"The Single Standard" *** (out of ****)Recently I have been going through a bit of a Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo kick. I reviewed Garbo in "The Kiss" not too long ago and have decided to review another film with the movie icon. This, in the end, serves two purposes. While I do get to discuss Garbo more I also get to talk about silent films. With the exception of the previously reviewed Garbo film, I have only reviewed two other silent films, Chaplin's "Modern Times" and Harold Lloyd in "Safety Last", both of which we part of my "Masterpiece Film Series".
It's a little hard to describe what made Garbo such a fascinating screen figure. During the 20s there was a quality which was simply described as the "it factory". An unexplainable quality that compelled others towards you. The first "it girl" that I can think of was Clara Bow.
Garbo though, like Bow, was a screen vixen but there was something more to it than that. In "The Single Standard" I wouldn't really call her a vixen. Men make advances at her not the other way around. She doesn't seem to seek attention, in fact, as usual, she wants to be alone. But there was something about that face, the look in her eyes. Her body seemed to convey so much. Of course in those days it had to, you couldn't use words. There may have been other actresses who were to be honest, better looking than Garbo, but they didn't always heat up the screen the way she did. She simply had "it".
In "The Single Standard" Garbo plays Arden Stuart. A young, modern thinking woman. She knows the way 1920s America works and the double standard which exist between the sexes, she sees it first hand. Why is it acceptable for men to cheat on their wives but not for women to do the same? Arden believes the only way love can work is if both people are equal. Both must be free to live and love. That sounds like a perfectly logical idea today, but, please lets not forget this movie was made in 1929. Nine years earlier women had only just got the right to vote. The idea of men and women being equal was a pretty advance idea. We really wouldn't see films deal with this subject until the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 40s, "Bringing Up Baby", "The Awful Truth" and "His Girl Friday". Some would even argue we still haven't achieved equality between the sexes yet.
This kind of role seems well suited for Garbo. She rarely, if ever, presented herself as a conventional woman. She was always after something outside of her reach. That's probably why she always wanted to be left alone. Her ideas were a bit too radical, others needed to catch up with her.
Arden thinks she has found a man who shares her ideas on love, Packy Cannon (Nils Asther), a former boxer turned painter. They meet at an art gallery, where his work is being shown. He becomes immediately intrigued by her and she by him. When they are alone they discuss love and their views. After their chance meeting they head out on the South Seas. This causes a scandal. The two aren't married and it is well known Tommy Hewlett (Johnny Mack Brown) has eyes for Arden and has repeatedly asked her to marry him.
But as quickly as their affair begins so it must end. Packy quickly sets a course for back home telling Arden their affair must end. He must put his work before her. She tells him this makes no sense. Why can't they continue to be together and do as they wish in their spare time?
The film was based on a novel by Adela Rogers St. John. Other works by St. John include George Cukor's "What Price Hollywood?", seen as the inspiration for "A Star Is Born" and "A Free Soul" with Clark Gable. But "The Single Standard" reminded me more of the 1930 film "The Divorcee" with Norma Shearer, in fact, I actually checked to see if that too was written by St. John. It wasn't. Both films however, while trying to seem advance suffer in their conclusion.
Arden eventually marries Tommy and they have a son. She seems happy. Scenes aren't shown dealing with their relationship but we assume she is happy and perhaps is being treated as the equal she always wanted to be. But after three years, Packy returns, and now Arden must chose between the two men and different lifestyles they offer.
This may be something of a spoiler so be warned. The film starts to lose some nerve near the end. To me it suggest that a woman's place is with her family. A woman must offer sacrifices. There really isn't equality. A woman is not free to do as she wishes. Deep down, despite all her talk, Arden knows where her place is. One has to always worry about what society will think and how severely it will judge our actions. That makes the movie like any other melodrama in my opinion and not a progressive piece of filmmaking daring to challenge social convention.
Outside of Garbo I'm not really familiar with the other actors. Johnny Mack Brown I did see in one other movie. The 1929 film "Coquette" with Mary Pickford. It was her first talking picture and one she had won an Oscar for. It is a masterpiece and will eventually be included in my "Masterpiece Film Series". Brown is a good actor. He has some great moments near the end of the film and really brings the audience into the film.
The director was John S. Robertson. Not someone I am terribly familiar with. His last film was "Our Little Girl", a Shirley Temple movie (hey, when you love movies you watch everything. Don't judge!) But his biggest success during the silent period may have been his adaptation of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" with John Barrymore. Besides these three movies everything else is unknown and unseen by me.
"The Single Standard" is not Garbo's best film but it is an interesting one. You can admire what was attempted with this movie and the social commentary it tried to make. The plot and performances are good as Garbo remains Garbo. Worth watching, but it should not be your introduction into Garbo's films.
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