Editing Greta Garbo (section)

===1925–1929: Silent film stardom===
[[File:Portrait photograph of Greta Garbo, 1925.jpg|upright=0.8|thumb|Portrait photograph of Greta Garbo, 1925]]

In 1925, Garbo, who was unable to speak English, was brought to Hollywood from Sweden at the request of Mayer. After a 10-day crossing on the {{SS|Drottningholm}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thomassjoberg.com/wp-content/uploads/Greta-Garbo.pdf |title=Greta Garbo's War on Hollywood |first=Scott |last=Reisfeld |date=September 2007 |work=Scanorama |access-date=8 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209022453/http://www.thomassjoberg.com/wp-content/uploads/Greta-Garbo.pdf |archive-date=9 February 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> in July, Garbo and Stiller arrived in New York where they remained for more than six months without word from MGM. They decided to travel to Los Angeles on their own but another five weeks passed without contact from the studio.{{sfn|Paris|1994|p=84}}{{sfn|Swenson|1997|p=85}} On the verge of returning to Sweden, Garbo wrote her boyfriend back home, "You're quite right when you think I don't feel at home here&nbsp;... Oh, you lovely little Sweden, I promise that when I return to you, my sad face will smile as never before."<ref name="Sands">Sands, Frederick. ''The Divine Garbo'', Grosset & Dunlap (1979) pp. 69–73</ref> A Swedish friend in Los Angeles helped by contacting MGM production boss [[Irving Thalberg]], who agreed to give Garbo a screen test. According to author Frederick Sands, "the result of the test was electrifying. Thalberg was impressed and began grooming the young actress the following day, arranging to fix her teeth, making sure she lost weight and giving her English lessons."<ref name="Sands" />

During her rise to stardom, film historian Mark Vieira notes, "Thalberg decreed that henceforth, Garbo would play a young, but worldly wise, woman."<ref name="Vieira-1">Vieira, Mark A. (2010). ''Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince'', Univ. of California Press. pp. 70–71</ref> However, according to Thalberg's actress wife, [[Norma Shearer]], Garbo did not necessarily agree with his ideas stating "Miss Garbo at first didn't like playing the exotic, the sophisticated, the woman of the world. She used to complain, "Mr. Thalberg, I am just a young gur-rl!" Irving tossed it off with a laugh. With those elegant pictures, he was creating the Garbo image".<ref name="Vieira-1" /> Although she expected to work with Stiller on her first film,<ref name="Wollstein1994" /> she was cast in ''[[Torrent (1926 film)|Torrent]]'' (1926), an adaptation of a novel by [[Vicente Blasco Ibáñez]], with director [[Monta Bell]]. She replaced [[Aileen Pringle]], 10 years her senior, and played a peasant girl turned singer, opposite [[Ricardo Cortez]].<ref name="Katchmer1991" /><ref name="WalkerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer1980" /> ''Torrent'' was a hit, and, despite its cool reception by the trade press,<ref name="Jacobs2008" /> Garbo's performance was well received.<ref name="Variety-Torrent" /><ref name="HallHadaunt1926" />

[[File:Flesh and the Devil with John Gilbert.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|Garbo in ''[[Flesh and the Devil]]'' (1926) with [[John Gilbert (actor)|John Gilbert]]]]

Garbo's success in her first American film led Thalberg to cast her in a similar role in ''[[The Temptress (1926 film)|The Temptress]]'' (1926), based on another Ibáñez novel. In this, her second film, she played opposite the popular star [[Antonio Moreno]]<ref name="Resto2008" /> but was given top billing. Her mentor Stiller, who had persuaded her to take the part, was assigned to direct.<ref name="Thomsen1997p129" /> For both Garbo (who did not want to play another vamp and did not like the script any more than she did the first one)<ref name="Flamini1994" /> and Stiller, ''The Temptress'' was a harrowing experience. Stiller, who spoke little English, had difficulty adapting to the studio system<ref name="Biery1928c-Stiller-artist" /> and did not get on with Moreno,<ref name="Golden2001" /> was fired by Thalberg and replaced by [[Fred Niblo]]. Re-shooting ''The Temptress'' was expensive, and even though it became one of the top-grossing films of the 1926–1927 season,{{sfn|Vieira|2009|p=67}} it was the only Garbo film of the period to lose money.<ref name="Koszarski1994" /> However, Garbo received rave reviews,<ref name="Brown1965" /><ref name="ConwayMcGregorRicci1968p51" /><ref name="Zierold1969p164" /><ref name="HallMorduant1926" /> and MGM had a new star.{{sfn|Vieira|2009|p=67}}{{sfn|Paris|1994|p=108}}

