Why so much hype?

Am I Missing Something?

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's a spectacular film, and its magic almost endures until the end, which unfortunately falls flat, abandoning Maugham. You can't do that to Maugham.As far as I know, every single story of his that was filmed, and they were many, were great films, and this is the only one raising a question mark. Was that miserable phony syrup happy end really necessary? Garbo carries the whole film on her shoulders, her magic is here more shining and almost blinding than ever, especially in the beginning, before she gets married, which of course has to end up in disaster - you can't marry a Garbo, not even Herbert Marshall, who actually tries and makes the best of it, but apparently he learned nothing from his previous failure with Marlene Dietrich in "Blonde Venus", where he made the same mistake and got furious of jealousy, but here at least he is not vindictive but rather sacrifices himself, and almost gets Greta Garbo lynched by the Chinese mob as well. Still, he is greatly to be preferred to the even more wooden George Brent, who hasn't found his Bette Davis here yet. Still he seduces Greta, although he is married, and when Herbert Marshall wants to divorce Greta, George Brent doesn't want to divorce HIS wife, which complicates the situation...There were several fantastic Chinese films made in the 30s, and this was just another of them and in some ways the most outstanding of them all. They all do resemble each other, Sternberg's "Shanghai Express", Capra's "Lost Horizon", Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth", Sternberg's "The Shanghai Gesture", Mankiewicz' "The Keys of the Kingdom" and perhaps the greatest of them all, although it took place in Singapore, another great Somerset Maugham film, William Wyler's "The Letter" with a very proper Chinese vengeance on Bette Davis; but this one maybe comes closest to China in the 30s, the scenes from Hong Kong are a joy of genuineness, and the chaos scenes from the interior that finalizes the film complete the Chinese situation of the 30s.It's one Garbo's most unusual films, suddenly she is quite a normal woman, but what a woman! No wonder both men go mad about her, her natural beauty as a normal Austrian is even more striking here than in "Christina", and it's a great film in its intensity and passion and above all its successful and impressive capture of the 30s of China.

In Austria, after the marriage of her beloved sister, Katrin (Greta Garbo) is proposed to marry Dr. Walter Fane (Herbert Marshall), who is a former student of her father and is researching cholera. They travel to Hong Kong and Katrin is totally neglected by her husband. Soon she has a love affair with the diplomat Jack Townsend (George Brent). When Walter discovers her love affair, he proposes the divorce provided Jack leaves his wife and marry Katrin. But this procedure would destroy his diplomatic career and Katrin leaves Jack. Walter decides to travel to the countryside to a village with cholera epidemic and forces Katrin to travel with him to punish her. What will happen to his wife?"The Painted Veil" is a romance with a corny conclusion about a marriage without love of a dedicated researcher and a bored housewife. The imperialism of the Westerns is impressive and a doctor is capable to order to burn down the houses of the villagers to the ground without explaining them the reason why. Only Greta Garbo makes it worthwhile watching this film once. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Véu Pintado" ("The Painted Veil")

I absolutely loved the 2006 version w/Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, & Liv Schreiber. I so loved the 2006 version that maybe I was a bit prejudicial in my judgement at first. However, since reading the the book, I have come to redetermine the outcome of both. I have always said "I can make a better movie in my head, than any film producer, Director, Etc ever could" because I would always choose to go with the story that compelled the public (by the author) in the first place. In most cases I have read the book first. Thus, I would want the film to end with what W. Somerset Maugham chose as an ending in the 1st place. The 2006 version made me weep---the 1st didn't even come close---it was a pale imitation--even though it wasn't imitation.

GRETA GARBO marries a man she doesn't really love (afraid of being an old maid when her sister marries), so HERBERT MARSHALL once again must face the fate he had in most of his films--he's saddled with a wife who doesn't really love him, at least in the first reel.But in THE PAINTED VEIL, Garbo comes to realize that he's more worthy of her love than the scoundrel she meets in China, where she has joined her husband in his quest to fight cholera. The scoundrel is played with his usual indifference by GEORGE BRENT, looking more youthful than audiences would expect who are mostly familiar with his '40s films as a favorite Warner Bros. leading man.Neither Marshall nor Brent has ever had an electric screen presence, but it doesn't matter in this case. The camera lingers lovingly on the face of Garbo as she changes expressions delicately under as many flattering close-ups as could be managed. It's really one of her better performances, less actressy than usual and making it seem credible in the end that she could come to love and value her husband when she sees how he affects the lives of others.Summing up: A bit contrived and melodramatic, but much better than a lot of Garbo films in the early '30s with interesting sets and costumes.