User reviews

For Greta Garbo's second film under her new MGM contract the studio went back to the same source that they got for her first film with them Torrent. Vicente Blasco Ibanez offered up another of his novels for Garbo, The Temptress. Greta's got a whole lot of the men panting after her in this one.

Blasco Ibanez also gave us the slightly more familiar Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse and Blood And Sand which served Rudolph Valentino well during the silent era. Garbo's character of Elena has a lot of similarity with Dona Sol in Blood And Sand. It ends a lot worse for Elena than for Dona Sol.

Garbo is married to Armand Kaliz who is not above peddling his wife's charms to get ahead. Right now she's got the wealthiest banker in Paris Marc McDermott in tow, but he means nothing to here but a cash cow for the husband. Who she really likes after meeting him at a costume party is Antonio Moreno, an engineer from Argentina who is looking for investors in a dam he wants to build.

After McDermott commits suicide when he's facing ruin and names Garbo as the one responsible, to escape until the notoriety dies down Garbo and Kaliz go to the Argentine Pampas and visit with Moreno. The local bully and bandit leader Roy D'Arcy takes one look at her and likes her and knows she's available in the right conditions. That sets up all the action for the remainder of the film.

Garbo's performance in The Temptress certainly assured her of a long career which was only briefly interrupted by the coming of sound where MGM took superb care to see that their investment transitioned smoothly. She is seductive and alluring in The Temptress like she was never before or since, even in her torrid film with John Gilbert Flesh And The Devil or in Mata Hari which calls for seductive and alluring like it calls for breathing.

Moreno was one of the first players to be known as Latin Lovers and he was about ending his career in those roles and would be transitioning to character parts. Roy D'Arcy as the bandit chief registers the best after Garbo. He had that Snidely Whiplash thing down pat and the silent screen certainly called for those overacted gestures. His career would continue in sound, but not as successfully. His duel with the whips with Moreno is as savage an encounter between hero and villain as you'll ever see on film.

The Temptress after over 80 years holds up well. For Garbo fans everywhere.

This is a very good silent film, though I had just watched two other Greta Garbo films that were incredibly similar to this one--as she plays the vamp in all three! I can't blame Ms. Garbo for this, as MGM definitely type-cast her despite her objections. In fact, she was so irritated by this theme that she went on strike to try to force the studio to give her different roles. But, considering that the public loved the films and they were all very successful, MGM wasn't about to mess with a tried-and-true formula.

This film is at least a little different in that much of the time men were destroyed when they fell for Garbo in this film, but she was never directly responsible for their downfall. She was more like the old "Typhoid Mary" character--someone who just seems to have bad things follow her where ever she goes! The problem with this is that no matter how sultry and alluring Ms. Garbo might have been, no one is THAT seductive that man after man after man destroy themselves in order to try to get her! However, the story does have a few new elements and the overall production values are exceptional. So, if you view this film WITHOUT considering how derivative it is, then it's an awfully good film.

By the way, the TCM DVD includes an alternative ending that was apparently used when the film was shown in rural settings. Instead of the marvelous original but sad ending (that, in my opinion is perfect), there is an upbeat and sappy one that just doesn't ring true.

This silent drama provides an interesting role for Greta Garbo, who was still rather young at the time. It also has some good set pieces created by directors Fred Niblo and/or Mauritz Stiller, which liven up the story considerably. The supporting cast also features a couple of good performances, and all of the strengths help to make up for a rather downbeat story.

As "The Temptress", Garbo is certainly believable as a woman who attracts the attention of every man around. What makes it more interesting than most such scenarios is that both the script and Garbo's performance leave some ambiguity about what the character is really like inside, and in any case she has a lot more depth than the male characters. The best supporting performances come from Lionel Barrymore and Marc McDermott, as two of the many men who desire her.

Several sequences are filmed very nicely. Fontenoy's dinner party is an effective display of the hollow lifestyle it depicts, and there is some real danger and menace in the fight scene between Robledo and Manos Duras. The pace overall is uneven, and it does have some slow stretches that add unnecessarily to the running time, but the good parts make up for this. At least one DVD version includes a variant ending that changes the tone considerably, so there must have been some uncertainty about how it should close.

