Customer Reviews

TCM Archives: The Garbo Silents Collection (The Temptress / Flesh and the Devil / The Mysterious Lady)

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2 star:		(1)
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Although part of the large scale GARBO:THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION featuring 7 of her 1930's films, THE GARBO SILENTS is available seperately for the silent film enthusiast or for those who don't want to purchase the whole package. It joins the sets of Buster Keaton and Lon Chaney films released earlier by TCM Archives. As with those sets the production values are high, the extras plentiful, and the set offered at a reasonable price considering what it contains.

I do however have a few issues with this new release. First up is the exclusion of the new documentary GARBO from this set (it's part of THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION). It is listed as being included according to the TCM website but instead there's a documentary on the recent rescoring of the movies by a group of young composers. While that is interesting and important, the documentary on Garbo is more important and would get more people to buy the set. The packaging is annoying too with two of the three films presented on a double sided DVD (which can come apart) although I suppose it does keep the price down.

Then there's the choice of films. I'm sure every Garbo fan has something to say about this. I would like to have seen WOMAN OF AFFAIRS included as I think that remains one of her very best silents with fine work from a young Douglas Fairbanks Jr. I also wish that they could have used the tinted print for THE MYSTERIOUS LADY that was used for the VHS release since the quality of this print is no better than that one which had damage issues. The musical accompaniment for this edition is much better than the old release and overall it's up to TCM's high standards. While not the best of her silents FLESH AND THE DEVIL still remains electrifying thanks to the chemistry between her and John Gilbert and the glorious photography of William Daniels. THE MYSTERIOUS LADY is fun with the courtmartial scene a standout and Garbo a knockout in every frame. THE TEMPTRESS gives us a look at Garbo at the start of her American career. Perhaps these films were chosen because she has a different leading man in each one or to give Garbo fans something to argue about. Who knows?

Nevertheless it's great to have Garbo back where she belongs, up there on the silver screen (even if its a lot smaller and not nearly as silver as it used to be). Thanks to TCM Archives for once again bringing us the good stuff from the M-G-M vaults. Keep it coming Warner Home Video. First Chaney, then Keaton and now Garbo. What's next? How about the Lillian Gish Collection (THE SCARLET LETTER, LA BOHEME, THE WIND) or the Tod Browning Collection (THE SHOW, WEST OF ZANZIBAR, FREAKS). Just a thought.

I had been waiting for some of the late silent era's best films to be released on DVD, in particular those with Greta Garbo, and while hoping that there would be more, I'm still very pleased with the 3 Garbo films in this set. The picture quality of "The Mysterious Lady" is not much better than my old VHS, but apart from this, I'm very pleased with the overall quality on these discs, particularly the wonderful musical scores for each one, some unusual and inventive photo montages and other special features. Anyone interested in music would probably also find the half-hour documentary "Settling the Score" an unexpected and rewarding highlight, as I did. It depicts the TCM Young Film Composers Competition, some work from each entrant and how the final score for "The Temptress" was done. It helped me get a lot more insight into this challenging and fascinating work, and it left me with a much deeper appreciation and respect for good silent film scores.

No doubt everyone has one or more Garbo favourites, and perhaps TCM had trouble deciding which ones to include in this set. For some powerful emotional drama, "Flesh and the Devil" is probably one of the best and a good choice, especially as it features the two biggest stars of the time who were drawing large audiences: Garbo and John Gilbert. For a love story with espionage and suspense, it doesn't get much better than "The Mysterious Lady", and finally, "The Temptress" shows an interesting angle on Garbo's character. Her sensuous and alluring beauty brings men's lives to ruin, but she is unaware of any wrong-doing on her own part; and in fact, when she does see what problems she has unintentionally caused, she ends up a pathetic alcoholic on the streets of Paris, making one last sacrifice out of love. This story intrigued me the most, in fact, as it has some depth and an angle that might not be so obvious at first. There is also an alternative happy ending which was shown to other audiences; also an interesting point to consider. Each film on these discs has an optional commentary by 3 different experts, covering all kinds of background information, some gossip and other insights to give a more in-depth and complete picture of Garbo and these three particular films. No doubt there's something for everyone here, both for silent and general film or Garbo fans alike.

Of course is a pleasure to see these brilliant silent films starring the great GARBO. "Flesh and the Devil" and "The Mysterious Lady" was part of my VHS collection. But "The Temptress" is a real surprise. Thanks to TCM for this and I (we) am waiting for "The Torrent" and more.
UNFORGIVEN: What happened with the Garbo pics collection? In the middle of one of the portraits montages there is a TALLULAH BANKHEAD picture. I don't understand! Who made the montage? Obvioulsy not a Garbo fan!

