Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Cissy Évelyne It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

jacobs-greenwood Directed by Clarence Brown, this Michael Arlen story earned Bess Meredyth an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Achievement. The film is an above average Greta Garbo silent with John Gilbert, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., among others.The plot follows Diana (Garbo in the title role), the carefree daughter of the Merrick family and sister to Jeffry (Fairbanks Jr.), who grew up the childhood sweetheart of Neville Holderness (Gilbert). Anita Louise appears, uncredited, as the child Diana.Unfortunately for the young lovers, Neville's father, Sir Morton Holderness (Hobart Bosworth), disapproves of the "reckless" Merricks, so he sends his son abroad to prevent his further involvement with Diana. Later, Diana ends up marrying David Furness (Brown), who is not only Jeffry's best friend, but the man her brother idolizes most in the World. Lewis Stone plays Dr. Trevelyan, a friend of the Merricks.Some years later, under a mountain of debt unknown to everyone but his wife Diana, the outwardly proper David kills himself to escape his creditors by jumping out a window. Apparently the police are satisfied with calling it an accidental death, but Jeffry and others suspect that Diana was to blame for her husband's death, especially when she spends the next several years on the arms of many wealthy, or otherwise "society paper worthy", escorts. Besides Diana, only Dr. Trevelyan knows the truth.Of course, a reunion with Neville, now married to the beautiful Constance (Dorothy Sebastian) is inevitable. Their one night stand leads to an ill-fated pregnancy for Diana, and drinking by Neville. Constance, ironically, is curious about Diana's notoriety, and causes another reunion between the former lovers later herself.After the earlier loss of his friend and idol David, Jeffry descended into the depths of depression with drugs and/or alcohol, refusing to see the sister he blames as he takes his last breaths and dies in the presence of Dr. Trevelyan.But the title of this film does not mean what you think or, perhaps more precisely, is actually a double entendre. As it turns out, Diana had actually been settling her husband's affairs (e.g. his debts) over all these years such that, in the end, even Sir Holderness comes to respect her.Back within her presence (caused by Constance's aforementioned fascination), Neville is willing to chuck everything (e.g. his marriage) to be with her. But, out of respect for Constance, Diana leaves their home and drives recklessly towards a tree, killing herself. Dr. Trevelyan had revealed the secret of Furness's debts to Neville and now the entire Holderness family mourns her death.

kidboots Michael Arlen's "The Green Hat" was the most sensational novel of its time. In 1924, the year it was published, it was the top selling novel. The story of a wild young widow with a notorious past, it bought London's Mayfair of the 1920s to life with it's rich tapestry of characters. It also shocked readers with allusions to homosexuality and sexually transmitted diseases. When MGM (of all studios) decided to make a movie of the novel - the name of the book or any allusion to it was not to be mentioned, hence the name "A Woman of Affairs". And it was definitely cleaned up.Diana, David and Neville have been friends since childhood, but Diana and Neville had a special bond. Diana Merrick (Greta Garbo) and her dissipated brother Jeffry (Douglas Fairbanks Jnr.) are determined to live their lives in the pursuit of pleasure, earning them a bad reputation. Jeffry worships David (Johnny Mack Brown) and is drinking himself to death because of what he perceives is Diana's offhand treatment of David. Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. gives the performance of his young career as the alcoholic Jeffry (in the book he and Diana were twins). Jeffry has an unhealthy hero-worship of David and Fairbanks seems to really get inside his character.Neville (John Gilbert) is offered a post in Egypt and is eager to take it as it means he and Diana can be married when he returns. Diana believes his father has organised the job to part them as he is very disapproving of her lifestyle. They decide to elope but Neville's father hears of it, hurries him off to Egypt and so prevents the marriage. Years of waiting has Diana turning to David. They marry but Diana does not return his love. He commits suicide on their honeymoon and it is implied that he has found out something horrible about her past. The title says "He died for - decency" and Diana puts up with a lot of allegations and rumour.Years pass and Diana is back in London to visit her critically ill brother, who has never recovered from David's death and is drinking himself into an early grave. Neville is about to marry giddy Constance (pretty Dorothy Sebastian), who proves during the film that she has just as much character and honour as the rest of them. Dr. Hugh Trevelyan (Lewis Stone) has always been Diana's protector and supporter and it is he who informs her of her brother's death (she has spent the night at Nevilles).Diana suffers a nervous breakdown and I think it is this hospital scene in which Greta Garbo lifts this film to it's highest sphere. Neville has sent roses to her room but when Diana awakes and finds them gone she deliriously wanders through the hospital in search of them. "I woke up - and you weren't there" says Diana as she crushes the flowers in her arms. Everyone in the scene (Gilbert, Sebastian, Stone) seems transfixed as Garbo goes through this astonishing performance. The film is not over yet. Sir Morton Holderness (Hobart Bosworth), Neville's father has never held a very high opinion of Diana. He learns the real reason for David's suicide - he was an embezzler and Diana gave up her reputation for his honour - not to mention paying off his debts secretly. For the last time Diana proves she is a "gallant lady" by driving her car into the tree that had always symbolized her and Neville's love and leaving Neville and Constance free to begin their lives together.Greta Garbo is mesmerizing - you can't watch anyone else while she is on the screen. John Gilbert shows none of the personality and passion that characterizes his acting - he definitely takes a backseat to Garbo in this movie. In case you are wondering the exquisite Anita Louise plays Diana as a child. Director Clarence Brown did a wonderful job with a scenario which couldn't be faithful to the book to appease the vigilant censor.Highly, Highly Recommended.