Garbo's talent and screen presence are both easy to see, and in later features her characters would give her better opportunities to show them. She does a very good job here, and makes her character much more interesting than it would have been with a lesser performer in the role. Overall, it's a movie worth seeing for silent film fans, with some real highlights that make up for the occasional shortcomings.

"The Temptress" has a lot going for it, but it begins so sloooowly, and contains far too many intertitles.

I couldn't help thinking how much better it could have been with, maybe, Ernst Lubitsch or D.W. Griffith directing. This is supposedly a MOTION PICTURE, not a novel.

Still the directors gave us some wonderful shots and angles.

One particular sequence is told with a shadow! Superb.

And some running shots, with horses and a wagon, are worthy of the best of John Ford.

Then one particular action scene, a duel, is as exciting, and surprisingly graphic, especially for 1926, as one could hope for.

Still, overall, the story is somewhat dull and it's told often dully.

If it weren't for the chance to watch movie history, including early Garbo, and the action scenes, and the often interesting direction and photography, it might not be worth watching.

But it is, especially the new version at Turner Classic Movies, with a new score by young Michael Picton. Maestro Picton might well turn out to be a new Elmer Bernstein, who has -- it pains me to say -- passed on, but who was one of the greatest composers of the last 100 years.

he Temptress (1926) is a standard little romantic melodrama, the kind of silent film that you find on any silver screen in any town in 1926. It's packed with super stars – directed by Fred Niblo, co-starring Antonio Moreno, Lionel Barrymore, Roy D'Arcy – and it possesses one thing that your standard romantic melodrama of 1926 did not – Greta Garbo. To say that The Temptress, only her second American film outing, stars Greta Garbo is an understatement. This movie exists solely for Garbo, to give us all the opportunity to indiscriminately stare at her for 106 minutes.

The plot of The Temptress is a bit convoluted. Manuel Robeldo (Antonio Moreno) spies Elena (Garbo) at a Parisian masquerade ball and the two pass an idyllic night in a garden where they fall madly in love, Hollywood style. So you can imagine Robeldo's surprise when he drops by the house of his pal Marques De Torre Bianca (Armand Kaliz) and meet's Bianca's wife – Elena! Next, a seriously ticked off Robeldo attends a dinner party thrown by Parisian banker Fontenoy (Marc MacDermott). It's a delightful affair until Fontenoy proclaims that he has been bankrupted and ruined by his terrible she-vixen of a mistress – Elena!

Now a super seriously ticked off Robeldo, disgusted by Elena (yet still secretly lustful) blows town and returns to the Argentine where he works as a brilliant engineer on a mega-dam building project. But wouldn't ya know it – Elena trails him to the Argentine and sets about destroying every man in sight. Canterac (Lionel Barrymore) & Pirovani (Robert Anderson) bicker over her, leading to a tragic shooting. Badman bandito Manos Duras wants her too, and Robeldo has to beat him in a whip fight. When Manos returns to shoot Robeldo he shoots Bianca instead. Then Manos assuages his seriously damaged ego by blowing up the dam and flooding the village. So that's one suicide, one whip fight, two murders, and a catastrophic dam failure laid at the feet of one temptress. Which brings me full circle to the point that Greta Garbo is The Temptress. You can drive a truck through the holes in this most unlikely plot, but because the temptress in question is the ethereal and beautiful Greta Garbo, it's still believable. As I was watching this story unfold I was running every actress of the day through my head, trying to think who else could have pulled off this role, and I came up empty. Cause the thing is, and this is important, Elena is pretty much a cipher in this movie. She doesn't really do anything. She just is. And no other actress I can think could be remotely plausible in provoking suicides, murders, and village floods just by showing up

