This film poignantly depicts loneliness in a marriage that has descended into mere friendship and neighborliness.An evanescent Garbo plays winsome Lillie, the much-younger wife of John (Lewis Stone), a businessman prospecting for tea plantations in Java. By happenstance they meet the fabulously wealthy Prince de Gace (the Danish-born Nils Asther, dubbed "the male Greta Garbo" in his day), who possesses everything in his realm and sets his sights on Lillie, too.Garbo's performance makes this film. She embodies desire and frustration as she tries in vain to re-capture her husband's passion and imagination. Her first, helpless kiss with de Gace, and immediate paroxysm of self-loathing, draw one in. A film like this really captures the range of this beautiful, intelligent screen icon.

Although there is a fine background score and many sound effects throughout, neither GRETA GARBO, LEWIS STONE nor NILS ASTHER speak a word of dialog in this MGM film directed by Sidney Franklin during the dawn of sound films.With the use of the usual title cards for the spoken words and some excellent emoting from the three stars, the viewer becomes absorbed in what is essentially a handsomely produced love triangle set aboard a cruise ship heading for Java. Even as early as 1929, MGM's glossy production values are evident.Garbo is the restless wife of the middle-aged Lewis Stone when she first sets eyes on princely Nils Esther aboard ship, fascinated as she watches him brutally whip a slave. When fascination turns to disgust, she rebuffs his advances when he has an opportunity in Java to be alone with her while her husband goes on a hunting trip. Predictably, she is soon under his spell and that's when the plot begins to turn.Stone is adept at portraying the husband's emotions when he believes his wife unfaithful and Nils Asther is so perfectly cast that I wish he'd made more American films in the future rather than return to his native Sweden. As for Garbo, she has never looked more beautiful nor more youthful before her features matured.Although the plot is a simple one, there's enough interest in the trio to assure attention until the final shot.

MGM had Greta Garbo quite busy making films during 1928 and 1929 as the studio saw the approach of sound film possibly destroying one of their top assets. Nobody knew what the outcome of Garbo's career would be at the time.Thus Greta Garbo made silents until 1930's "Anna Christie". This silent film is not really silent at all. It has a very sophisticated score for its time, including sound effects, crowd noises, and even singing during musical numbers, with long shots of the singers so you can't see that there is no true synchronization with the singers themselves.The story is that of 50ish John Sterling (Lewis Stone) and his young wife, Lillie (Greta Garbo). The two are embarking on a cruise to Java so that John can mix business with pleasure. His business is to look over some plantations that he may buy. The pleasure is his desire to hunt and shoot a tiger while in Java. On the boat the couple meet Prince De Gace, played by Nils Asther. John is by no means a neglectful husband, but at age 50 he has largely left his romantic days behind him. This makes Lillie a likely target for the charming prince and his silver tongue. He makes a play for her right off the bat, and continues his chase as the Sterlings remain guests in his home. Lillie is torn, but tries her best to avoid the prince and his advances. One night during their stay, after returning from a day of looking at plantations, John sees the silhouettes of the prince and Lillie on the drawn shade of the house just after the prince has grabbed her for a quick kiss. What will John do about this situation? The acting in this film is quite well done. Asther comes across well as the slimy but attractive prince, and Lewis Stone was a wonderful silent actor. His surprise when he first sees the couple in an embrace, and his look of both great disdain and knowing when he later sees the prince flirting with a servant girl says it all. Yet, like Garbo, some of his best performances would come with talking pictures where he could both artfully play the cad in the MGM precodes as well as Judge Hardy of the Andy Hardy series fame.Existing prints of this film are quite well preserved, and I highly recommend it for silent film enthusiasts.

The reason this silent film is still viewed today and enjoyed, is simply because the director of this film was Sidney Franklin who was a very famous director during the 20's 30's and 40's. His famous film was, "The Good Earth",1937, a story written by Pearl Buck, and received large audience attendance. Of course, Greta Garbo,(Lillie Sterling), looked very sexy and rather young and having an old looking husband, who was Lewis Stone,(John Sterling), who loved and adored everything about Lillie. Things go smoothly for a while in the jungle, but a two legged gigolo decides to have some fun with young and hot looking Lillie. It is great entertainment if you like the old time Classics and great acting and directors.