Greta Garbo in The Single Standard (1929, Marsh)

John Bainbridge gives an account of Greta Garbo having returned from Sweden in which the studio and public had expected her to arrive in Los Angeles and her instead having gotten off the train early to rendezvois with John Gilbert. "He had thought that things would turn out as the do in the movies, with the screen's two great lovers united in holy matrimony...According to Gilbert, Garbo had told him, 'You are a very foolish boy, Yacky. You quarrel with me for nothing. I must do my way. But we need not part.' It was on location of the film The Single Standard (eight reels) that Greta Garbo had learned of the marriage of John Gilbert to Ina Claire, "an event that came as a considerable suprise to the entire movie colony" (Bainbridge). His account includes a reporter finding Garbo on the set between two scenes and his showing her the headline, "'Thank you', she said. The reporter began pressing her with questions about her reaction to the news. 'I hope Mr. Gilbert will be very happy,' she said, and walked away." Picture Play magazine reviewed The Single Standard with, "One of the most brilliantly searching moments of acting ever seen in my fifteen years' of observation of the screen occurs in The Single Standard. It is furnished by Greta Garbo. She washes her hands, then washes her hair...Only she could make the story matter, or give it even ephemeral conviction."
It seems apparent that M.G.M. Had avoided the publicity of full page magazine advertisements for the Greta Garbo film The Single Standard and preferred using full page advertisements advertisizing the studio and its vast array of stars, mostly in a more stars in the firmament fashion, one page in 1929 reading It's Just the Beginning of MGM's Deluge of Dialouge Delights and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Your Rock of Gilbralter. It was a full page age in which the photo caption beneath Greta Garboread,"Gorgeous Greta in The Kiss with Conrad Nagel, Greater by far than The Single Standard." This may have in fact been impelled by the quickly advancing coming of sound film, if at all by the fickle contacts of Garbo or Gilbert. During 1929, Exhibito's Herlad and Motion Pictur World listed The Single Standard in a paragraph of films designated as Synchronized Pictures with Sound Effects as differentiated with those listed as Pictures With Talking sequences or Entirely of Dialouge. An advertisement during 1929 in Exhibitor's Herald merely read M.G.M The Important Company while listing the actors and actresses only by name with the working title of their current production, their frequently being instances that the titles would be changed later. With the name of the company was merely the acknowledgement of Lon Chaney in While the City Sleeps, John Gilbert in The Devil's Mask, and Greta Garbo in The Single Standard. Fim Daily of 1929 appealed to exhibitors and its moviegoing readers before providing a synopsis of the film. "Garbo splendid and spends this in for big dough. Story trite and trashy. Greta deserves better." it concluded, "It sounds like a lot of blah in print. That's exactly what it is. Garbo is too fine to waste on such stuff."



Hollywood Filmograph reviewed Greta Garbo in The Single Standard during 1929, "Adele Rogers St. John takes a sort of languid jolt at social conventions in her Single Standard, using Greta Garbo and Nils Asther to propound the doctrine. The theme appears to have been built rather than created and should hardly carry far in the external fitness of things...The Garbo fans will surely like her in this new role- a role in which she shows a little more fervor (not of the bent back kind) than usual...The Single Standard should not be a tornado at the box office." Motion Picture News added, "the story by Adela St John Rogers is highly sophisticated and in the main only suited for the big city houses; in the smaller towns it will appeal to the younger generation but the elder will undoubtedly frown on its altogether too free an exposition of sex will the heroine maintaining the right that a single standard of conduct applies to women as well as men and proceeding to put her theory into effect....Greta Garbo appears a little too old to be the typical flapper that would tackle a sex problem of this sort in the earlier positions of picture." Picture Play Magazine waited until 1930, "Brilliant acting by Greta Garbo although the story is not an inspiration. Arden Stuart attempts to live her own life freely, but conventional mother love dispels her theories."

"The girls go into long trousers. For the sea scenes of 'The Single Standard', Greta Garbo wore flannel trousers with a plain, tuck in sweater and sea going canvas shoes."  Picture Play magazine in 1929 ran the caption "Only self-expression draws Greta Garbo, for she is indifferent to fame and to the luxury that comes with stardom." In regard to her being versatile, it added yet another photo caption,"Greta Garbo portrays the torments of love, and little else."

