Everyone has a different theory as to what made Garbo into the legend that is Garbo, and every book on Garbo claims to have a different cornerstone that serves as a foundation for illuminating the mystery. For some it's her petty provincial past. Others point to her relationship with John Gilbert. Still others point to her relationship with Salka Viertel or Mercedes de Acosta. For Vieira, the legend and mystery behind Garbo rests with her films. To that end, Vieira examines the history behind each of Garbo's films to reveal the Garbo mystique. If you're such that your Garbo fandom is geared toward her movies, then this is the book for you.

A film-oriented approach is, for me, tough to swallow. When you get right down to it, Garbo made quite a number of mediocre films (Mata Hari, I'm looking at you). If you also agree that Garbo's acting was often less than stellar (Mata Hari, I'm looking at you again) and recognize that something else must have contributed to the Garbo mystique, then this book will disappoint. Personally, the Garbo legend is inseparable from her unbelievably good looks. How in the world is it possible for anyone to be THAT beautiful? To spend 300 odd pages trying to convince the reader that Garbo was a great actress in a stream of well-written movies is not only irrelevant, it's also inaccurate. This book is tedious if you believe that Garbo's beauty rather than her body of work is what made her so extraordinary, and the pictures in this book are not quite as spectacular as you might hope. (If you're a die-hard fan, you've seen all the Bull and Hurrell photos anyway.) ( )