Garbo is an absolute revelation in this outstanding silent film (the video has a beautiful musical score). Garbo plays Arden Stuart, a beautiful young woman who rejects the sexual double standard and feels free to engage in affairs with any man she likes. She takes up with famous artist Packy Cannon and travels 'round the world with him on his yacht. After Packy dumps her, she marries Tommy, who had always adored her, and has a child. Then Packy returns...
The kinds of themes sounded in "The Single Standard" were completely blotted off the screen by the Production Code, Hollywood's self-censorship scheme which became fully operational around 1934. The movie explores female liberation and sexuality. It grapples with the issue of whether marriage is a loveless institution of mutual support or a vehicle for love and fulfillment. This is a very adult film and a great one. Films like this were not made again until the 1970's--and nobody ever surpassed Garbo in this kind of role.
"The Single Standard" was adapted from a novel by Adela Rogers St. John. Rogers St. John was the daughter of the famous trial lawyer Earl Rogers, who was the most famous criminal lawyer of the early years of the century and who died a hopeless alcoholic. She never went to school, and simply hung around her father's law office, but later became a famous author and journalist. The great film "A Free Soul" (1931) is based on Rogers St.John's autobiography and chronicles her life along with her father's. Rogers St. John was, in her own life, very much like the heroine of "A Single Standard" and embodied the ideals of women's liberation in the 1920's.
The kinds of themes sounded in "The Single Standard" were completely blotted off the screen by the Production Code, Hollywood's self-censorship scheme which became fully operational around 1934. The movie explores female liberation and sexuality. It grapples with the issue of whether marriage is a loveless institution of mutual support or a vehicle for love and fulfillment. This is a very adult film and a great one. Films like this were not made again until the 1970's--and nobody ever surpassed Garbo in this kind of role.
"The Single Standard" was adapted from a novel by Adela Rogers St. John. Rogers St. John was the daughter of the famous trial lawyer Earl Rogers, who was the most famous criminal lawyer of the early years of the century and who died a hopeless alcoholic. She never went to school, and simply hung around her father's law office, but later became a famous author and journalist. The great film "A Free Soul" (1931) is based on Rogers St.John's autobiography and chronicles her life along with her father's. Rogers St. John was, in her own life, very much like the heroine of "A Single Standard" and embodied the ideals of women's liberation in the 1920's.