This turned out to be Greta Garbo's last film, and in this light it could be said that her career did not end on a particularly good note. While this isn't a bad film, it's also pretty forgettable other than the fact that you get to see the Swedish vamp play a very unusual role where she smiles, does comedy and occasionally acts "kooky". I really don't think the movie's mediocrity is mostly the blame of Ms. Garbo, but the silliness and banality of the plot. In many ways the film seemed more like an episode of The Flintstones than a big budget film starring a Hollywood "heavyweight". If you don't believe me, just read a bit more about the plot: Workaholic Melvin Douglas is on vacation and meets ski instructor(!) Garbo. He is instantly smitten and very soon afterward they are married. However, instead of settling down to the simple life Douglas promised, he races back to the big city and his wild life--leaving Garbo behind--supposedly just for a week or so. The weeks become months and eventually Garbo heads to New York--only to find him paying way too much attention to another woman. So, given this situation, Garbo does what any normal woman would do--pretend to be her own twin sister who is wild and crazy and try to vamp Douglas herself! It is pretty funny watching all this (in particular, Garbo doing a crazy dance number when she gets drunk), but it's also pretty stupid and 100% ridiculous. For such a high-profile woman with a reputation for elegance, boy is this movie a HUGE departure--probably too much of a departure--that is why the public was less than impressed with this film.
By the way, by the time this film was made, Garbo was getting pretty old to be playing such roles. In one scene in particular when she first arrived in New York, her hairstyle can only be described as horrid--looking almost like a hairstyle I'd expect to see on Una O'Conner in a Frankenstein movie. How the hairstylist chose THIS hideous and matronly style is beyond me.
By the way, by the time this film was made, Garbo was getting pretty old to be playing such roles. In one scene in particular when she first arrived in New York, her hairstyle can only be described as horrid--looking almost like a hairstyle I'd expect to see on Una O'Conner in a Frankenstein movie. How the hairstylist chose THIS hideous and matronly style is beyond me.