As a title card in The Temptress informs us, "God makes men and women make fools." Being of the gender in question, I happen to think men do a fine job of making fools of themselves – but I digress. Simply put, Elena is beautiful and elegant and tragic. She's not a Theda Bara kind of vamp, nor a Mary Pickford kind of innocent, but rather some weird blend of the two. Her eyes may be mysterious pools in which men drown, but as Ringo Starr said, "It's just me face." In the ultimate showdown between Elena and Robeldo, she tells him that men desire her "Not for my happiness, but for theirs." Yes, Elena is painfully aware of the destructive effect she has, and so, after Robeldo finally submits to his love for her, she steals away in the night. Get it – she sacrifices her happiness for his. Elena and Robeldo do meet again, many years later in the streets of Paris. Elena is broken, shabby and homeless. She pretends to not know him and sacrifices yet again. In 1926, this ending was way too harsh for MGM studio execs. An alternate happier ending was supplied and theater owners were offered the choice of ending to screen, depending on audience tastes. Turns out American cinemas mostly went for the upbeat end to the tale, while European audiences were just fine with doom and gloom. Which pretty much confirms everything we know about the divergent developments of US and European cinema.

In short, The Temptress is a pretty okay movie, but starring an amazing icon of silent (and beyond) cinema. Greta Garbo alone is worth the price of admission, though Fred Niblo brings solid direction to the table too. There's little that's innovative in the presentation, but the Fontenoy suicide party does feature a remarkable shot of the overlong party table that elegant demonstrates the excess and debauchery that broke the man. It's followed up by an equally remarkable examination of the seedy sexual underbelly of the party, demonstrated by multiple examples of under-table footsy. As a matter of fact, the Parisian scenes – the masquerade, the dinner party – are far more visually arresting, but far briefer as well, than the Argentine sequences.

"The Temptress has now been shown here—terrible. The story, Garbo, everything is extremely bad. It is no exaggeration to say that I was dreadful. I was tired, I couldn't sleep and everything went wrong..." (Greta Garbo)

The roaring twenties...not a very enthusiastic quotation, particularly when we consider the fact its author is Garbo herself, the Garbo people flock to see as a vamp, as a femme fatale who wins and ruins men, as a beauty on the screen, an object of dreams and desires. And so has the driving force been for all these years - I doubt whether THE TEMPTRESS would be watched by anyone nowadays ... if it were not for GARBO.

However, she detested it and no wonder why...For most people who know Garbo's psyche a bit, her melancholy her moments of peace, moments of being 'let alone' and, moreover, what a period it was (the mid 1920s) in her career are close to understand how she must have felt: director Mauritz Stiller, her tutor and a person who taught her skills, who directed her in Swedish GOSTA BERLING SAGA (1923) and brought her to America, is fired just a few days after the production begins; she still does not understand/speak English so well and intuitively learns whom to consider 'familiar soul' among many 'foreigners' in the glossy and tremendous studio that MGM was at the time. What is more, her sister Alva dies in the faraway Sweden. And no wonder she writes the aforementioned bitter words to her friend in Stockholm Lars Saxon. But, the test of time shows something more optimistic and within the variety of opinions and MGM targets of the 1920s, THE TEMPTRESS is overall not that bad as a movie... The CONTENT...

Marked by spiritual/religious references at the beginning and at the end (from Rabindranath Tagore, the first non-European Nobel laureate to Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world who died for love and manifests his presence in the people in need), the content is visibly the product of MGM studio system and its methods: goodness vs evil clash that uprights the hearts: love that conquers hatred and reconciliation that overcomes vengeance. As it is quite a common theme for films of the time, I would highlight more the technical aspects of the movie some of which appear to be more convincing and more appropriate in this relation. The TECHNICAL MERITS appear, of course, thanks to the people Garbo liked and worked with.

