Many of Greta Garbo's early films carry a feminist punch (cloaked in scandalous packaging) lost altogether in later Hollywood romances; of these, A Woman of Affairs is one of the best. In this “lost generation” story, based on Michael Arlen's fantastically popular and scandalous novel, “The Green Hat,” Garbo plays an aristocratic English woman who challenges her milieu with calculated recklessness and free-spirited conviction. Arlen's book was so hot the characters' names were changed to protect the censors in the film version, as were certain choice elements of the story: though Garbo still leads the wanton life, her husband (played by John Mack Brown) commits suicide because of a case of embezzlement, whereas in the book it was a case of what Pare Lorentz called “an ailment enjoyed by some of our most popular kings, prelates and prize-fighters.” John Gilbert plays the love interest (not the husband) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. plays Garbo's wastrel brother. Variety called A Woman of Affairs “by long odds the best thing she has ever done,” which was saying a lot, even in 1928. (JB)