Flesh and the Devil (1926)

Director:

Clarence Brown

Writers:

Marian Ainslee (titles)
Benjamin Glazer (writer)

Release Date:

25 December 1926 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Leo and Ulrich are life long friends. Home, on leave from their military training, Leo sees the beautiful Felicitas at the railroad station...

Plot Keywords:

Duel | Male Female Relationship | Friendship | Love | Homoeroticism

Awards:

1 win

Cast

John Gilbert	...	Leo von Harden
Greta Garbo	...	Felicitas
Lars Hanson	...	Ulrich von Eltz
Barbara Kent	...	Hertha von Eltz
William Orlamond	...	Uncle Kutowski
George Fawcett	...	Pastor Voss
Eugenie Besserer	...	Leo's Mother
Marc McDermott	...	Count von Rhaden
Marcelle Corday	...	Minna

Runtime:

UK:109 min | USA:113 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

UK:PG

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

MGM denied Greta Garbo's request for bereavement leave to attend the funeral of her sister in Sweden. Garbo reluctantly continued production after rumors of deportation arose if she refused to work.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Leo is talking to Felicitas on the bench in the park and tells her that he must go to Africa, the position of the collar of his overcoat repeatedly changes from pulled up to flat.

Movie Connections:

Featured in So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton & MGM (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

ATRA

Garbo and Cinematographer William Daniels are the real co-stars

This is a rather long - for the period - tale of brotherly friendship interrupted by a femme fatale. The plot is simple - a woman destroys at least her husband's life and almost those of two best friends through loose morals.

Garbo is alluring as always and she looks much more glamorous here in her third MGM film than in the prior two (THE TORRENT, THE TEMPTRESS). The plot is interesting but evaporates as soon as one is through watching. What lingers in the mind and heart are Garbo's beauty and the physical beauty of the film.

Daniels'cinematography boasts a number of tracking (inside arriving and departing trains - the latter a premonition of a classic shot in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY) and dolly shots as well as some stunning compositions. Note the first shot - the bugler in silhouette against the rising sun, the swirling overhead shot of Garbo and Gilbert waltzing.

Three are standouts - the lighting of Garbo and Gilbert's faces in the grove with a baby spot acting as light from a lit match; the dolly in on the clenched fist of the husband who throws open his wife's boudoir door to find her with Gilbert - a perfect diagonal splitting the screen; and a penultimate piece of cinematic art - the entire duel sequence done in silhouettes of figures and trees - an extraordinary sequence.

There is excellent composition and lighting in the scene when Hanson discovers Garbo and Gilbert together and a fine use of multiple dissolves in the scene of the final duel.

The original music composed by Carl Davis for the Thames restoration of this film and released on the MGM/UA VHS of 1988 - now sadly out of print as are all of Garbo's silent films - is appropriate, especially the love theme (heard also on Kevin Brownlow's Hollywood documentary series). This lovely and unforgettable theme is heard in a number of scenes, primarily over the main title, the train meeting of Garbo and Gilbert, the ball where they dance, their idyll at her home, her imploring of Gilbert to return to Hanson's friendship, the final seduction scene and the last embrace.

A film to be seen as an example of how far the camera had come in a few short years - since Murnau's invention of the moving camera in THE LAST LAUGH (1924)and for Garbo's undying beauty.