The play was previously adapted as a 1920 silent film starring Doris Keane, the actress in Sheldon's 1913 play.
Plot
On New Year's Eve, Harry tells his grandfather, a bishop, that he intends to marry an actress, even though that is frowned upon by his social class. However, his grandfather recounts via flashback a cautionary tale of a great love affair with a "fallen woman" during his own youth.
When he is 28 years old, Tom Armstrong, the son of an aristocratic family and the rector of St. Giles, meets the famous Italian opera star Rita Cavallini at an evening party given by Cornelius Van Tuyl. Tom falls in love with Rita even though there are rumors that she is Van Tuyl's mistress. Tom's family disapproves of Rita, but he continues to pursue her until he discovers that she has been lying to him about the true nature of her relationship with Van Tuyl. Though he forgives and loves her, their different lives and different social classes make an engagement untenable. Ultimately, Tom marries Harry's grandmother.
In a surprise ending, he counsels Harry to marry the woman he loves, regardless of the consequences.
Romance cost $496,000 and grossed $733,000 in the United States and $523,000 in other markets, the worldwide gross was $1,256,000, and it made a profit of $287,000.[2]
Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote that "Greta Garbo's performance in Romance is perhaps as good as anything she has done on the screen."[3] Norbert Lusk of the movie magazine Picture Play wrote that Garbo's performance "is a thing of pure beauty, an inspiring blend of intellect and emotion, a tender, poignant, poetic portrait of a woman who thrusts love from her because she considers herself unworthy of the man who offers it."[3]
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