The direction by Fred Niblo, famous for his silent BEN HUR but also for a later Garbo film, THE MYSTERIOUS LADY, is a subtle work filled with stylish moments and delicate as well as thrilling handling of scenes. Although he replaced Stiller, her "sole tutor and companion," (whose style was quite remarkable but different from what they did and understood in Hollywood), she must have felt pretty comfortable under Niblo's direction as she left him a touching note after the work had finished. The lighting by William Daniels, a crucial name of all Hollywood Garbo films, boasts of truly remarkable moments. The effect is no lesser than in greater films, in particular when filming Garbo's face. Consider the scene at the mirror, for instance...indeed, most of what we see of Garbo and her acclaimed "performance for the camera" we owe to Daniels. He captured that essence of her sensitivity to light and shadow as portrait photographer Sinclair said: "Garbo 'feels' the light." And...production by Irving Thalberg, perhaps he did not play that role as in later cooperation with Garbo, but, undeniably, prompted the energy and unbelievable possibilities from the inside of the Swedish Sphynx. As a result, Garbo's portrayal of intriguing Elena is worth appreciation.

And here arises a tricky but a logical question: So why isn't THE TEMPTRESS considered to be a significant GARBO SILENT FILM?

First, Garbo is the best vamp in FLESH AND THE DEVIL; second, her best leading man is John Gilbert (one of the most famous pairing the screen has ever seen); third, the most 'exotic' and arousing locations are in WILD ORCHIDS; fourth, Garbo's most magical moments are in A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS; fifth, the lighting pearls are in THE MYSTERIOUS LADY (particularly its 'candle sequence'; sixth, THE TEMPTRESS was not viewers' first fascination with Garbo because her Hollywood debut is not THE TEMPTRESS but THE TORRENT. So... this film has been bound for years to negligence (nothing special for many). However, it occurs to be undeserved and unfair...

Antonio Moreno is not bad as her leading man...has his moments at least; some of the supporting cast do fine jobs, including Lionel Barrymore as Canterac who appears, years later, in a specific talkie with Garbo, GRAND HOTEL; some scenes can boast of brilliant camera-work (just to mention the witty and visual banquet at Fontenoy's or the presentation of the Argentine); many moments can boast of thrill, including the Argentine fight between Robledo (Antonio Moreno) and the wicked Manos Duras. Except for many clichés noticeable in the film, which, certainly, lower its value, it is important to consider such atmospheric scenes like the masquerade.

Although detested by the main STAR of the film, by the leading lady who was unique and brilliant at multiple levels, THE TEMPTRESS is not so bad. Garbo alone helps us get rid of some sophisticated expectations from the content. As a matter of fact, more of her films do not boast of particularly clever content...yet, EVERY Garbo film is worth seeing because of her tremendous presence on the screen, the unforgettable magic and something really special which she offered the cinema of her time and the cinema of all periods.

See this silent film AFTER you have seen hyper-sensual FLESH AND THE DEVIL, subtle A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS, refreshing THE SINGLE STANDARD, innovative THE KISS, stunning THE MYSTERIOUS LADY but allow yourself at least a single viewing of its beautifully restored DVD version. You will not be disappointed.

I've always thought, when you see scenes of masquerade balls, how silly it is that those little carnival masks that only cover the space round the eyes are implied to genuinely disguise the wearer, and that whole plot turns have even been based on the premise. Of course, it's a different case when the scene is in The Temptress and the wearer is Greta Garbo.

The Temptress, Garbo's first top-billed Hollywood role, opens at a masquerade. A big deal is made of the moment in which she unmasks before Antonio Moreno. Now, anyone who knows Garbo will have recognised her already, but it is only when that small piece of felt is removed that we are stunned by the full force of her astonishing beauty. This tiny instant alone guaranteed her stardom.

But Garbo was not just a pretty face. Far from it; she was also one of the finest actresses of her generation, and one of the first truly great naturalistic performers of the silent era. For someone who was famed for her introverted and solitary nature offscreen, Garbo certainly knows how to kiss with authentic-looking passion. Throughout, it is not simply her looks which captivate us, it is her commanding screen presence. Her role in The Temptress is a perfect demonstration of her abilities, simply because she is a fairly passive player in most scenes, often in the background while others talk (or fight) over her. And yet, with this limited scope she conveys so much realism and intensity.