Scott Lord Silent Film: Greta Garbo In The Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1...

In The Film Till Now, a survey off world cinema, Paul Rotha writes, “It is impossible to witness the showing a Film by Pabst without marveling at his unerring choice of camera angle for the expression of mood or his employment of the moving camera to heighten action.” Notwithstanding he describes the “tempestuous and badly received” “The Joyless Street” as being only the second film made by the director and that the directors poularity as only having increased later. “With unerring psychology by which he caused the smallest actions of his characters to convey meaning. Pabst brought to his picture moments of searing pain, of mental anquish, of clear unblemished beauty. His extreme powers of truthfulness, of understanding, of reality, of the virtual meaning of hunger, love, lust and greed rendered this extraordinary film convincing.” Rotha noted the collaboration of actress Greta Garbo with the director Pabst. “Mention has been made of Greta Garbo in the film, for it is by this that one theorizes on her beauty and ability. In Hollywood this splendid woman has been wantonly distorted into the symbol of eroticism. But Greta Garbo, by reason of her sympathetic understanding of Pabst, brought a quality of loveliness into her playing as the professor’s eldest daughter. Her frail beauty, cold as ann ice flower warmed by the sun, stood secure in the starving city of Vienna, untouched by the vice and lust that dwelt in the dark Street.”

Roger Manvell, author of Film and Public, writing in 1955, pointed out that Pabst had added a level of tragedy to the events which encompassed his characters, "It was not untill Pabst emerged into the silent German cinema that German melodrama deepened into tragedy....The plots of Pabst's silent film are melodramatic, with happy endings superimposed upon them in almost every case."

Arthur Knight, in his volume The Liveliest Art almost seems to be beginning a discussion on Film Noir while sneaking into the fringes of the subjective camera by positing an "emotional reaction" of the invisible observer, the authorial camera, to its subject, "And there are psychological elements too in the relation of the camera to its subject- close or far, at a strong angle or at a non-commital eye-level, above it or shooting from below. By his choice of the camera's position, the director creates for the audience an unconscious predisposition toward the scene, the characters and the action. Pabst applied his own awareness of this technique to his use of the camera throughout 'The Joyless Street' ". Knight includes the film in a sub-genre of German Silent Film, "street films" including "The Street" (1928), "Tragedy of the Street" (1927) and "Asphalt", perhaps a subgenre of melodrama not reflective of there being a Golden Age of the period.

The script to the film was based on a novel by Hugo Bettauer that only a year earlier had been serialized in a newspaper in Vienna. The length of the film is listed as five reels, but apparently screened with extensive censorship cuts in a version considerably shorter than the modern restored version and in American versions which edited out the character portrayed by Asta Nielsen.

In his volume A Tale from Constantinople, written with Patrick Vondeau, Bo Florin, University of Stockholm, notes that originally actress Vilma Banky had been considered for the lead in the film "The Joyless Street", her having left for America before the shooting of the film. Mauritz Stillerwas on occaision seen at the studio, his apparently having had an interest in directing the film and he in fact having had an offer to direct six films in Europe when he decided to depart for America.

Actress Greta Garbo came directly to America without filming in Sweden after working with G.W. Pabst, and had in fact been working on a Film with Mauritz Stiller before having been given her role in “The Joyless Street”. The Private Life of Greta Garbo, published in 1931 by Rilla Page Palmborg at a time when the world didn’t know how private the life of Greta Garbo would later become, gives an account of Mauritz Stiller, Greta Garbo and Einar Hanson being in Constantinople to film the first movie ever made there. After delays in completing the script, it had finally been finished and Mauritz Stiller had started to direct when its financing had abruptly been discontinued and Stiller’s telegrams had gone unanswered. “In a few days, Mr.Stiller returned with the sad news that the backers of the picture had gone broke. There was nothing to do but disband and go home. But Mr. Stiller had plans for another picture that he wanted to make in Berlin. While she was waiting...Mr. Stiller got her a part in ‘The Street of Sorrow’...During this time, Louis B. Mayer, production head of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Hollywood was making a trip through Europe on the lookout for new talent. The night he saw ‘Gosta Berlings Saga’ he saw photography and new directorial tricks that had never been done before.He wanted to see the genius who directed the fine picture.”

