The Painted Veil (1934)

A wife neglected by her husband, a medical researcher in China, falls in love with a dashing diplomatic attaché.

Director:

Richard Boleslawski

Writers:

John Meehan (screen play), Salka Viertel (screen play)

Stars:

Greta Garbo, Herbert Marshall, George Brent

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Greta Garbo	...	Katrin
Herbert Marshall	...	Walter Fane
George Brent	...	Jack Townsend
Warner Oland	...	General Yu
Jean Hersholt	...	Herr Koerber
Bodil Rosing	...	Frau Koerber
Katharine Alexander	...	Mrs. Townsend
Cecilia Parker	...	Olga
Soo Yong	...	Amah
Forrester Harvey	...	Waddington
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adair	...	Polo Player (scenes deleted)
Mariska Aldrich	...	German Teacher (scenes deleted)
Maidena Armstrong	...	German (scenes deleted)
Billy Bevan	...	Bridegroom (scenes deleted)
Beulah Bondi	...	Frau Koerber (scenes deleted)

Storyline

In Austria, Katrin is lonely after her sister's marriage and she agrees to marry her father's research associate Dr. Walter Fane. Fane takes her to China but constantly ignors her in favour of his medical research. Lonely Katrin has an affair with Jack Townsend of the British Embassy. When it is discovered by Walter he becomes very bitter. Fane travels to fight a cholera epidemic and Katrin goes with him and helps. They grow closer together than ever before but Walter is knifed in a riot incited by the burning of a cholera infested town. Now their new found happiness will depend on Walter's survival.

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Plot Keywords:

confucianism | china | cholera | researcher | epidemic | 

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Taglines:

SHE SEIZED THE LOVE That Is Every Woman's Birthright! (Print Ad- The Lodi News, ((Lodi, Calif.)) 9 January 1935)

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 November 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Det brogede slør

Filming Locations:

French District, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$947,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film received its initial USA telecasts in Seattle Saturday 16 February 1957 on KING (Channel 5), in Minneapolis Saturday 23 February 1957 on KMGM (Channel 9), and in Portland OR Saturday 27 March 1957 on KGW (Channel 8); after this time it was withdrawn from television exposure because of the pending release of the remake The Seventh Sin (1957), and did not reappear until a year later when it aired in Indianapolis 17 March 1958 on WLW-I (Channel 13), and then yet another year later in San Antonio 12 March 1959 on WOAI (Channel 4) and in San Francisco 21 September 1959 on KGO (Channel 7); still avoiding competition with the theatrical release of the remake, it was not telecast in Miami until 14 May 1960 on WCKT (Channel 7), in Los Angeles 7 July 1960 on KTTV (Channel 11) and Chicago 26 December 1960 on WBBM (Channel 2). New York City television viewers didn't get a peek at it until 15 December 1962 when WCBS (Channel 2) quietly slipped it into the Late, Late Show.

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Goofs

A box is marked "Scotch Whiskey". The proper spelling is "Whisky".

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Quotes

Katrin Koerber Fane: How you despise me.
Dr. Walter Fane: I despise myself - for ever caring anything about you.

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Connections

Featured in The Good Earth (1937)

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Soundtracks

Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride)
(1850) (uncredited)
from "Lohengrin"
Written by Richard Wagner
Played as background music in the wedding scene

User Reviews

Three Lonely Hearts In Old China

Married to a distracted English scientist, a beautiful Austrian finds forbidden love beyond THE PAINTED VEIL in China.

Based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham, this MGM film is soap opera of a high order, featuring excellent production values & acting. The dialogue is also refreshingly literate & thoughtful, something of a surprise in a film which might be pigeonholed as just an elaborate potboiler.

Fascinating as always, Greta Garbo is at last showcased in a film whose backdrop & setting matches her for exoticism. Enervated by the overwhelming cultural saturation of pre-war China, she seems freed to be essentially herself - shorn of all needs to bewitch - and is able to give herself over to the seriousness & drama of her character's dilemma. What the viewer is left with is one of her best performances.

The two men in Garbo's life are excellently portrayed by Herbert Marshall & George Brent. Neither characters are without faults, but the actors make them intimately human, revealing some of the loneliness in each man's heart. These actors had distinct similarities, making it something of a bold move for MGM to put them in the same film, but also enabling the viewer to understand why Garbo could love both.

Excellent support is given by gentle Jean Hersholt as Garbo's kindly father; Forrester Harvey as a happy-go-lucky embassy employee in China & Warner Oland as a sympathetic Chinese general.

Movie mavens will recognize Keye Luke as a young doctor and Mary Forbes & Ethel Griffies as British ladies in Hong Kong - all uncredited.

The Chinese scenes show MGM at what it did best - creating another world, utterly realistic, in its back lot.