty, a reverse of the same director George Cukor's other 1941 classic, Joan Crawford's "A Woman's Face".It is Constance Bennett who steals the scene as the temperamental near-sighted stage star as Douglas's jilted flame who has temper tantrums like other people say good morning to their co-workers. Walking into a ladies room with a very sophisticated gait then screaming into a mirror, politely warning Garbo to keep her paws off of Douglas (not for the supposed twin's sake, but for her own) or just squinting at something, Bennett is hysterically funny. It is roles like this that today get Oscar Nominations but back in the 40's, got lost in translation.Roland Young and Ruth Gordon are fine as Douglas's business associates, Young determined to keep Douglas and Garbo apart, and Gordon aware of Garbo's ruse and in favor of it. Those looking for a hint of Gordon's future wacky old ladies are going to be disappointed; She's pretty normal in this one. Beautiful winter photography and some great New York art deco scenery make for a glamorous if not unique film in MGM's cannon of sometimes sitcomish romantic comedies that they were giving to the team of William Powell and Myrna Loy and would finally perfect with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

Rarely seen and oft-maligned, Greta Garbo's final film, "Two-Faced Woman," is an unexpected delight. Re-teamed with "Ninotchka" co-star Melvyn Douglas, Garbo plays a ski-instructor who literally overnight marries magazine publisher Douglas, only to wake up and discover some stark differences in their approach to life. Don't ask why or how, but the frothy, often quite funny, plot finds Garbo impersonating a fictitious twin sister to test Douglas's fidelity. While the role may have been better suited for Irene Dunne, Garbo nevertheless throws herself into the part and again proves her versatility. While Karin, her ski-instructor personality, has shades of Ninotchka, Katherine, the flirtatious gold digger twin, allows Garbo to shamelessly vamp, saucily dance, and bitchily spar with a hilarious Constance Bennett.Although Garbo as Katherine rivets viewers' attention, Bennett shines and more than holds her own in the few scenes they share. Douglas is excellent as always, and the Garbo-Douglas duo should have made more films. Ruth Gordon underplays a small role, but both Roland Young and Robert Sterling have fun as Katherine's admirers. George Cukor's direction is fine, and the screwball-like screenplay, based on a play by Ludwig Fulda, may not hold up under scrutiny, but has enough hilarious moments to cover any gaps in logic.The reasons behind Garbo's exit from the screen are many; but neither the quality of her final film nor her final delicious performance could be among them. Watching "Two-Faced Woman," one can only wistfully reflect on what film history lost by her departure. Garbo as Mrs. Paradine in "The Paradine Case" or as Mama in "I Remember Mama" would have been memorable, and, although Gloria Swanson was magnificent, Garbo as Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard" would have been sublime. Unfortunately, Garbo turned down all three roles. While Karin/Katherine may not rank among the screen goddess's greatest roles or the movie among her greatest films, any Garbo film is a treasure, and, despite an undeservedly poor reputation, "Two-Faced Woman" is not just for Garbo devotees. Fine direction and humorous script, excellent supporting performances, particularly from Bennett, and a flamboyant star turn by Garbo deserve a much wider audience than the film has had.

Two Faced Woman became the unexpected swan song for screen legend Greta Garbo. Though her reasons for retirement had to do with the umbrage she took at getting less than stellar reviews for this comedy, still I've always respected that she made her retirement stick for 49 years and kept her legend and image intact.Garbo's a Swedish ski instructor who lands magazine executive Melvyn Douglas on a skiing vacation. But away from the winter wonderland, Garbo's not being quite the wife Douglas expected.Catching Douglas in a compromising position with former flame Constance Bennett, sends Greta on the warpath. She concocts a plan to masquerade as her twin sister, her more glamorous and sexy twin. Suffice it to say, she confuses the rest of the cast for almost the rest of the film.Garbo's playing a role better suited to such comedy veterans as Myrna Loy or Irene Dunne. Still she gets a few laughs in, getting plastered and doing a mean rumba. And she certainly puts Constance Bennett down quite nicely.Still Greta was miscast and the film gets less than stellar reviews from the critics at the time and from me. But the legend lives on.

I've never understood the appeal of Garbo. She always comes across in her films as stuck up, not all that alluring, and that annoying voice that could have drowned out the tuba section. She was also a very limited actress, like Gloria Swanson far better off left in the silent era. In this her last film, her performance is very average and even unassured. She tries hard but it all comes to nothing because the script is even worse than her acting.A would be screwball romcom that is never once believable and never gets off the ground (even though Melvyn Douglas manages to get airborne in the skiing scenes, which are really the only amusing thing here).There was potential but the script fails in almost every department, wasting every actor in it. Douglas and Garbo had good enough chemistry together but this one isn't even a spot on Ninotchka, which I also found to be extremely overrated.