The future looked a little uncertain for Greta Garbo in 1934. Under pressure from the rampant, crackpot Catholic League of Decency whose members were boycotting movie theatres and declaring 'purify or destroy Hollywood', the usually malleable Joseph Breen was obliged to make even stricter the Production Code. 'Mata Hari' was cut and 'Queen Christina' taken out of circulation whilst this adaptation of Somerset Maugham's 'The Painted Veil' needed to tone down its so-called sexual content and instead reflect moral values.
These factors alone cannot entirely explain why this film disappoints. Garbo's scenes with Herbert Marshall are excellent and there is a chemistry between her and George Brent owing to their relationship at the time being more than just professional. It just lacks that 'alchemy' by which everything comes together and falls below director Richard Boleslawski's usual high standards. Garbo need not have worried as David 0. Selznick was soon to come to her aid. Whatever its flaws it is still the best of the three versions. 'The Seventh Sin' of Ronald Neame is lacklustre and watching it means enduring the abominable acting of Bill Travers. The more recent version directed by someone named John Curran is utterly worthless.
Review of The Painted Veil