The Temptress was directed by Fred Niblo, a veteran filmmaker who was even older than DW Griffith. Despite his age, Niblo's work never looked old-fashioned, and The Temptress displays his competent handling of the more fluid style of the late-silent period. He has a great sense of atmosphere and rhythm, and gives each segment of the picture a consistent feel. The opening scenes in Paris are surreal and dreamlike, with lots of slow dissolves (in those days an effect done in-camera, so definitely the work of Niblo and not the post-production team) and soft-focus. By carefully controlling background movement, he makes the shots by turns nightmarish and heavenly. The later scenes in the Argentine are characterised by stark realism, with a good standard of naturalism from the extras, and lots of neat little shots that add nothing to the plot but plenty to the tone, such as the dog snatching a corncob out of a boy's hands.

Among Niblo's real feats of genius are the ways he introduces characters. Garbo gets no less than three startling entrances. First, in the aforementioned unmasking scene, Garbo removes her mask in an over-the-shoulder shot, so we see Moreno's reaction before we get to see her face for ourselves. Later, when Moreno finds out she is actually his friend's wife, she appears in the distance, so we can't be certain it's her. Then, as realisation dawns, she is suddenly right before us in close-up. And later still, when she arrives in Argentina, our first glimpse is of her feet descending from the carriage – again a tentative, teasing entrance – before slowly panning up to reveal her face. Another character treated to a neat introduction is the bandit Manos Duras, played by Roy D'Arcy, who appears first as a shadow on the door.

This mention of Roy D'Arcy brings me onto my next point – it's not all about the Garbo (or the Niblo). There are some pretty impressive performances all round. D'Arcy himself is one of the few slightly hammy actors in The Temptress, but this is acceptable because we can believe that a character like Manos Duras would deliberately project this exaggerated persona. He gives the very unsettling impression of a man who tends to win, not because he is particularly powerful but because he has no fear, and is very much aware that he inspires fear in others. Antonio Moreno is one of many mediocre lead men of the silent era who went on to become an unheralded supporting player in the sound era. This is among the best of his lead performances, although for a great example of his later work check him out as the old Mexican in The Searchers. Honourable mentions also go to Robert Anderson, who plays Pirovani with great warmth, and Lionel Barrymore, who for once plays it with some subtlety.

The only real trouble with The Temptress is its story, being a misogynist melodrama based on a Vincente Blasco Ibanez novel. Ibanez seems to have been a popular plot source in the 1920s, especially at Metro (he was also the original author of Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Blood and Sand, Mare Nostrum and Torrent), but his appeal is somewhat hard to fathom these days. And from here on, Garbo ended up getting typecast as the self-centred gold-digger, over whom men shoot themselves and each other. At the very least though, Garbo's beauty and allure makes her appearance as that kind of woman plausible. And while the chauvinism of the times presented such stories as retellings of the original sin myth, with the beautiful woman ruining the world, Garbo is able to give dignity to the character and paint her as a deeply tragic figure. With Garbo, this temptress is a victim not a villain.

Greta Garbo's second Hollywood feature is an irresistible meller, done to a turn by director Fred Niblo at his finest. (Dig those parallel tracking shots; first over a formal dining table laden w/ service & delicacies, and then under the same table, now heavy w/ service & delicacies of a rather different nature.) At this point in her career, Garbo was still playing femme fatale types (watch how she cups her lover's face in her hands) and in this adaptation of a rum Blasco-Ibanez novel, she drives four men to their ruin without lifting a finger. The plot takes us from Parisian highlife (a superb masked ball, a suicide at a banquet, overnight love in a park) down to the Argentine for dam building, a duel of honor played out with whips, sabotage & floods (with remarkable effects), and then back to Paris for our moral. When he's at his best, co-star Antonio Moreno is a bit like Brian Donleavy, alas he usually just looks vaguely surprised. But Roy D'Arcy & Lionel Barrymore get to whoop things up splendidly. Note that Garbo's regular lenser Wm Daniels shares credit with Tony Gaudio. But everyone deserves a prize, including one for the fine newly commissioned score.

I watched this for the first time on TCM with an original musical score by Michael Picton and was fascinated by the score and Garbo's stunning appearance. I'm not a Garbo fan and some of her films are really hard to enjoy by today's standards of film-making (and acting), but this one is watchable enough even though it drags occasionally.

