Wild Orchids

6.4
1929 1 hr 40 min Drama , Romance

A prince in Java tries to seduce his visitor's wife, but he's discovered.

  • Cast:
    Greta Garbo , Lewis Stone , Nils Asther , Dick Sutherland

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Reviews

Hellen
1929/02/23

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Bluebell Alcock
1929/02/24

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

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Frances Chung
1929/02/25

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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Kamila Bell
1929/02/26

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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ksf-2
1929/02/27

Well, this is an early Garbo, so of course its historically significant. IMDb shows this as "Lanaguage = English"... although, honestly, its a SILENT, with some sound effects and a pre-recorded song added here and there They add in a track of the crowd yelling and waving goodbye as the cruise ship pulls away from the dock. and in several places, they show the actors speaking lines, but we are never shown the cards for what the actor has just said. Was it edited for length, or something?? Garbo, Lewis Stone, and Nils Asther star in a silly little plot where the Prince tries to seduce the wife of his guest. If you do the math, Lewis Stone was 25 years older than Garbo, so the age difference probably explains why, in the story, the Prince is seen as extra attractive, in spite of his cruelty, which Lillie (Garbo) witnessed. Directed by Sidney Franklin, who had a long, prolific career directing and producing. It's important to see Garbo, and Lewis Stone made some great films as well (Grand Hotel !) Catch it on Turner Classics now and then. It's pretty good.

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bkoganbing
1929/02/28

Wild Orchids casts Greta Garbo as the younger wife of Lewis Stone and they are bound for what was then called the Dutch East Indies. On the ship they meet a Javanese potentate Nils Asther a fellow Swede to Garbo who looks seductively at Garbo and that's all she wrote.There's a wonderful scene in Wild Orchids where Garbo encounters Asther giving a beating to one of his servants who did not move as quickly as he would like. Garbo may have had the best face for closeups in the history of cinema. Remember this is a silent film so no dialog, but the looks Asther gives her and her closeups, a mixture of horror at the barbarity, but fascination with the man tells more than 50 pages of dialog or title cards.Asther invites her to Javanese palace and Garbo and Stone are loving it. But eventually Stone catches on and it all comes to a climax during a tiger hunt.Asther got to do another Asian portrayal in Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea Of General Yen. Some interesting roles for a Scandinavian, yet another of his countryman Warner Oland also played a noted Oriental with Charlie Chan.Lewis Stone has the distinction of being the player who did the most appearances with Garbo. He comes over well as the concerned and most jealous husband.Definitely a must for Garbo fans and those wanting to get acquainted with her work.

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evening1
1929/03/01

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.

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Ron Oliver
1929/03/02

During nights scented with the perfume of WILD ORCHIDS, a Javanese prince woos the beautiful wife of a visiting American tycoon.Although really little more than a story about a romantic triangle, the excellent acting & superb presentation make this a very enjoyable film.Greta Garbo, exquisite & serene, shows once again that she was more than just a perfectly sculpted face. She was also a very disciplined actress who used her tightly controlled body to convey emotional depths and subtle nuances. Even in what for her was a rather minor film, she is a marvel to watch, beyond superlatives, exhausting all adjectives. She is simply Garbo and that is enough.For sheer exoticism, few Hollywood male stars of the period could compete with Garbo. Nils Asther was one of these. Although Scandinavian, something about the bone structure of his face made him ideal for Asian roles. He had already enjoyed much success as a matinee idol by the time WILD ORCHIDS was filmed. A fine actor, he seems loath to accede all of the viewers' attention to Garbo. (Swedes both, they must have had some interesting private conversations on the set.) Asther makes his characterization of the Prince a compelling blend of charm & cowardice - a creature quite capable of seducing his sultry costar into marital infidelity. The onset of talkies would prove difficult for Asther, his heavy accent making it hard for MGM to cast him effectively and he would eventually return to Sweden. However, when given the right role, as in Frank Capra's THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN (1933), Asther was able to exhibit the natural talent he was seldom called upon to use.Lewis Stone is the solid fulcrum over which his two extravagant costars teeter. While they exude passion & sensuality, he revels in the simpler virtues - duty, dignity, and, when he finally catches on to the Prince's depredations, righteous wrath. He manages to infuse all this with a quiet sense of befuddled humor, which only makes his character all the more human.The film's first rate production values make the heat & hedonism of Java come alive for the viewer. The Javanese dancing is of particular interest. The use of sound effects in this late silent film is of some significance - they perfectly illustrate where some film purists thought the cinema should remain: with music and effects, but definitely no dialogue.

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