[Celebrity Murder Case 05] - The Greta Garbo Murder Case
by George Baxt
The legendary star Greta Garbo has seen better days than those of World War II, which has all but cut Hollywood off from her films' biggest markets, Europe and Asia. MGM movie mogul Louis B. Mayer informs her that Warner Brothers would like to "borrow" her, to which she replies, characteristically, "I don't want to be a loan."
But, refusing the status of a Hollywood has-been, Garbo reluctantly accepts the title role in a modern rendition of Joan of Arc—now revered as a symbol of anti-Nazism—in an independent production that will employ many down-and-out-in-HoIlywood German expatriates. And everyone— from the lascivious Peter Lorre to the renowned director Erich von Stroheim and his mysterious assistant Lisa Schmidt —seems to have an ulterior motive.
Garbo soon finds herself at the center of an international imbroglio full of actors acting as spies, spies acting as actors, and some actors simply acting— a drama in which she must ultimately play a leading role.
But, refusing the status of a Hollywood has-been, Garbo reluctantly accepts the title role in a modern rendition of Joan of Arc—now revered as a symbol of anti-Nazism—in an independent production that will employ many down-and-out-in-HoIlywood German expatriates. And everyone— from the lascivious Peter Lorre to the renowned director Erich von Stroheim and his mysterious assistant Lisa Schmidt —seems to have an ulterior motive.
Garbo soon finds herself at the center of an international imbroglio full of actors acting as spies, spies acting as actors, and some actors simply acting— a drama in which she must ultimately play a leading role.