TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

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

salvidienusorfitus Greta Garbo is great as the neglected wife while Lewis Stone portrays his part of husband too busy with his work to realize he is neglecting his wife. Nils Aster portrays a Javanese Prince who clearly has self control issues. He not only beats his servants but even attempts to seduce Greta Garbo when he realizes she is being neglected by her husband. His repugnant behavior towards her border on attempted rape. The Synchronized Score is pleasing. I especially like the theme song "You Are Like Wild Orchids" which is played and sung several times. The native Javanese song and dance sections however are quite strange and features unpleasant discordant melodies. The removal of that sequence from the film would have improved the picture tremendously.

bkoganbing Wild Orchids casts Greta Garbo as the younger wife of Lewis Stone and they are bound for what was then called the Dutch East Indies. On the ship they meet a Javanese potentate Nils Asther a fellow Swede to Garbo who looks seductively at Garbo and that's all she wrote.There's a wonderful scene in Wild Orchids where Garbo encounters Asther giving a beating to one of his servants who did not move as quickly as he would like. Garbo may have had the best face for closeups in the history of cinema. Remember this is a silent film so no dialog, but the looks Asther gives her and her closeups, a mixture of horror at the barbarity, but fascination with the man tells more than 50 pages of dialog or title cards.Asther invites her to Javanese palace and Garbo and Stone are loving it. But eventually Stone catches on and it all comes to a climax during a tiger hunt.Asther got to do another Asian portrayal in Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea Of General Yen. Some interesting roles for a Scandinavian, yet another of his countryman Warner Oland also played a noted Oriental with Charlie Chan.Lewis Stone has the distinction of being the player who did the most appearances with Garbo. He comes over well as the concerned and most jealous husband.Definitely a must for Garbo fans and those wanting to get acquainted with her work.

dglink While "Wild Orchids" is not a major classic, the film does illustrate the magic of the Silents at their peak. Within a few minutes, director Sidney Franklin establishes the vulnerable relationship between Lewis Stone, a businessman with an interest in commerce and hunting, and Greta Garbo, his younger and neglected wife. The couple embarks on a sea voyage to Java in search of tea plantations, and competition for Garbo's affection soon appears in the guise of an exotic prince. Stone's apparent and puzzling preoccupation with business over his beautiful wife is hard to fathom. Garbo could be described as Stone's trophy wife, and trophy she is. As garbed by Adrian and photographed by William H. Daniels, Garbo would be a prized trophy for any man or woman anywhere any time.Once aboard ship, with the same economy of style used to illustrate the marriage of Lillie and John Sterling, Franklin quickly sketches the character of Nils Asther, the Javanese prince. Garbo watches in horror as Asther whips a servant outside his cabin, and his dark eyes and pencil-thin mustache speak volumes. Although too pretty and occasionally fey to be totally convincing as a Lothario, Asther works hard at befriending Stone and seducing his wife. Unfortunately, Stone's indifference towards his wife only helps propel this film down a familiar road.The Danish Asther as the Javanese Prince De Gace is as Asian as the realm he rules, which was conjured in the frenzied minds of MGM's art directors. The welcome banquet is reminiscent of the feast in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," but without the snakes and eyeballs. At one point, Garbo dons a local costume and, although she fails to charm her husband, she does presage her subsequent appearance, opposite Stone once again, as Mata Hari. Despite Asther's occasional lapses, the performances of the three leads are naturalistic. Stone is always solid and dependable, and Garbo, well, she is always captivating whenever on screen. While not among her greatest, "Wild Orchids" is vintage Garbo, representative of silent films at their best, and worthy entertainment.

Ron Oliver During nights scented with the perfume of WILD ORCHIDS, a Javanese prince woos the beautiful wife of a visiting American tycoon.Although really little more than a story about a romantic triangle, the excellent acting & superb presentation make this a very enjoyable film.Greta Garbo, exquisite & serene, shows once again that she was more than just a perfectly sculpted face. She was also a very disciplined actress who used her tightly controlled body to convey emotional depths and subtle nuances. Even in what for her was a rather minor film, she is a marvel to watch, beyond superlatives, exhausting all adjectives. She is simply Garbo and that is enough.For sheer exoticism, few Hollywood male stars of the period could compete with Garbo. Nils Asther was one of these. Although Scandinavian, something about the bone structure of his face made him ideal for Asian roles. He had already enjoyed much success as a matinee idol by the time WILD ORCHIDS was filmed. A fine actor, he seems loath to accede all of the viewers' attention to Garbo. (Swedes both, they must have had some interesting private conversations on the set.) Asther makes his characterization of the Prince a compelling blend of charm & cowardice - a creature quite capable of seducing his sultry costar into marital infidelity. The onset of talkies would prove difficult for Asther, his heavy accent making it hard for MGM to cast him effectively and he would eventually return to Sweden. However, when given the right role, as in Frank Capra's THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN (1933), Asther was able to exhibit the natural talent he was seldom called upon to use.Lewis Stone is the solid fulcrum over which his two extravagant costars teeter. While they exude passion & sensuality, he revels in the simpler virtues - duty, dignity, and, when he finally catches on to the Prince's depredations, righteous wrath. He manages to infuse all this with a quiet sense of befuddled humor, which only makes his character all the more human.The film's first rate production values make the heat & hedonism of Java come alive for the viewer. The Javanese dancing is of particular interest. The use of sound effects in this late silent film is of some significance - they perfectly illustrate where some film purists thought the cinema should remain: with music and effects, but definitely no dialogue.