A shameless woman
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A shameless woman (mistress of love) |
| Original title | A woman of affairs |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1928 |
| length | 87 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Clarence Brown |
| script | Bess Meredyth |
| production | Irving Thalberg for MGM |
| camera | William Daniels |
| cut | Hugh Wynn |
| occupation | |
| |
A shameless woman (also mistress of love , original title: A Woman of Affairs ) is an American film by Clarence Brown with the screen couple Greta Garbo and John Gilbert from the year 1928. It is based on the novel The green hat - A novel for few from Michael Arlen.
action
Diana, David and Neville have known each other from childhood. Diana realized early on that she only loved Neville. But because Neville is poor and Diana rich, Neville's father wants to prevent the marriage and sends his son abroad. Diana waits a few years and then marries David. However, David kills himself on the honeymoon because he is involved in criminal activities. Diana is silent about the real reasons and takes all the blame for death. Outlawed by society, she lived for years as a woman of dubious reputation and only returned to England very ill a few days before the wedding of Neville and Constance. The two lovers meet in the hospital. Disturbed by the encounter, Diana later kills herself by crashing her car into a tree.
background
After two appearances together in Es war and Anna Karenina , Greta Garbo and John Gilbert had become a popular screen couple. The studio was looking for a new material for the two stars and came up with the novel The Green Hat - A novel for a few by Michael Arlen, which had caused a huge scandal when it was published because of the revealing depictions of sex and venereal diseases. Nothing of this appears in the script and the socially critical approach turned into a tragic love story about two young, beautiful people who are prevented from being happy by circumstances and class differences. To avoid problems with the censor, the title was also changed to A Woman of Affairs . Greta Garbo interprets the main role as a modern woman with her own idea, self-confident and yet with integrity. Gilbert's character is more nuanced in the book than in the screen version, in which Neville is portrayed as a hesitant man of weak character who listens to everyone except Diana and is easy to influence. During the filming, Garbo, who otherwise placed little value on social contacts with colleagues, made friends with the actress Dorothy Sebastian .
The novel was adapted into a stage play in 1924, which achieved 128 performances with Tallulah Bankhead in London. In 1934 Constance Bennett played the title role in Outcast Lady .
Reviews
The reviews were benevolent in relation to the actors, but rather negative in terms of the quality of the script. Variety gave a differentiated assessment:
“A sensational cast and the underlying, infamous novel ('The Green Hat - A Novel for Few') as well as the wonderful play by Greta Garbo - her best performance so far - will help make this pale version of the play a success. [...] But the tooth was pulled from the material and John Gilbert, idol of the flappers , only has a so-so role. "
Theatrical release
The film was released for national distribution on December 15, 1928. Production cost of $ 383,000 was the average cost of a Garbo silent film. It was very successful at the box office, grossing a total of $ 850,000 in the United States, with an additional $ 520,000 from overseas markets. A cumulative result of $ 1,370,000 brought the studio a profit of $ 417,000 in the end.
Awards
The film went with a nomination for the 1930 Academy Awards (April) :
- Best Screenplay - Bess Meredyth.
Web links
- A shameless woman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- A Woman of Affairs at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- Background information and a link to numerous screenshots
- detailed discussion
Footnotes
- ↑ A sensational array of screen names, and the intriguing nature of the story (The Green Hat) from which it was made, together with some magnificence in the acting by Greta Garbo, by long odds the best thing she has ever done, will carry through this vague and sterilized version of Michael Arlen's exotic play. [...] But the kick is out of the material, and, worse yet, John Gilbert, idol of the flappers, has an utterly blah role.