A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (1928) silent- Dark, brooding, magnificent. Greta stars in another truly great story, from which I've read, was greatly watered down. A story of a love stifled not even by class or war, but by just plain old hatred by a father who knows best. Greta plays Diana Merrick a member of the aristocracy who has known from childhood who her true and only love is, Neville Holderness played by John Gilbert. Greta and Glibert are favorites of mine from QUEEN CHRISTINA and here the chemistry is still alive. Neville is sent away by his father to restore the family's fortunes, but also to keep him far away from Diana. We also have 2 other characters of note, Jeffrey Merrick, brother to Diana played by Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and David Furness played by Johnny Mack Brown. David longs to be with Diana and Jeffrey longs to be with David. The latter goes unrequited and Jeffrey hates that David loves his sister. After years of separation from Neville, Diana weds David, but why is never fully realized. On the wedding night David is approached by 2 men who appear ready to arrest him, instead David jumps out the window to his death. Jeffrey blames Diana, everyone seems to think it accident and nothing is every explained. Diana throws herself into various affairs with men, never saying I love you to any of them. Just as quickly as the story builds it gets lost rather quickly, dramatically, and then dissolves into something of a Spanish novella. A man torn between his desire for his great love and his now wife Constance played by Dorothy Sebastian. The watered down feel is in full effect by the end as we see Gilbert visiting a dying Diana, whose reasons for dying are about the same as Padme's in another film. But if Neville just shows up and declares he still cares for her then she will live. The weird thing is that is has been 9 months since Neville and Diana finally met each other again, just before Neville's wedding night! Hmmmm. I'm making light of the subject matter because it is enjoyable in it's darkness and soap opera-ish charm. Greta is gorgeous as usual and her Diana is one of those characters that is part charming, insane, strong, and lost without her heart. She plays this role in many other films, but this one really sticks out because of the material and because of her amazing screen presence. We also get Lewis Stone in this, a common player like Ward Bond to John Wayne, Lewis is a family friend to Diana and is always faithful. Fairbanks is worthy of note as well as the makeup department, his drunken despair is very vivid here especially near the conclusion of his story. The movie speaks of honor several times and like Pride and Prejudice, this could easily be of Honor and Insensibility, or Woman's Pride, Gentleman's Honor and their Accompanying Devastation. An ending that twists as good as any novella, but is made so much better by the aching and pain of several final scenes of Diana. Garbo outdoes herself again, truly another great Greta film.