The Shot

Rouben Mamoulian and Greta Garbo set up the famous closing shot of Queen Christina.

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Before there were Femme Fatales...

... there were vamps. Vamps were the dangerous women before those fatales came along. The main difference was the femme fatales mixed in with the bad boys to get what they wanted. The vamps went after the rich kids and broke their hearts (or just pitted best friends or brothers against each other for the hell of it). Of course they almost always died at the end too. Garbo goes through ice in The Flesh and the Devil pictured at the bottom. The fatales usually got killed too, but more often than not it was by getting plugged in the gut with a couple of rounds of lead.

Below are three of the leading vamps from the late teens through the twenties: Louise Brooks, Theda Bara and Greta Garbo. Only Garbo had a successful sound career but vamps never grow old on screen and before long Garbo called it quits and went into seclusion in New York City. Doesn't sound so bad.

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As always, click to enlarge