The Single Standard (1929) in Color — Starring Greta Garbo & Nils Asther

The Single Standard (1929) — Buy This Classic in Color

Experience the daring silent drama The Single Standard (1929) Colorized, directed by John S. Robertson and starring Greta Garbo and Nils Asther, a bold and provocative pre-Code exploration of sexual double standards following a beautiful, free-spirited San Francisco socialite named Arden Stuart who demands the right to live by the same rules as men, pursuing her desires without apology through a passionate affair with a charismatic artist-adventurer aboard his yacht in the South Seas, only to return and face the brutal hypocrisy of a society that celebrates male libertinism while savagely punishing women who dare to claim the same freedom, now available for purchase in stunning color for just €15.00. This digitally enhanced version brings this silent classic to vivid new life. Own this DRM-free digital download today.

Plot Summary

San Francisco in the late 1920s — a city of wealth, sophistication, and firmly entrenched social conventions. Arden Stuart is a beautiful young woman from a prominent family who chafes against the rigid double standard that governs relations between men and women. Men are forgiven — even admired — for their romantic adventures. Women who behave the same way are destroyed. Arden rejects this hypocrisy with fierce intelligence and refuses to accept a lesser standard of freedom than the men around her enjoy.

Arden encounters Packy Cannon, a charismatic painter and adventurer who lives entirely outside conventional society. Packy is magnetic, free-spirited, and answerable to no one. He owns a yacht and sails wherever his restless spirit takes him. The attraction between Arden and Packy is immediate and electric.

Arden makes a bold decision: she joins Packy aboard his yacht for a passionate voyage through the South Seas — a journey of romantic and physical freedom that defies every convention of respectable society. Their time together is intoxicating — sun-drenched days and moonlit nights on the open ocean, far from the judging eyes of San Francisco.

But Packy is honest about his nature — he is a man who will always move on, who cannot be possessed or domesticated. When the voyage ends, so does the affair. Packy sails away to his next adventure, leaving Arden to return to San Francisco alone.

Arden returns to face the consequences. Society, which tolerated Packy’s behavior as merely colorful, turns savagely on Arden. She is shunned, gossiped about, and treated as a fallen woman. Meanwhile, Tommy, a devoted young man from her social circle who has always loved her, still wants to marry her despite the scandal. Arden accepts — but the question of whether society will allow them happiness, or whether the single standard Arden demands will prove impossible in a world built on double standards, remains fiercely unresolved.

Cast & Crew

Director: John S. Robertson

Stars: Greta Garbo as Arden Stuart, Nils Asther as Packy Cannon, Johnny Mack Brown as Tommy Doyle, Dorothy Sebastian as Mercedes, Lane Chandler as Ding Stuart

Greta Garbo brings fierce intelligence and commanding presence to a role that demands both passionate abandon and principled defiance of social convention. Nils Asther — reunited with Garbo after Wild Orchids — provides ideal romantic chemistry as the free-spirited artist-adventurer. Silent (English intertitles).

Why Buy This Classic in Color?

The colorization of The Single Standard reveals the spectacular visual world of late 1920s San Francisco and the South Seas — the soft gray morning fog rolling across San Francisco Bay framing the city’s elegant hills and mansions, the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean stretching to tropical horizons from the deck of Packy’s yacht, the warm teak-brown of the yacht’s polished woodwork gleaming in equatorial sunlight, the brilliant turquoise and white-sand beaches of South Sea island lagoons, the deep emerald green of tropical vegetation overhanging sheltered coves, the elegant cream and gold of San Francisco society interiors where reputations are made and destroyed, the soft pearl gray and dove blue of Garbo’s sophisticated wardrobe, the warm golden skin tones visible in sun-drenched yacht sequences, the deep midnight blue of moonlit ocean scenes during the voyage’s most romantic moments, and the harsh, judgmental gray of San Francisco drawing rooms where society passes its cruel verdicts. Now also available in colour. Buy The Single Standard (1929) Colorized today for €15.00 and own this silent classic in a DRM-free format.

Historical Significance

The Single Standard is a fascinating and important document of late 1920s attitudes toward gender, sexuality, and social convention, made during the brief window of relative permissiveness before the enforcement of the Production Code shut down open discussion of sexual double standards in Hollywood films. The film’s central argument — that women should be judged by the same moral standards as men — was bold for 1929 and remains relevant today. Garbo’s performance as Arden Stuart is one of her most forceful and modern, and the film captures the energy of the real social upheaval that characterized the late 1920s when women were claiming new freedoms in the wake of suffrage and the Jazz Age. The yacht sequences remain visually spectacular, and the San Francisco locations provide a valuable record of the city during a period of transformative growth. As one of Garbo’s final silent films, it demonstrates the extraordinary level of dramatic sophistication she had achieved before the transition to sound. Through colorization, this provocative late silent classic is preserved for modern audiences.

Technical Details

• Format: MP4 digital download
• Resolution: HD 720p
• Colorized: Yes, professional AI-assisted colorization
• Audio: Musical score accompaniment
• Runtime: Approximately 73 minutes
• DRM-free: Yes — watch on any device
• Instant download: Available immediately after purchase
• Price: €15.00

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Movie-Specific Questions

Q: What does the title mean?
A: “The Single Standard” refers to the heroine’s demand that women be judged by the same moral standard as men — a single standard for both sexes rather than the double standard that punishes women for behavior tolerated in men.

Q: Is this a pre-Code film?
A: Yes, made before the enforcement of the Production Code, The Single Standard addresses themes of sexual freedom and gender equality with a frankness that would soon be forbidden in Hollywood.

Q: Is this a Garbo and Nils Asther pairing?
A: Yes, this was their second film together after Wild Orchids (1929), and their chemistry remains powerful and convincing.

Digital Download Questions

Q: What format is the download?
A: The film is delivered as a high-quality MP4 file in HD 720p resolution, compatible with virtually all modern devices and media players.

Q: Is the download DRM-free?
A: Yes, your purchase is completely DRM-free. You own the file outright and can watch it on any device without restrictions or recurring fees.

Q: How quickly will I receive the download?
A: Your download link is available immediately after payment is confirmed. You can begin watching The Single Standard (1929) Colorized within minutes of your purchase.

Related Colorized Classics

• Wild Orchids (1929)
• A Woman of Affairs (1928)
• The Kiss (1929)
• The Mysterious Lady (1928)
• The Divorcee (1930)