It's gorgeously photographed and Garbo is given the royal camera treatment. In fact, she's treated royally by everyone except the man she loves who discovers too soon that in matters of love, she has a strange code of conduct. Well worth viewing if you're a fan of Garbo's films. Otherwise, you may not make it to the finale since it's rather overlong for such a simple story.

Handsomely produced. Antoneo Moreno is interesting in the male lead.

The theme of this film is a bit irritating; Greta Garbo is a temptress of men, and is (of course) judged for it. She spends the night with a man she meets at a masquerade ball (Antonio Moreno) and declares her love for him despite being married, so it's interesting to me that he's not the one labeled a tempter. Her husband has a thing going on with his maid, seems to know of the affairs she's had, and uses the jewels she's received to help his finances, so it's interesting that he escapes harsh judgment.

Garbo has some really nice moments in the film, such as when she kisses Moreno early on, but some others which lack any semblance of subtlety. Director Fred Niblo gives us a close-up of her face as she's making eyes at him while taking a sip of wine; she's beautiful and all, but it's over-the-top. No wonder she hated this part. Later she seethes with desire as she looks down on the two Argentinians fighting bare-chested with whips for her honor. Did I mention over-the-top?

"Men have died for you - forsaken work and honor - for you!" says one man in an intertitle, continuing to blame Garbo's character. "Not for me - but for my body! Not for my happiness, but for theirs!" she replies. Ok, she stands up for herself at least a little. And then there is that next line that so truly captures Garbo: "But there is one thing about me that is a part of God - my love - for you." She is damned for tempting men with her physical charms, and yet divine for the purity of her love for one man; this was a recurring theme in her films. The "saintly vamp" character is emphasized further by a vision she has of a man in a bar when she's starting to hit rock bottom; she imagines him as Jesus, and gives him her ruby.

The film gets melodramatic and goes on much too long at 117 minutes. Even a giant dam explosion is done "for her" ... see how much trouble a woman causes? While an intertitle blares out "Men's work! - to the martial music of hammer blows - the shriek of steam whistles - Work that would reclaim the wasteland - Men's work! -" oh if only these temptresses would leave men alone. There is certainly symbolism in Moreno's character trying to stop the flood waters with sandbags, and I thought, gee, they might have named the film "Torrent."

I considered a slightly lower rating, but there are several iconic Garbo images in the film, and enough happening on the screen to keep it interesting. I liked it especially early on, with the intertitle "Spring - and the nights of Paris, Throb with love and desire" segueing to the nice scene at the masquerade ball which leads to a night of passion. The shots under the table during a dinner party, with all those (gasp) calves and ankles is also perfect for the period. The action in Argentina, with Lionel Barrymore mostly wasted, and the story dragging out, gets a bit much. I give it credit for the ending (the original one), which while moralistic, seems honest, and still carries some emotional weight.

Given the scope of her career and the lack of variance in most of her roles, it's not at all surprising Greta Garbo would headline a film entitled The Temptress in which she stars as a woman so irresistible and riddled with sex appeal that she drives every man she meets to destruction.

This is quite involved for a silent movie, changing locations, including man-made and natural disasters, and utilizing tons of extras in various scenes. Starting off at an elegant masked ball, the movie features scenes among the upper crust as well as in a mining district in Mexico. There are love scenes, explosions, and an extremely gory whipping battle between two of Greta's suitors. The special effects are pretty impressive as a rainstorm destroys part of the Mexican village, so I applaud director Fred Niblo for tackling both the intimate and the extreme.

Also, this has nothing to do with the original film, but it's a bonus for modern viewers: If you watch the version accompanied by Michael Picton's music, you'll be treated to a beautiful love theme. I've seen some silent movies that have been given forgettable music, or even worse, industrial music, but this one has a very enjoyable and fitting soundtrack.

Greta Garbo gets little to do other than be the object of men's lustful gazes in this shaky melodrama from Fred Niblo. It begins like a spoof of every romantic tearjerker made up to that point, with Garbo and Moreno enjoying a night together after meeting at a masked ball in Paris, then turns into an altogether different beast when, the very next day, he discovers she's married to his friend, so immediately ups stakes for his native Argentina only to have her follow him out there. Garbo looks ravishing - if a little out of place on an Argentinean building site - and a strong supporting cast do their best, but the writing is weak and the characters poorly defined.

