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DramaYear1931Duration1h 14mIMDb6.2

Inspiration

DramaRomance

Yvonne is a beautiful model who loves frequenting the Parisian bohemian life, because she loves hobnobbing with artists.

Trailer

Cast

Clarence Brown

Director

Greta Garbo

Yvonne Valbret

Robert Montgomery

André Montell

Lewis Stone

Raymond Delval

Marjorie Rambeau

Lulu

Judith Vosselli

Odette

Beryl Mercer

Marthe, Yvonne's Maid

John Miljan

Henry Coutant, the Sculptor

Edwin Maxwell

Uncle Julian Montell

Oscar Apfel

M. Vignaud

Joan Marsh

Madeleine Dorety

Zelda Sears

Aunt Pauline

Karen Morley

Liane Latour

Gwen Lee

Gaby

PM

Paul McAllister

Jouvet, the Artist

Arthur Hoyt

Gavarni

Richard Tucker

Galand, the Writer

Clara Blandick

Madeleine's Mother

Sidney Bracey

Waiter with Coffee and Cream Pitchers

Gene Markey

Writer

Alphonse Daudet

Writer

JF

James Forbes

Writer

Comments

10 Comments

Babou Touray |🇬🇲❤️May 2, 2026

oforiwaapepApr 22, 2026

kimgsmanAug 22, 2024

Inspiration (1931) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A beautiful model (Greta Garbo) begins dating a good, shy guy (Robert Montgomery) but things hit hard times when he learns of her rather sluttish past. Once again Garbo is quite good and Montgomery is strong but the story lets both of them down. Things start off quite nice and move well but at the 45-minute mark things just fall apart because the story keeps repeating itself. He forgives her, learns something else, hates her, forgives her, learns something else and hates her again. A nice ending almost saves the film but not quite. Romance (1930) ** (out of 4) An Italian opera diva (Greta Garbo) with a troubled past falls in love with a priest (Gavin Gordon). Like many early sound films this one here talks and talks and talks but sadly most of the talk isn't very interesting. Garbo is very good in her role, although it's a bit hard to believe her as an opera star. Gordon on the other hand is fairly weak and it's a shame Garbo couldn't get Gary Cooper like she wanted. The ending is so incredibly bad you can't help but laughs but hey, there's Garbo.

JOSELYN DUMASAug 22, 2024

Greta Garbo stars once again as a promiscuous woman with too many lovers in 1931's Inspiration. If you wonder why she was so popular in the early 1930s, it's because she was always cast as sex symbols with men falling at her feet. Check her out in Mata Hari, As You Desire Me, Camille, Susan Lennox, or this one. She starts Inspiration in a gorgeous revealing party guest as a crowd of her lovers give a champagne toast to her beauty. Bored, she wanders off in search of someone knew and finds the handsome Robert Montgomery. "I'm just a nice young woman. Not too young. And not too nice," Greta grins as they share a carriage ride back to Bob's apartment. It's pretty obvious that Greta doesn't deserve her new beau, but she hopes their new love will be more powerful than her past reputation. Will her friends Lewis Stone and Marjorie Rambeau blow her cover and tell Bob how many boyfriends she had before him, and what type of men they were? Or will true love conquer all and let a loose, artsy woman have a chance at real happiness with the right guy? What I never understand about these movies is the lack of sympathy for the man's perspective. The audience is supposed to feel so sorry for the woman with a sordid past, who's repeatedly lied to trick her new boyfriend into thinking she's a completely different person than she is, and when the new boyfriend finds out and gets mad, the audience is supposed to think of him as heartless and intolerant. If the roles were reversed, audiences would think she was a wronged woman who shouldn't forgive the deceit and false image. DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. About ten minutes in, after Greta and Robert take the carriage ride, the camera switches to first-person as a man walks through a house, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Soltan BeautyAug 22, 2024

In a plot with some similarities to the much better Camille, Greta Garbo is an artist's model who like the rest of her peers lives on the financial favors of those in the artist's colony. I wouldn't doubt she does those things professionally as well. It costs a lot to be an artist's Inspiration. However she gets inspired by a young callow youth played by Robert Montgomery and she's willing to shake off all her patrons, chief among them being Lewis Stone for life with a young man entering France's diplomatic service. No matter because Lewis Stone seems rather enthralled with Karen Morley at the moment. Probably Inspiration would not sit well with today's audiences. It's not one of Garbo's better vehicles. One thing I did like about Inspiration was its torch song theme. Though it's not sung in Inspiration, the theme has lyrics and it's entitled How Long Will It Last. It was recorded by Bing Crosby the following year and was one of his early successes. It's the best thing about Inspiration. I'd really recommend that you see this side by side Camille and judge for yourself how much better Camille is. Still Garbo and Montgomery do their best by this dated melodrama.