[[File:Garbo - Gilbert - publicity.jpg|upright=0.8|thumb|Garbo with [[John Gilbert (actor)|John Gilbert]] in ''[[A Woman of Affairs]]'' (1928)]]
After her lightning ascent, Garbo made eight more silent films, and all were hits.{{Sfn|Paris|1994|pp=568–570}} She starred in three of them with the leading man [[John Gilbert (actor)|John Gilbert]].{{sfn|Paris|1994|pp=124–125}} About their first movie, ''[[Flesh and the Devil]]'' (1926), silent film expert [[Kevin Brownlow]] states that "she gave a more erotic performance than Hollywood had ever seen."<ref name="TCMBrownlow">{{Cite video |title=Garbo |year=2005 |last=Brownlow |first=Kevin |author-link=Kevin Brownlow |publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]] |medium=Television production |minutes=13:00–14:00}}</ref> Their on-screen chemistry soon translated into an off-camera romance, and by the end of the production, they began living together.{{Sfn|Paris|1994|p=121}} The film also marked a turning point in Garbo's career. Vieira wrote: "Audiences were mesmerized by her beauty and titillated by her love scenes with Gilbert. She was a sensation."{{sfn|Vieira|2009|p=69}} Profits from her third movie with Gilbert, ''[[A Woman of Affairs]]'' (1928), catapulted her to top Metro star of the 1928–1929 box office season, usurping the long-reigned silent queen [[Lillian Gish]].{{sfn|Swenson|1997|p=193}} In 1929, reviewer Pierre de Rohan wrote in the ''New York Telegraph'': "She has glamour and fascination for both sexes which have never been equaled on the screen."{{sfn|Swenson|1997|p=220}}

The impact of Garbo's acting and screen presence quickly established her reputation as one of Hollywood's greatest actresses. Film historian and critic [[David Denby]] argues that Garbo introduced a subtlety of expression to the art of silent acting and that its effect on audiences cannot be exaggerated. She "lowers her head to look calculating or flutters her lips," he says. "Her face darkens with a slight tightening around the eyes and mouth; she registers a passing idea with a contraction of her brows or a drooping of her lids. Worlds turned on her movements."<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=The Artists |url=https://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/02/27/120227crat_atlarge_denby |date=27 February 2012 |first=David |last=Denby |author-link=David Denby (film critic) |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |pages=74–78 |access-date=20 October 2012 |issn=0028-792X |archive-date=20 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020005430/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/02/27/120227crat_atlarge_denby |url-status=live }}</ref>

During this period, Garbo began to require unusual conditions during the shooting of her scenes. She prohibited visitors—including the studio brass—from her sets and demanded that black flats or screens surround her to prevent extras and technicians from watching her. When asked about these eccentric requirements, she said: "If I am by myself, my face will do things I cannot do with it otherwise."{{sfn|Paris|1994|pp=301–320}}

Despite her status as a star of silent films,{{Sfn|Crafton|1999|pp=495–496|ps=, "In December 1929, according to the volume of ''[[Photoplay]]'' fan mail&nbsp;... Garbo remained the leading female star."}} the studio feared that her Swedish accent might impair her work in sound, and delayed the shift for as long as possible.{{Sfn|Crafton|1999|p=295}}<ref name="Limbacher1968p219" /> MGM itself was the last Hollywood studio to convert to sound,{{Sfn|Crafton|1999|pp=206–207}} and Garbo's last silent film, ''[[The Kiss (1929 film)|The Kiss]]'' (1929), was also the studio's.{{sfn|Vieira|2005|p=100}} Despite the fears, Garbo became one of the biggest box-office draws of the next decade.