Author Forsyth Hardy, typically as he is usually concise, devotes only a paragraph of his volume Scandinavian Film to the Mauritz Stiller endeavor "Kostantinopel", noting that after he had interested them in his already underway project, Stiller involved Greta Garbo and Einar Hanson deeply in the on location making of the film. The brief account continues: subsequently Garbo completed "The Joyless Street" and then agreed to go to Hollywood with Stiller.

Danish Silent Film Star Asta Neilsen remained in Berlin to film similar social dramas about the decadence, or downfall, of society, among them “Tragedy of the Street” (Rahn, 1927) and “The Vice of Humanity” (Meinhart, 1927) . At first glance, the films are connected to “The Joyless Street” by belonging to The New Objectivity, which depicted the cities of Germany realistically as being in post-War poverty. During 1925, already famous for her portrayal of “Hamlet” (Sven Gade, 1921), Asta Nielsen played the title role of Hedda Gabler in a film adapted and directed by Frank Eckstein and starred in the film “The Living Buddhas” under the direction of Paul Wegner. Only five minutes of the original footage of the film now survive, adding the film to the many now lost films of the silent era.

Silent film director Georg Wilhelm Pabst is perhaps best known to contemporary audiences for directing actress Louise Brooks in the films "Pandora's Box" and "Diary of a Lost Girl" (Das tagebuch einer verbrenen"), both filmed during 1929.
Greta Garbo and Mauritz Stiller

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The Photoplay: Silent Film Lobby Card, Greta Garbo

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Lars Hanson Silent Film

Greta Garbo in The Kiss (Feyder/Daniels, 1929)