The virtues of "The Temptress" are nearly too many to list. The cast, especially Greta Garbo, convey what would now be pages of dialog through their eyes and faces and bodily motions. One of the funniest parts, close to the beginning, is the camera's dive under the table during the dinner party sequence. When we see the flirtations taking place we realize that, even though everyone in the cast was alive during the reign of Queen Victoria, it appeared that the Victorian Age ended thousands of years before.

Before we get to historical context a word should be said about the male lead, Antonio Moreno. His leading lady is deservedly famous but Moreno, who was born in Madrid, is no slouch. He was a very popular leading man in the 1920's. The year after this he starred, opposite Clara Bow in "It." People remember that Elinor Glyn bestowed the title "The 'It' Girl" on Bow. They seldom recall that she named Moreno "The 'It' Boy" (and she named Rex the Wonder Horse "The 'It' Animal). He starred opposite the Gish sisters, Gloria Swanson and America's Sweetheart, Mary Pickford. Early in his career he starred in so many serials that he was dubbed, "King of the Cliff-hangers." When pictures gained the ability to talk he retreated to Mexico to make movies. He eventually returned to the States and made several movies here, including "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954) and "The Searchers" (1956).

Now, about that promised context. This film can be justly criticized, from a 21st century perspective, as being a macho fantasy of a seductive woman tempting virtuous men. While there have been such women their numbers are dwarfed by the massive legions of women who have been lured, pursued, coerced and compelled into liaisons that were not of their choosing. The myth of the temptress goes back, in all likelihood, into pre-history. We see it in Greek mythology where the sirens used their songs to lure innocent sailors to their doom on the rocks. There was Lilith, of Jewish lore, who insisted on being Adam's equal. Then there was the enchantress, Mohini, in Hindu myth that would madden her lovers and lead them to their doom. The list goes ever on.

In the world of American folklore there's the vampire. We're not talking the undead blood sucker who catches fire in sunlight. This vampire is often simply known as a "vamp." She is a femme fatale who seduces innocent men, robbing them of their virtue, their independence, and, ultimately, their lives (or leaving them empty husks of their once robust selves). It is a male fantasy that has endured for thousands of years, despite the obvious fact that it is the male in the power position too often taking advantage of the female.

This idea was very popular in early film (it became Theda Bara's calling card as she ordered an innocent male victim, "Kiss me my fool!"). It continued on at least into the 1930's (take a look at the Marx Brothers' 1932 film, "Horse Feathers" featuring the first cousin of the vampire, the sexually insatiable "college widow" - women who were usually young and never married - closer in spirit to the black widow spider).

In light of this stereotype Garbo's performance is even more remarkable. Except with Moreno she never initiates any of these flirtations. It's clearly a projection of aspiring suitors. She is able to convey disdain and a world weariness with that very expressive face.

If you don't like silent films this may not be your cup of tea. You're better off sticking with the excellent silent comedies. But if you enjoy compelling silent dramas you may want to check this one out.

The first few months in America for young Swedish actress Greta Garbo were not happy ones. After arriving some weeks in Los Angeles, she wrote to her boyfriend back in her native country saying "I don't feel at home here. Oh, you lovely little Sweden, I promise that when I return to you, my sad face will smile as never before." Compounding her homesickness was her new employer, MGM Studios, wanted to composite an entirely new image for her. Instead of the sweet, shy woman roles she acted in Sweden, studio production head Irving Thalberg wanted to mold her into an exotic, sophisticated woman of the world. He arranged for a dentist to work on her teeth, made her lose weight, and hired a tutor for her English lessons.

In her first two MGM movies, she played worldly characters whose actions were far more mature than her 21-years of age. In her second film, October 1926's "The Temptress," Garbo's role is of a sophisticated exotic beauty who tempts a series of men into getting her rich material goods she wants out of life.

