Product Details

• Actors: Greta Garbo, Nils Asther, Johnny Mack Brown
• Directors: John S. Robertson
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Warner Bros.
• DVD Release Date: June 22, 2009
• Run Time: 70 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0026R5708
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,629 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Single Standard" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My rating here is for the product not the film..., June 11, 2009

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Single Standard (DVD)

...which I would give five stars, not to mention that the other reviewer is right about this being an invalid listing. I wrote pretty much the same review of the storyline of this film under the VHS version, which I have owned for a very long time.

I happily bought this product direct from Warner Brothers for under twenty dollars along with several other films when the Warner Archives first opened. Warners has not hidden several important facts about this product and the other Warner Archive films:
1. There has been no restoration done to this film. As a result, the fuzzy condition of the film that you see on your VHS copy is present here, as is the deterioration in some of the title cards and even portions of the film. However, it is still quite watchable.
2. This is a DVD-R made on demand, not a pressed DVD.
3. There are no extra features and no scene selections. You may only go forward and backwards in ten minute intervals.

The case is sturdy, and it was good to finally have something a little more durable and storage friendly than my old VHS tape. Now for the storyline:

This film was adapted from a novel by Adela Rogers St. John. St. John was the daughter of a famed criminal attorney who practiced at the turn of the 20th century. Her father eventually died of drink, having been a lifetime alcoholic. The film "A Free Soul" was very loosely based on her life. She had very liberal viewpoints for her era, and only before the production code began to be enforced in 1934 could such a work as this come to the screen.

Garbo plays Arden, a society girl who has grown up observing the seemingly inevitable cheating that goes on in the marriages of all her friends by the husbands. Meanwhile, when she takes an innocent drive late at night with the chauffeur, she is subjected to Victorian judgements by the men in the household. This leads her to adopt the "single standard" as her philosophy of love - absolute freedom and equality for both parties. Shortly thereafter she meets Packy Cannon (Nils Asther), an artist, adventurer, and ex-prizefighter. The two have instant chemistry and they sail away together on his boat, the "All Alone". However, after a few perfect months together, Packy returns Arden to her home, saying that their love has been so perfect it must live on forever - but only in their memories.

Once she returns home, Tommy Hewlett (Johnny Mack Brown) tells Arden that he still wants her to marry him, doesn't care about the scandal that her sailing away with Packy has caused among their society crowd, and is not afraid of the possibility that she might leave him if Packy were to ever return. The two do marry, Packy returns for Arden, and Arden and Tommy come to completely different conclusions about how to handle the situation. It is (almost) most unfortunate that they never communicate their individual plans to one another.

This is one of Garbo's last silents, and by this film she has evolved into the woman we recognize in her later talking films. To really appreciate Garbo you must start with her silents and watch her grow from girlhood to womanhood onscreen. Nils Asther and Johnny Mack Brown didn't have it so good in talking pictures. Nils Asther's accent did impede his career considerably, and by the 1940's he was a truckdriver. Johnny Mack Brown just didn't come across with a commanding presence in talking pictures. He lost his contract at MGM in the early 30's and eventually wound up doing dozens of B Westerns for poverty row Monogram Pictures.

This is a late silent, so a synchronized score is included. The video is quite worn looking, with considerable "cross-hatching" on more than a few scenes, and artifacts so bad on a few of the title cards that it is hard to read them. If you're looking for other late silents that had synchronized scores, the Archives seems commited to releasing these pseudo-silents since no score need be commissioned. In June 2009 Warner Brothers is releasing quite a few of the Vitaphone-scored late silents through the archives including "The First Auto", "The Divine Lady", "The Better Ole", and "When A Man Loves".

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "New Woman", Garbo Fights The Sexual Double Standard, January 13, 2004

By 

Simon Davis (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Single Standard [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Being one of MGM's last stars to take the plunge into the new world of "talkies", Greta Garbo was still making silent features till the end of 1929 long after most stars had faced the microphone. Having witnessed the abrupt ending to so many performers careers because of thick accents that didn't match their already established screen personas, MGM's fear of what Garbo's until then unheard accent might do to her career was entirely understandable. They had purposely delayed her speaking debut but in this silent production her image was considerably "Americanised" possibly in an attempt to make her "more acceptable" to the Middle American audiences. Indeed "The Single Standard" was touted in the trade papers as Garbo's "first 100% American role", and she gets to play a flighty San Francisco debutante with very modern views on the sexual double standards then existing between men and women.