Garbo is my favorite actress and I am very happy to see this collection, which is included in the "Greta Garbo Signature Collection" being released at the same time. I am even more happy to see "The Temptress" available for the first time. I would give this collection 5 stars if only they had included "The Torrent", her first Hollywood film, instead of "Mysterious Lady". While the latter has been available on VHS, "The Torrent" has never been available on home video, not to mention the fact that this collection would then have included her first three Hollywood films. The only Garbo film previously available on DVD is "Grand Hotel", so despite this criticism, I salute TCM Archives for giving us this collection, and especially for releasing "The Temptress", never previously available. I also recommend the TCM ARCHIVES LON CHANEY COLLECTION.

If you're not familiar with Garbo, start here, because this is a great introduction. All three feature films include commentary that is insightful and stays on track. The commenters do not meander off into side issues as is often the case.

When TCM put this set together they apparently took the same approach as they did with Lon Chaney Collection: The Ace of Hearts; Laugh, Clown, Laugh; The Unknown. Plus Documentary Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces. that was released about the same time. In both cases, they are not giving you the absolute best that the artist did, but are trying to give you a sample of their works with one extremely good film (in this case "The Flesh and the Devil").

"The Temptress" is the film that I liked the least. Made before "Flesh and the Devil", you may be slightly annoyed that Garbo is not as much the center of attention that she is in the other two. "Flesh and the Devil" is of course the center attraction here, with this being the beginning of the Garbo/Gilbert collaboration that was so successful onscreen. Finally, there is 1928's "The Mysterious Lady" made as the silent era was waning with Garbo starring opposite Conrad Nagel. The commenter notes how much Nagel looks like John Gilbert in this film and wonders if this is why he was chosen to star with Garbo.

If you are already familiar with Garbo, don't buy this separately. Go straight to Greta Garbo - The Signature Collection (Anna Christie / Mata Hari / Grand Hotel / Queen Christina / Anna Karenina / Camille / Ninotchka / Garbo Silents). It is a perfect boxed set of films in every way, and this entire set of silents is included in it. Plus there is an entire disc dedicated to a documentary about Garbo.

I would still like to see another set of Garbo silents, since there is so much good work still out there that she did at MGM that is not on DVD - A Woman of Affairs, The Single Standard, Wild Orchids, and The Kiss come to mind. It is somewhat ironic that one of the extras in the set is a featurette on TCM's Young Composers Contest. This is a competition in which young musicians score part of a silent film and the winner goes on to score an entire silent film in the TCM library that is then premiered on TCM. That competition has now been eliminated, and is one of the reasons that Warner Home Video has not releasing any more silents. Releasing the films I mentioned would bypass that problem since they were all made with a Movietone score and synchronous sound effects, something that was popular in the non-dialogue films released in 1928 and 1929.

This is a really great set of 3 of Garbo's silent films. I highly recommend it if you are a fan of silent film. I bought the Garbo The Signature Collection box (which includes this set in it) as a blindbuy having never seen any of her films before. I was very satisfied with my purchase and found that this set is easily my favorite part of that box set.

Value-wise I recommend you look at the signature collection box before buying this set though.
That box set includes this exact same set and much more. Occasionally it drops a lot in price and costs about as much as this set currently does. I bought my copy of the Signature Collection elsewhere for much less than this set is currently priced.
I'm pretty sure some used vendors even buy the Signature Collection at a low price separate its contents and sell them individually. I assume that's why the used prices for this are sometimes so low.

Anyhow, this is a great set but the 10 disc "Greta Garbo - The Signature Collection" is sometimes a better value.
Greta Garbo - The Signature Collection (Anna Christie / Mata Hari / Grand Hotel / Queen Christina / Anna Karenina / Camille / Ninotchka / Garbo Silents)

I got this collection because I was watching TCM and saw The Temptress and LOVED it so, I just had to have this set. Greta Garbo is such a GREAT actress but her voice is something less desired. Flesh and The Devil and The Temptress were amazingly restored while, the Mysterious Lady was not so great. This imperfect restoration does not affect your viewing but is just sad to see how dirty this film is compared to the others. None the less, it is actually younger than the previous two.

I loved this collection and is worth every penny. It is also worth every penny if you're a Pre-Code movie lover (like myself) because all of these, especially Flesh and the Devil, seem very scandalous.

Greta Garbo made twelve major silent films, beginning with the Swedish THE SAGA OF GOSTA BERLINGS in 1924 and ending with three MGM films, THE KISS, WILD ORCHIDS, THE SINGLE STANDARD, in 1929. With a few exceptions during the VHS era, few of these films have been widely available to the home market. THE GARBO SILENTS COLLECTIONS offers three, one that Garbo fans have likely seen a dozen times already and two lesser known titles that are equally fine.

