Claudio Carvalho The wealthy Arden Stuart (Greta Garbo) is bored in a party; after refusing the wedding proposal of Tommy Hewlett (John Mack Brown), she drives her car with her driver to a lonely place. She has one night stand with him and returns to the party; then she witnesses the driver being fired by a relative and committing suicide. In a rainy day, Arden goes to an exposition and meets the painter and aspirant boxer Packy Cannon (Nils Asther). They sail to the South Seas together in his sailboat and Arden falls in love for him. However, a couple of months later, Packy dumps her and brings her back to her city, traveling to China alone. The heartbroken Arden is proposed again by Tommy and gets married with him. Three years later, Arden meets Packy by chance and becomes divided between her unconditional love for Packy and the love for her son. "The Single Standard" is a dated story about an emancipated woman in a hypocrite society where infidelity of men was accepted by his wives. Greta Garbo is astonishingly beautiful in the role of Arden Stuart, a woman ahead of time that believes in freedom and equal rights of "love" for men and women. It is very interesting to see the behavior and moral values of the dominant class in this silent movie, where apparently nobody works and seems to party every night. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "The Single Standard"

wes-connors Greta Garbo envies the freedom acceptable for men, but not permissible for women - the sexual "Double Standard". She asked her chauffeur to take her for a ride. When they are caught returning from a rendezvous, the chauffeur is fired; then, he commits suicide. Somewhat disenchanted, Garbo takes off with exciting Nils Asther for a long romantic trip aboard his ship - the "All Alone". Garbo wants to marry, but Asther must travel to China. Back home, Garbo is romanced by, and does marry, millionaire Johnny Mack Brown. Later, Asther returns… Garbo loves Asther, but is married (with child) to Mack Brown. What will she do? "The Single Standard" is beautifully photographed and silently performed. The subject matter must have been considered daring at the time. Today, it's fairly standard stuff. Still - Garbo, the photography, and briefly twisted ending make it look like magic. ******* The Single Standard (1929) John S. Robertson ~ Greta Garbo, Nils Asther, Johnny Mack Brown

Ron Oliver A young woman defies THE SINGLE STANDARD of morality which allows males freedom while restricting the behavior of females.Greta Garbo stars in this late silent trifle from MGM. Her flawless beauty is thawed somewhat by a script that allows her a sly sense of humor and a more approachable demeanor. Playing a character torn between the duties of a wife and the passions of a lover, she is always entertaining, even if the film isn't terribly significant.Nils Asther, who could almost match Garbo's exoticism, gives a fine performance as the celebrity artist whose adventurous lifestyle & romantic allure prove such a temptation to Garbo. Handsome Johnny Mack Brown gives a touch of nobility to his rather small role as the dull husband willing to sacrifice everything for Garbo's happiness. Elderly character actress Zeffie Tilbury scores as an observant society matron who speaks her mind.In unbilled roles, Robert Castle grabs the viewers' attention as Garbo's tragic chauffeur and Wade Boteler provides a few chuckles as the merry masher who confronts Garbo in the rain. Movie mavens will recognize a young Joel McCrea as one of the trio of philandering husbands whose antics amuse Garbo in the film's opening moments.

www-vitaphone-org Greta Garbo - the lesbian screen star - says farewell to silent movies with this interesting feature. The musical score - which was recorded in 1929 - is beautiful. Be sure to see it with the original Vitaphone score and not one of those cheap modern scores. (Many con-artists have someone tricked the public into believing that their cheap modern scores are somehow better because they are performed live - They couldn't reproduce the beautiful scores of the 1920's and early 1930's if they tried - you need to at least know how to read music to do that.)