Critics,are you kidding us

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

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.

Silent film veteran John Stuart Robertson, once called the most well-liked director in Hollywood, had already guided John Barrymore , Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish in major projects. Here, under his sensitive direction, Garbo blooms in a relaxed and radiant performance, as she never did in her stodgy Clarence Brown vehicles. Was Robertson the silents counterpart of Cukor?As a socialite seeking to "live honestly", Garbo first has a frank dalliance with her chauffeur, then meets artist Nils Asther--who apparently lives in an art gallery and paints exactly like Gauguin--and impulsively decides to sail to the South Seas on his yacht (although we only see Catalina, Robertson conveys a bracing sun-and-salt air quality from the shipboard locations). Returning to a somewhat scandalized reception in San Francisco, she marries local dullard John Mack Brown; meanwhile, the artist travels to "fever-haunted" China (where his hair inexplicably develops a white streak). Her final conflict is to choose between mothering her darling son or running away with the love of her life. What would Louis B. Mayer do?Despite some talk about the "philosophy of love" and the injustice of the double standard, this is hardly Tolstoy: the film stays within the conventions of a novelette, never seriously threatening the social status quo. Still, the pleasures are many: graceful direction and nicely underplayed acting throughout, plus Garbo, at the peak of her beauty, in an elegantly tailored Adrian wardrobe, giving one of her most appealing performances.

Garbo is a free-spirited debutante who becomes scandalous for first having an affair with her chauffeur, then artist (Asther), all before she settles for millionaire Brown. Irrational soap opera is enjoyable thanks to Garbo's luminescence. A silent film with original music score.

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.