The most famous of three, of course, is the 1926 FLESH AND THE DEVIL, Garbo's third film in Hollywood for MGM and her first to co-star her with John Gilbert. At the time there was no question about who was the bigger star: Gilbert was a huge box office draw and his name is above the title. According to film lore, Garbo was not eager to make the film. Her sister had recently died in Sweden and the film's schedule prevented her from being with her family at that time; perhaps more to the point for the ever-practical Garbo, she disliked the role, which she considered "just another vamp." Gilbert, however, was interested in doing a film with Garbo, the studio twisted her arm, and the result was a film with love scenes that were shocking for their day. Although her previous films had indicated her powers, it was really this film that made her a major star. It also prompted her love affair with John Gilbert, which would run off and on for many years. It is also unexpectedly homoerotic.

The story concerns two friends, played by John Gilbert and Lars Hanson, whose attachment seems to be of the hands-on variety: they hug each other, fondle each other, and in general cavort to a point at which one expects them to play a semi-nude love scene at any moment. But then Garbo tempts Gilbert, who is drawn away from his friend and finds himself caught up in a duel that sends him into exile in Africa. Upon his return he finds Hanson has married Garbo. What can he do, torn between the men--er, man and woman--he loves the most? The ending that resolves the problem is quite unexpected, expecially by standards of the day. The original ending was so questionable that alternative ending was shot to soften the whole thing and shown in many markets.

Of the other two films, THE TEMPTRESS was made in the same year as FLESH AND THE DEVIL, and it is very likely the film she had in mind when she said her role in FLESH AND THE DEVIL was too much like her earlier films. In this tale, Garbo plays a woman married to a fop she dislikes--and who falls in love with one of her husband's friends. One can certainly see the similarity, but the two films are quite different, with Antonio Moreno quite a different type from Gilbert, and the story involving Garbo tricking her husband into helping her pursue Moreno all the way to Argentia, where she does everything from provoke a fight with bull whips to precipitate a murder. Like FLESH AND THE DEVIL, the conclusion was so completely uncompromising that an alternative ending was shot for markets which couldn't handle the original.

THE MYSTERIOUS LADY was made somewhat later in Garbo's career, in 1928, and it is quite different from the other two films offered here. In this particular film Garbo is a spy whose interest in Conrad Nagel begins as purely professional but soon progresses into true love. When Nagel discovers the truth, she declares her love for him--but rejects her and she revenges herself upon him by stealing the top secret papers he carries. Nagel is subsequently court martialed and drummed out of the army, but he sets out to redeem himself by recovering the papers. When he once more meets Garbo, he finds that she loves him still--and that she is repentant and willing to help him recover the papers, assuming that neither of them get shot first. It is an interesting film, very atypical of Garbo's movies, and perhaps all the more fascinating for that.

All three films offer audio tracks of varying interest; FLESH AND THE DEVIL and THE TEMPTRESS include their alternative endings; and there are a number of other tidbits besides. The visual elements of THE MYSTERIOUS LADY are somewhat weak, but it is no less watchable for that. Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I really enjoyed this DVD set. Okay, it would have been great if all of Garbo's silent films had been included (especially "A Woman of Affairs"), but perhaps this is still to come. The films themselves are excellent examples of what it was that made Garbo into the legend she is. As much as I enjoy her later films, for me her strongest performances are those in her silent films. I especially enjoyed the audio commentaries as they give a much deeper insight into the film.

And here the reason why I only rate 4 stars: As much as I enjoyed the audio commentaries of "The Temptress" and "Mysterious Lady", giving all the background on the actual film usually given in audio commentaries, the commentary I most looked forward to - Barry Paris' of "Flesh and the Devil" - I found extremely annoying. Whereas the other two commentaries give valualbe information on the film itself - the main actors involved, the director, lighting, script development, scene development, etc. - Paris' commentary is a mere repetition of the Garbo-Gilbert story and a lot of general stuff from his biography "Garbo". I really enjoyed reading the biography and found it very well researched, but when I listen to an audio commentary of "Flesh and the Devil", I really would have hoped for a commentary concentrated on the movie itself. And though Mr. Paris might find it amusing to immitate Garbo's accent throughout his commentary, I found it annoying and actually quite disrespectful.

Also, I am wondering a bit about the musical scores. Didn't these movies have their own original score (like "Woman of Affairs" or "Wild Orchids")? Of course it might be tempting to create new scores, but it would have been nice to have had the original ones as an optional choice.

Still - overall a great DVD set, and I hope that the other Garbo silents will also be released in a set like this!

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