Greta Garbo

The Film Daily ran an announcement during 1929 titled "Feyder Directing Garbo" It related, "Greta Garbo has begun work on a new picture under the direction of Jacques Feyder, French director recently signed by M.G.M. Anders Randolph will play the husband in the film, an original by Feyder, not yet titled."
New Movie Magazine quoted the director, " 'Dialougue- that is what will make the love sparkle in American films.' Monsieur Feyder has a great vision of Greta Garbo's future. He directed her in her last silent film The Kiss. Says Mr. Feyder, "What possibilities are opened to her with her voice? She will branchout, her characterizations will broaden. She will enter into her cinema inheritance- and what a glorious inheritance it will be." The Film Daily inadvertantly reviewed the film as an "All-Talker", but the studio in its advertisements that ran in the magazine that year included the film in "a deluge of dialogue delights" that it would be offering. The subtitle to the review read, "Sophisticated drama of continental life puts Greta Garbo in a new kind of role but tragic story misses." The review explained, "Greta Garbo as always is very alluring and excersizes her erotic charm throughout the erotic portrayal. But the subject matter is too tragic and the ending not the type that her average fan looks for...Shapes up as a pretty sophisticated farce that lacks the American slant and is problematical whether Garbo fans will feel enthusiastic about seeing their favorite in this type of production...Feyder worked the camera technique in many novel ways and achives some effective shots." Richard Corliss aptly writes, "It's also true that Garbo looks beautiful but distracted. She walks through the role as if her mind were on other things." Picture Play summarily reported, "Commonplace story made glamorous by Greta Garbo, beautifully produced and directed. Film critic Paul Rotha,  in his volume The Fill to Now, a survey of world cinema recognized the assingment of Greta Garbo to Jacques Feyder, "Quite recently Jacques Feyder, the Belgian, who in Europe is associated with the brilliant realization of Zola's Therese Raquin and the political satire Les Nouveaux Messiers, made his first picture for Metro Goldwyn Mayer, The Kiss, in which he skillfully combined intelligent direction with the necessary proportion of picture sense. his treatment of Greta Garbo was more subtle that that usually accorded to this actress by American directors...But there was a freshness about The Kiss that raised it above the level of the ordinary movie and a use of camera angle which was reminiscent of Feyder's earlier work." Earlier in the book Rotha had directed his attention to the film of Greta Garbo in an attempt to characterize the then contemporary film of the United States, "There is found then at the close of the pre-dialouge period of the American film, a mixed selection of production made according to formula...The ingredients of a successful film, conceived from a picture-sense point of view may be said to to: a strong, powerful theme (preferably sexual); a high-polished, quick moveing technique employing all the most recent discoveries (usually German); a story interest that will carry the sex at the same time allowing for spectacle and at least two highspots: and a cast of international players. Of such a type were Flesh and the Devil, The Last Command, The Patriot, Wild Orchids and The Kiss."
John Bainbridge reviews the film but more intriguing is his met intoning the social bond between Garbo and Feyder, I that she was less in contact with John Gilbert and both her sister and Mauritz stillerhas passed away. "however threadbare the plot, "The Kiss" has always been of interest to serious filmgoers for two reasons; it was Garbo's last silent film, and it was directed with consummate artistry...she also took pleasure from that Mrs Feyder was on the set nearly every day. After work the three often went to Feyders' house for dinner, and even once in a while to Garbo's." This was reiterated in Silver Screen magazine by Harriet Parson, who in 1930, penned, "24 Hours with Garbo"
It chronicled an evening where the journalist followed Greta Garbo "I caught my breath in excitement. It was Garbo! I sat breathless while she and her escort selected a table. It was the one next to mine, not four feet away. Garbo was dressed as no other girl in Hollywood would have dressed- a grey suit, severely tailored, a man's grey shirt, a navy blue tie with white dots, a navy blue topcoat and a dark blue beret with no hair showing from beneath it... Suddenly I recognized him- Jacques Feyder, the French director who made "The Kiss", Garbo's last silent picture. They began to eat...Afterward she drank black coffee and smoked a denicotinized cigarette. A flower woman came to the table with her little trey of blossoms. Feyder had purchased a gardenia and with a gallant guest urge handed it to Garbo" After dinner, Garbo and her former director went to a puppet show held in a theater next door where Greta Garbo was being portrayed bu a puppet dressed as Anna Christie. Feyder escorted her home that night as the 24 hour reporter followed, "A fortress as impenetrable as she is herself. She disappears-Feyder departs alone-midnight arrives."
The then twenty year old Lew Ayres was described by Screenland Magazine as a rare sensation that had unexpectedly catapulted on to the screen almost as if he had in fact been hurriedly signed as a newcomer in anticipation of the new technology of sound. When interviewed by Myrene Wentworth, Lew Ayers described his meeting Greta Gabo, " 'Gee, she is wonderful,' he said. 'I was scared to death when I walked on to the set but she made me feel right at home and helped me tremendously.'...It was a scene where he had to rush in and embrace her madly. 'And I hadn't even been introduced to her.', he said with an imagine-my-embarrassment gesture... Miss Garbo saw his discomforture and took his arm, turning to Jacques Feyder, the director. 'Would you mind making me acquainted with this young man?'."

Photoplay magazine during 1931 used two full pages to exhibit one photo of Jacques  on the set to follow the director into the sound era in American film. It was a scene from his film "Daybreak", starring Ramon Novarro. The caption explains that the camera was "mounted on a rubber-tired 'dolly' for the making of traveling shots Jacques Feyder, director of Garbo's 'The Kiss' is the boss. He's at the extreme left, seated from the bottom." Film periodicals had counted on there being interest in the offscreen lives of film stars and in how they might put together a sound film, the extra-textual discourse embroidering distant super luminaries into the conversations that were held after the audiences left the public sphere of the theater and entered the fantasy objectifications of spectatorship that to some of the public may have seemed to be merely an ordinary walk home from the theater; and for theater goer Greta Garbo they may have been.

     A publicity still published in Picture Play magazine during 1929 kept the caption, "Miss Garbo, at top of page, unhappy in the midst of luxury, reflects on how little life holds." Interestingly, although Greta Garbo in a low cut dress directing the view of the spectator to where she might not be wearing a bra is in front of a dressing room mirror it is not strictly a mirror shot in that she is also photographed in quarter profile as though nearing over the shoulder to effect a double image.

Greta Garbo Trade Magazines
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Greta Garbo