laddie5 This is Greta Garbo's best silent movie, and maybe her best movie, period. Some posters have noted that the story is a bit goofy. That's because in the original novel, the Garbo character's husband commits suicide on his wedding night because he has syphilis; due to censorship, this was changed to his being an embezzler. Thus the heroine's subsequent public promiscuity to protect his name, and the fact that everyone treats her like a leper, make very little sense. Yet the brilliant cast and director manage to put the original meaning across anyway.But although sex and scandal are the story's raison d'etre, what makes the movie memorable is that it captures something essential about the time it was made (the end of the Roaring 20s): a restless, heedless cynicism and emptiness, a bitter gaiety, a mixture of desire and melancholy. And most of all, it shows the "new woman" of the 20s -- not a bug-eyed flapper doing a wild Charleston, but a woman who makes no fuss about being as strong and self-willed as a man. And in that respect, being so true to its own time, it achieves timelessness.There's a great moment when Garbo strides up to her disapproving older nemesis in a belted polo coat and cloche hat with a cigarette dangling from her lips. She stands there until he's forced to offer her a light, then instead pulls a lighter from her pocket and insolently does it herself. Another when she's on her honeymoon with a man she doesn't love, and she lies in bed switching the light on and off -- you realize that she's bored, impatient, horny, and regretful all at once.The story seems most dated when the characters are discussing whether or not Garbo is "good" or "decent." The men in the movie all stand around, trying to understand her and failing. She's beyond their narrow categories -- she has more wit, courage and intelligence than any of them. Watching her, she makes me ache with the feeling (like every other spectator, I'm sure) that the only one who's really capable of appreciating her is... me.

Spondonman This is a beautifully crafted melodrama, well acted and with high MGM production values, but with moral values that nowadays may well be seen as belonging to another planet. Nevertheless once the historical perspective is in place this is still a simple timeless classic, one I've now seen a dozen times over the years.Very honourable woman falls in love with equally honourable man, much to his even more honourable father's disfavour. You might notice that understanding "Honor" is the key to understanding this film! Garbo and Gilbert were perfect for the roles (making this a lovely bookend for Flesh And The Devil) and both never looked more gleaming beautiful, although Garbo had a few odd costumes along the way. They had a couple of languid clinches, but this time the plot got in the way of these scenes becoming "hot". Lewis Stone had already dropped into his avuncular stereotype here, his was a marvellously hammy but key performance. Everyone undulates their way to a fitting climax and conclusion (although didn't Neville come back into the room to Constance rather fast after Diana told him ---- ?)All in all one of my favourite silent melodramas, strangely neglected nowadays - or is there no honour left?