THE PAINTED VEIL (1934)

Like the Somerset Maugham novel it’s based on, this striking Greta Garbo film can lay claim to being best of the second-tier. A modern redo (2006: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber) holds close to the book and is worth watching, but this glamorized telling, even with its deracinated ending, comes across strongly, a sort of 1934 Vanity Fair graphic layout revising favored Maugham themes. Underrated director Richard Boleslawski throws down the gauntlet from his opening shot, upending the languid early sound treatment Garbo was used to, replacing heavy-lidded romance with a quick, contemporary tempo. In a rush from her sister’s inapt marriage to her own ill-chosen groom (Herbert Marshall, also given electric jolts), Garbo leaves the comforts of home for Far East colonial society and an all but open affair with married George Brent. Always at his best away from Warners, his home studio, Brent gets a similar energy boost introducing Garbo to the suggestive delights of Hong Kong, a never-ending smile proffering more than bedside manners. Cuckolded, Marshall, in a rare passionate explosion, orders a choice: divorce or accompaniment on his work to an isolated cholera epidemic far from the city. Boleslawski handles this mostly with indirection & suggestion, while the men surpass themselves in swinish displays of wronged passion before blows of fate change perceptions. Physically, the film is staggeringly well shot by William Daniels, with a variety of multi-plane veiled & framed effects, marvelously seen in a fine DVD transfer. So too Garbo, rarely as goddess-like as she charms by struggling with a different approach. She must have found it all unusually exciting. Very much of its period, so you need to apply early ‘30s ground rules, but not to be missed.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Daniels & Boleslawski are very careful framing Garbo’s close-ups, often shared with someone on the far right side of the frame, slightly cropped, while Garbo's face is shown whole, a little lower, a bit on the left. But then, it’s hard to fault any shot in the pic, massed riots & oriental theatrical dance specialties included.

DOUBLE-BILL: For the best of Garbo’s second-tier silent pics, try Fred Niblo’s deliciously sinful THE TEMPTRESS/’26.