Home > Woman of Affairs (Silent) [VHS]

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See what the art of silent film acting is all about. It's an art form all by itself, which many actors of today may have failed miserably at.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. does a brilliant job with the character of Garbo's doomed alcoholic brother. Dorothy Sebastian perfect as the jilted wife.

Carl Davis, the brilliant composer,who scored Pride and Prejudice, among others, along with many other silent films, rescored this restored silent film with an understanding and knowledge of this era, no other composer could even attempt. We can only hope he will rescore many other silent films (hopefully the Gilbert/Garbo film "LOVE," costaring John Gilbert). Carl Davis' silent film scores are available on his CD "The Silents"

A powerful emotional drama with legendary stars, 2009-07-05
The name of Greta Garbo immediately conjures images of a sultry, sensual foreign actress with an aura of mystique, and she lives up to this image perfectly in "A Woman of Affairs" which followed the success of "Flesh and the Devil" a year earlier. In both films Garbo's co-star is the dashing John Gilbert, whose popularity and sex appeal even rivaled that of Rudolph Valentino in the early to mid 1920s, and with whom Garbo had a rocky off-screen romance. Add the expertise and skill of director Clarence Brown who directed Garbo and Gilbert in "Flesh and the Devil", and the result is an even more emotion-charged love story to tug and tear at your heartstrings. The final ingredient to make this a truly powerful and unforgettable drama is Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in one of his most impressive and finest early performances as Garbo's alcoholic brother who dies an untimely death halfway through this tragic tale. Lewis Stone contributes his usual solid presence as the faithful friend and doctor, but the quality and high standard of this film do not rest on the fame of the cast and crew alone.

Based on a controversial novel, this story has depth and some intrigue as the true motives of the woman with a questionable reputation are gradually revealed. Although Garbo lives up to her screen persona of the alluring temptress and seductive woman who ruins the lives of men, she also succeeds in making the character genuine, believable and even likeable. When her first and only true love is sent away by his father who disapproves of her, she finds her life taking a different course over which she appears to have no control, and which results in even more tragedy. It is a drama about people and relationships, and above all, a love story rarely seen in modern times, nor portrayed in this way that can only be achieved through the medium of the silent film. Made near the end of the silent era, this film features some of the best, most sophisticated and refined cinematic qualities of the late 1920s, with a few unusual camera angles to add drama and to enhance the powerful visual medium of the silent film. An orchestral musical accompaniment underscores the drama and tension very well, and the picture quality of this VHS is very good throughout. This is a true gem of early cinema not to be missed by both silent and classic film enthusiasts alike!


Woman of Affairs, 2006-04-25

Garbo has the ability to make any picture she was in a transcendent marvel, but this one comes across as just a heavy-handed weeper. She and John Gilbert love each other, but his father talks him out of marrying her - for "honor's sake" (what honor?), and he marries another instead. Garbo, too, marries someone else, John Mack Brown, a sleazebag who ends up killing himself when he's about to be arrested for embezzlement. Of course Garbo and Gilbert are still madly in love with each other, but when Garbo sees that Gilbert is still in love with his "good" wife Constance, she realizes it's all pretty hopeless between them, and she kills herself. It's all kind of silly and unbelievable and overly melodramatic, even for this era, and the story feels draggy before long. The off-screen love affair between Garbo and Gilbert probably sparked interest in how that would be expressed on screen, but it's not as all-consuming as it was in other pictures (THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL, for example). Best performance honors go to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as Garbo's brother.

Garbo's Film, 2005-03-19
I normally cannot stand Garbo. I've tried and tried but I've only warmed up to Ninotchka- until now.

In the beginning of this movie, her character is vivacious and youthful. As time goes on, she is betrayed, her relationships with her brother and her several loves fall apart, and her life becomes a series of meaningless events.

Unlike in Flesh and the Devil, there is actual chemistry between Garbo and her real life lover John Gilbert. Only in this movie, it is he who stands her up.

Watch it, love it. It's a really great piece, obviously based on a great work of literature.

Classic Garbo/Gilbert!, 2003-03-07
Set in England, Diana Merrick (Greta Garbo) has been in love with Neville (John Gilbert) since childhood. Now an adult, she plans on marrying him. Neville's father, however, disapproves of the wild Merrick girl and sends his son abroad. Diana does the "honorable" thing and agrees to stay away ("honor" is a reoccurring theme in this film). Another suitor since childhood is David who is regarded as a highly respectable young man. Diana's heavy drinking brother Jeffry (played expertly by Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) worships David as the gallant man he wishes he could be. Diana eventually marries David only to find out he was not the saint everyone believed. She covers up the real reason behind his suicide at the expense of her own reputation in order to spare her brother's faith in David's "decency" (another reoccurring theme). She makes no effort to defend herself when Jeffry loudly (in text, anyway) declares that Diana's reckless past is the reason for David's demise.

Her own reputation tarnished, the widow Diana goes abroad and lives the loose life everyone expects of her. When she returns to England, she finds that true love Neville is engaged and her brother is in a worse drunken state than before. Will she lose them both along with her sanity? Get this film and find out! Beautifully acted--Garbo definitely shows off her toughness in this one. This version also includes a wonderful musical score. It is an hour and 37 minutes. I also recommend Flesh and the Devil-my favorite Garbo/Gilbert film.