bkoganbing Garbo would soon be talking, but still in 1929 MGM was putting her in silent films as they searched for the right property for her. Still when Greta Garbo made The Single Standard her future in sound was still a subject for speculation.With her Swedish accent it wasn't sure how it would register in sound. But watching The Single Standard Nils Asther and Johnny Mack Brown also had accent issues. Asther was also from Sweden and he's probably best known in talkies for playing the title role of a Chinese general in The Bitter Tea Of General Yen. He slipped back into B pictures and less with sound.So to did Johnny Mack Brown. Brown was an All American from the Crimson Tide of Alabama and had an accent to match. He who was a leading man to Garbo and Mary Pickford among others quickly went into westerns and soon enough B westerns for his career. Silent films were a great leveler in casting. As long as you looked believable in the role, no speech limitations could hinder you.It's why Garbo is playing an American socialite who is bored with her life and doesn't see why she shouldn't go out and sow wild oats like the men do. The Single Standard should apply to all.So she dumps good old reliable Brown to have a fling with first her chauffeur and then artist/boxer Nils Asther. This was a character that had to have been borrowed from current middleweight champion Mickey Walker although Walker was fighting more than painting at this point of his career.Asther is one romantic dude for a prizefighter and even when she goes back to Brown and has a son by him, he's still someone she can't shake.Sharp eyed viewers will note the presence of future stars Joel McCrea and Robert Montgomery in the cast as a couple of debonair men about town. The Single Standard is not the best of Garbo silents though she gets her moments in. Best for her are scenes with her young son, a harbinger of what she does in Anna Karenina some years later.A must for Garbo fans, yet all of her films are.

Michael_Elliott Single Standard, The (1929) ** (out of 4)Outside of Greta Garbo, this silent film pretty much lives up to the "standard" mentioned in the title. In the film Garbo plays Arden Hewlett, a rich woman who believes that men and women should play by the same rules in terms of relationships. She doesn't have a problem with the boys running out on their wives and she expects the same. She eventually hooks up with a boxer (Nils Asther) but winds up with another man (Johnny Mack Brown) who she marries. Once married the boxer comes back into her life and wants her back. I'm sure this film was dated even by 1929 standards so it certainly doesn't play any better today. This isn't a horrible movie but at the same time everything in it is so bland that you can't help but be bored out of your mind. What's even worse is that the film lasts a short 73-minutes yet even that seems way too long. The only thing that really works here is the beauty of Garbo. She does a nice job in the role and she's easily believable as the "fun girl" every guy would want to be with. I thought Asther was also pretty good and what lively moments the film does have are due to the boat trip between his character and Garbo's. Brown isn't too bad but his role is so predictable that it comes off rather boring. Director Robertson really seems to be asleep at the wheel because there's no energy or life anywhere in the film. I'm not sure if the studio just made this production a quickie until they could find out what to do with Garbo and sound movies but in the end the film just doesn't work.

overseer-3 Greta Garbo, in her second to last silent film, beautifully plays a normal, young, American woman socialite, who longs for excitement and love, though she cannot quite figure out what "love" is. Her character, Arden, who seems to have no parents, and who seems to exist effortlessly and rather detached among the high society set, has a brief romantic fling with her chauffeur, which causes scandal among the posh set, when the driver, fired, takes his own life. Arden next finds "love" with rogue artist Packy Cannon, played passionately, but a little shallowly, by handsome Nils Asther. Nils tempts her to join him spontaneously on a pleasure cruise, and we do get a few hints as to what pleasure Packy is up to with Arden, but really, their passion is quite restrained, considering what modern day films splash on the screen. After Packy has compromised Arden, he callously decides he "loves" Arden too much to continue seeing her, and orders the boat turned around. Arden is heartbroken, deposited back onshore like an old and weathered boat rudder. She next finds "love" with an old admirer, Tommy, played sweetly and sensitively by anything-but-dull, good-looking Johnny Mack Brown. He proposes and, on the rebound from Packy, she accepts. Three years later they have a child together and a very happy marriage. It was nice to see Greta playing a normal woman who eventually puts her marriage first before her old flame, just like most normal American women would do today. There is no compromise here, Arden simply makes the wisest decision for all concerned, which is ultimately based on true love, for true love always endures perfect sacrifice.The print is rather deteriorating in spots and quite scratchy, but really, after you have seen as many silents in poor condition as I have, this one is still above average. It just goes to show how the studios blatantly neglected their silent classics once sound came in, letting them deteriorate or disappear into rust. A tragic and short-sighted waste. It was nice to see other silent film actors like Dorothy Sebastian (Spite Marriage) and Mahlon Hamilton (Little Old New York) in the cast, albeit in small roles. The musical score was the old Vitaphone one but still rather elegant, though I wouldn't say it was beautiful, as the other reviewers here have stated. If you are a Garbo fan or a fan of nicely made silent films, you will enjoy The Single Standard.

Michael-110 Garbo is an absolute revelation in this outstanding silent film (the video has a beautiful musical score). Garbo plays Arden Stuart, a beautiful young woman who rejects the sexual double standard and feels free to engage in affairs with any man she likes. She takes up with famous artist Packy Cannon and travels 'round the world with him on his yacht. After Packy dumps her, she marries Tommy, who had always adored her, and has a child. Then Packy returns...The kinds of themes sounded in "The Single Standard" were completely blotted off the screen by the Production Code, Hollywood's self-censorship scheme which became fully operational around 1934. The movie explores female liberation and sexuality. It grapples with the issue of whether marriage is a loveless institution of mutual support or a vehicle for love and fulfillment. This is a very adult film and a great one. Films like this were not made again until the 1970's--and nobody ever surpassed Garbo in this kind of role."The Single Standard" was adapted from a novel by Adela Rogers St. John. Rogers St. John was the daughter of the famous trial lawyer Earl Rogers, who was the most famous criminal lawyer of the early years of the century and who died a hopeless alcoholic. She never went to school, and simply hung around her father's law office, but later became a famous author and journalist. The great film "A Free Soul" (1931) is based on Rogers St.John's autobiography and chronicles her life along with her father's. Rogers St. John was, in her own life, very much like the heroine of "A Single Standard" and embodied the ideals of women's liberation in the 1920's.