It was adapted by Frances Marion, produced and directed by Clarence Brown with Paul Bern and Irving Thalberg as co-producers.

The film stars Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, and Marie Dressler.

"[2] In fact, Garbo's English was so good by the time she appeared in this film, she had to add an accent in several retakes to sound more like the Swedish Anna.

[4] George F. Marion performed the role of Anna's father in the original Broadway production and in both the 1923 and 1930 film adaptations.

Anna arrives an emotionally wounded woman with a dishonorable, hidden past: she has worked in a brothel for two years.

[11] Although John Mosher of The New Yorker thought it "implausible that a woman so markedly beautiful should have such an extraordinarily difficult time", he called Garbo's performance "effective" and wrote that Bickford and Marion were "both excellent", concluding that it was "a picture of his play that Eugene O'Neill, I should think, would approve.

"[9] Variety said that "La Garbo's accent is nicely edged with a Norse "yah", but once the ear gets the pitch it's okay and the spectator is under the spell of her performance.

"[10] Mosher called it "a boy's voice, really, rather flat, rather toneless, yet growing more attractive as the picture advances and you become somewhat accustomed to it.