Based on a novel by famed writer Adela Rogers St. John, "The Single Standard", focuses on the escapades of free thinking, sexually liberated debutante Arden Stuart. She is a typical product of the "New Generation", of the carefree 1920's that rebels against the staid standards then existing in a society that condones men's sexual dalliances but condemms the same actions in women as immoral. Arden is a total individual and free thinker and after a romantic interlude with her chaffeur which ends tragically, she happens one rainy day to encounter bohemian artist Packy Cannon (Nils Asther)at a gallery showing of some of his work. It is an instant attraction on both a physical and emotional level between the two and Arden being the impulsive creature that she is decides to bypass the affections of solid, respectable Tommy Hewlett (Johnny Mack Brown) with his sturdy and predictable future ahead of him, for a trip to the South Seas on Packy's yacht "All Alone". The interlude is a lazily romantic one with the pair spending their idle days on the sun drenched decks however Packy decides to go onto Paris to commence his work and insists on dropping Arden back in San Francisco on the way. Having become the object of scandalous gossip in her absense Arden finds herself isolated socially and on the rebound from Packy falls into the arms of the respectable Tommy who she marries all the while telling him that Packy is in her blood and always will be. A few years pass and Arden and Tommy have a child and a lifestyle which is respectable if lacking in real excitment. On a trip to the beach Arden by chance encounters Packy who has returned from Paris and immediately the old passion between the two is reignited. Tommy seeing the old attraction rising between his wife and the artist confronts Packy about his feelings towards Arden and always considering her feelings above his own decides in a very self sacrificing moment to "exit" the scene by faking a hunting accident to free Arden from the respectable but dull life she is leading. Unbeknown to him however Arden has had second thoughts about throwing everything away to go running off with Packy now that she has a child who she adores and who is the centre of her life. She only just manages to head off Tommy purposely killing himself and they begin a reconciliation and new life together as they watch Packy sail off on his yacht and out of their lives.

Greta Garbo delivers I believe one of her most lively and likeable performances in "The Single Standard". Her delivery is full of energy and a vibrance not normally associated with her more famous work and she is totally believable as the fun loving girl who learns responsibility and maturity through her own misfortunes. Anyone who only knows the sombre Garbo of numerous screen tragedies needs to view her performance here to see what she was capable of achieving given a more energic vehicle to perform in. Nils Asther a danish actor who enjoyed great popularity in the late silent era performs well as Packy the bohemian artist but he has a difficult job competing with Garbo in the acting stakes. Both the main men in Arden's life, Asther and Johnny Mack Brown seem to be somehow unworthy of this alluring creature who is torn between the respectability offered by Tommy and the excitement offered by Packy. Johnny Mack Brown does a servicable job as the respectable husband who lives in the shadow of Arden's real passion and his usually bland screen persona serves his character very well here. John S. Robertson, a great silent director who guided Mary Pickford through many great performances really works well with Garbo here and never once does he let Garbo, as Arden lose track of those inner feelings the character is experiencing. Garbo's face is totally alive throughout this film, whether it be delight at the passion she is feeling with Packy, anguish over hurting the dependable Tommy or causing harm to her beautiful child. Interestingly "The Single Standard", is a rare Garbo vehicle where a child is featured in the film and her rapport with the infant in this story is totally appealing and shows an unexpectedly maternal side to Garbo's acting.

Despite it's somewhat daring subject matter for the time "The Single Standard", does conclude with Arden choosing the conventional and safe option in life. The times then, certainly in regard to Hollywood film making, made that type of a conclusion to such a tale as this mandatory. Along the way however there is much exploration done on the need for a "single standard", rather than the "double one" in the sexual relationships between men and women. It is this element that makes "The Single Standard", such interesting viewing today. Greta Garbo is the body and soul of this production so it offers a unique opportunity to see her in a very nontraditional role on the eve of her sound debut. Enjoy a vibrant and delightfully carefree Garbo fighting for a single standard in a male dominated world of double standards in MGM's glossy "The Single Standard".

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of her best, August 26, 2008

By 

B. Pocker "book reader" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Single Standard [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is my favorite Garbo film. I love everything about it-the story, the direction,the performances, the costumes. This film sums up what Garbo meant to women of her time. It's a must-see for anyone interested in her career.