Based on a Vincent Ibanez 1922 novel, "The Temptress'" production was filled with backstage drama. Garbo's favorite director, Swedish Mauritz Stiller, brought over to America alongside the actress, was canned from the project after 10 days. His limited English caused friction among the crew and he clashed with leading actor Antonio Moreno, insisting he shave off his signature mustache. Steady studio director Fred Niblo took over the production, tossing out all of Stiller's work to start all over again.

In addition to her friend being fired, Garbo learned four days into filming that her sister died. MGM executives refused to honor her request to take a break to travel to Sweden for her funeral. So the actress slugged through the picture. MGM head Louis B. Mayer was quite unhappy with the ending when he previewed the finished copy, and insisted Niblo film a more upbeat conclusion that would appeal to rural American audiences. The version seen currently is the one with the original downer of an ending.

Critics ended up raving about Garbo's beauty ravishing the screen every time she appeared. A Photoplay writer at the time praised her acting. "Look back and think if you can of any actress who had made a more profound impression than Greta Garbo in but one picture," read the review. "You can't. Neither can I." Despite all the positive reviews, "The Temptress" failed to make a profit, Garbo's only loss in a picture during her silent days.

The plot revolves around Garbo falling in love with an Argentine engineer (Moreno), only to see him returning to his native country to build a dam. "The Temptress" uses the St. Francis Dam near Los Angeles while being built as a prop for the movie's Argentinian dam. A couple of years later, that dam burst, killing over 430 people.

This movie played on Turner Classic Movies on (I think) Sunday night, 30 July 2000. I started viewing it near the mid-way point. I first stayed with it to see and wonder who this very attractive actress was. The movie was a find story of love lost. The overall acting was excellent - truly more than I expected from an old movie. The body language, the facial expressions and timing from the leading male are what one only hopes to see. That said, the music, which can add so much to a silent movie, was beautiful. Beautiful. To me, it was the highlight of the movie. The music was so clear (no noise) that I question if it was as old as the movie (reprocessed perhaps?). The Temptress is worth viewing and hearing.

In his novel 'La Tierra de Todos' (The Land of All), the Spanish author Vicente Blasco Ibáñez sets up the mind ( personified by an architect) against the body (the beauty of the temptress), and, social order (a workforce to build, here, a dam) against anarchy (a renegade leader and his band). For the author, males who fight with their bodies against (young) female bodies are condemned (go bankrupt). The architect (Order) fights also against the band leader (Anarchy) in the Argentine way: with a whip in an arena in the form of a circle.

Based on this novel, Fred Niblo shot a most memorable movie with spectacular scenes (the destruction of a dam), brutal bloody fights, a masked ball and, most impressive of all, the heavenly (satanic) beauty of a young Greta Garbo. Will the body (the temptress) vanquish the mind? The ultimate encounter between the two doesn't turn into a happy end. This movie, with Greta Garbo in one of her best roles, is a must see for all film buffs.

For some reason, Cedric Gibbons art direction succeeds in the scenes that take place in Paris but notably fail when he has to deal with Argentina. The opening and closing scenes are so impressive that it is really a shame that MGM was so careless about how this film should look.

Written Vicente Blasco Ibáñez knew Argentina quite well and if most of the exteriors that take place there look like interiors. The villain as portrayed by Roy D'Arcy is ridiculous: he is ready to go to a carnival parade and does not remotely look menacing as probably Blasco Ibáñez described him on his book.

Even with those flaws, it is interesting to compare the story with the tangos that were composed in Argentina at the time.

Garbo's character is tragic figure and the men who would either die or kill for her are quite as pathetic as many people described in tangos.

With all of its flaws, this film is worth watching and perfectly reflect many clichés that were frequent in the Argentina of that time. The music score specially composed for TCM by Michael Picton was very good, although the results would have been much better adopting contemporary Argentinean folkloric music.

The alternate ending featured in DVD (obviously produced for Argentina unlike what Mark A. Vieira states on the audio commentary, since this films was probably one of the firsts that MGM distributed there) is more satisfying than the melodramatic finale of the original version.