Attraktion ColeAug 22, 2024

This is one of those typical MGM soap operas from the early 1930s. Greta Garbo is beautiful and intriguing, as usual, although story is rather sluggish, dated and dry. She plays a Parisian model who falls in love with a very young Bob Montgomery, but her sorted past stands in their way. 2 1/2 out of 4 stars here.

ObservateurAug 22, 2024

There is nothing sluggish or dated about this film or the great actors. Greta Garbo was a true Classic sex symbol and great actress of the Golden Era of Films! Her Classic films are studied in many drama departments of our finest Universities. Greta Garbo(Yvonne Valbert),"Conquest",'37, portrayed a woman who had many lovers over the years of her life and who fell deeply in love with a much younger man, whom you are led to believe took his virginity away from him. Robert Montgomery(Andre Mantell),"Lady in the Lake",'47, was a student and very inexperienced, however, he was charmed by the flirting of Yvonne. This is a very powerful love story which never grows old, the ending was well written and I am sure this ending was the same for many people in the same situation unfortunately!

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘆𝗼𝘂Aug 22, 2024

Don't get me wrong. I love both Garbo and Montgomery. They are both very talented and extremely sexy. This film, however, was not. As the previous poster has said, there is NO chemistry between the 2 stars. It was as if they were not even in the same movie. Montgomery looked very bored with it all, and, although very dapper in his tuxedo, looked as though he were going to fall asleep throughout the film. I had to laugh when he WAS asleep in the last scene and never woke up, credits rolling. Looks like the poor thing finally got his nap after all. Still, he's always wonderful to look at! The same goes for Garbo, only this time, her slow talking got on my nerves not just a little bit. I loved her outfits, and she could definitely be a model, but her speech was simply too languid for the film. Even Bob spoke slowly. What the hell? The supporting players were given awful dialog, stock characterization, and no substance whatsoever, thus making no impact. All this accomplished was to get screen time away from the 2 stars, thankfully, I suppose. (The little doggie was cute, though.) Nobody looked as though they had any enjoyment making this film, and the same can be said for the unfortunate viewer. Bottom line: lovely to look at, painful to follow through.

MirindaAug 22, 2024

I've seen practically every Garbo film and I have to say that INSPIRATION is one of my favorite of hers. Certainly in the top five films. It's a beautiful and delicate film with one of Greta's best performances. Though the story is slightly underwritten and the direction could have used a bit more punch and Robert Montgomery is miscast, what weaknesses this film has are easily compensated by the amazing performance by GG, the sharp dialogue and the assured direction of Clarence Brown. It's not easy to make a film about inspiration and in a way this film has. There are so many inspired moments in it, it would be difficult to list them. Here's a few: the opening sequence at the party; the staircase to Andre's room; what happens to Lewis Stone and his young girlfriend; when Garbo confronts Robert about infidelity; the ending, with the scenes in the snow. Unlike a lot of other Garbo films or even other films made in those days, the melodrama is kept low. No screeching violins and such or major scenery chewing moments. I love the way Clarence Brown kept everything low key. Probably too low key for most people but I for one loved it. The pace is a tad slow but that's a minor complaint. It's one of those Garbo films I like to watch and re-watch on a regular basis. Had the male lead been someone else than Robert, this little film would have been perfect.

April MofoloAug 22, 2024

Many (perhaps too many) of Garbo's films are rated primarily on the basis of her performance, with everything else secondary. This is most unfortunate, since MGM - very much to their credit - did not arrange her pictures primarily as star vehicles: the leading men and supporting players are usually strong performers. Considering the fairly large number of pictures in which she starred, her performances do not encompass a wide variety of characterizations: she is typically a woman who has loved well but not wisely (and probably too often), a worldly and world-weary femme fatale preoccupied with the futility of searching for real happiness, yet finding no viable alternative in the life she knows. This is once again her character in "Inspiration," a relatively obscure Garbo film which compares very favorably with the later and much better-known "Camille." The stories have much in common, as do her performances. While "Camille" obviously had a considerably larger budget, resulting in more impressive production values, the dramatic values in "Inspiration" are at least equal to those of the other. Of particular note: Garbo, dismissed by her lover, huddles in a storefront, waiting for him to pass on a dark, rainy day - finally emerging when she spots him, only to be rejected once again - without a word - with nothing more than a curt shake of the head as he walks on. And Lewis Stone, having ended the liason with his young, despairing mistress in an upper apartment, descends the staircase, pauses ever so briefly at the building entrance to note her lifeless body now crumpled on the sidewalk, and continues on his way.

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