Romance

Cornelius Van Tuyl (Lewis Stone) is having a soiree, and in attendance is his mistress, the opera star Rita Cavallini (Greta Garbo). Also in attendance is the 28 year-old rector of his church, Tom Armstrong (Gavin Gordon). Tom does not know what Madame Cavallini looks like, so when he encounters her that night, alone, he does not know who she is, but he is immediately smitten. They begin to see each other and fall in love, but others are not exactly approving of the match.

How can Tom be courting Cavallini without betraying his friend Van Tuyl? Because one of the first conversations of the film is Van Tuyl telling Cavallini that he is an "old man" of 51 and that he has lived his life and that she should find a younger man. I realize that, today, for a 51 year old man to declare that he is in his dotage sounds ridiculous, but just go with it. This opens the door for the Tom/Cavallini pairing. But complications do ensue as these two - the rector and the opera star - come from very different worlds.

MGM had already debuted Garbo in a sound film, "Anna Christie", and it had been a success. So I guess they got a little careless the second time around, even though this film and Anna Christie had the same director, Clarence Brown, who definitely understood how to direct Garbo.

Among the problems - Garbo is hard to understand. It's not just the sound recording because Lewis Stone can be heard very clearly in the same conversation where Garbo's words are garbled. Also - I'm supposed to believe that Garbo chose Gavin Gordon's character over the distinguished Lewis Stone? I don't care how aged he says he is, Stone looks terrific. He always did. Gordon was probably picked because he had a good voice, and that counted for something in the first couple of years of talking film. But I just sense no chemistry between himself and Garbo.

Finally, the kinds of things that you could count on Golden Age MGM for, such as art design and cinematography, looks like they were skimped on here. I will say that for what is largely a drawing room drama it does not drag and kept my attention. Still, there is probably a 50/50 chance you would find this worth your while unless you are a Garbo completist.