Flesh and the Devil

The film has all the hallmarks of MGM at the time: stunning photography, beautiful sets, and truly exquisite lighting. Unfortunately, the story is bottom of the barrel trash. This garbage could have come from the cheapest magazine.

Flesh and the Devil epitomizes the breathtaking beauty that was Garbo and Gilbert. Garbo is the ultimate silent screen goddess with a timeless quality that makes her very watchable for today's audience. Gilbert is dashing and charismatic---the ultimate silent male idol. Utterly divine!

greta garbo is exquisitely beautiful and dangerous in the flesh and the devil. a femme fatale with poisonous allure which will test the strongest of male friendships. this is a war film, and the battle is between loyalty and desire. drawing on bible and the opera, there is plenty of drama and morals on offer.

with a strong climax, and good rhythm throughout this is a strong representative of the old hollywood romance.

This M-G-M silent film has been well restored. It runs 1 hour 53 minutes and has a new music track by Carl Davis. It is a stylish production; some of the painted backdrops are nice to look at in their own right. Two men (John Gilbert and Lars Hanson), friends since childhood, find themselves fighting a duel to the death over an alluring, manipulative and treacherous woman. John Gilbert was the biggest star when the film was made, but Garbo steals it, partly because she had a more naturalistic style of acting, and partly because she was drop dead gorgeous.

This is 1926. Adjust your social and cultural settings and technical sensibilities.

It is easy to forget how long some silent films could be - a measure, perhaps, of inflated self importance on the part of studios and directors, but also a true match to the public appetite for this sort of display. Cinema was still a new and relatively exciting medium. I frequently complain that most worthwhile films can and should do all they need in 80 to 90 minutes ... with some exceptions such as La Belle Noiseuse or Ran or perhaps Once Upon a Time in the West ... but the same tendency to self important and over indulgent length which I deplore today was evidently at work in 1926. I felt the same about another 'classic' - the Thief of Bagdad (1924, 140 minutes) with an over-played Barrymore. With the Flesh and the Devil I had a feeling throughout that the production, the direction and, indeed, the players were tending to over-value themselves in a stew of grandiose indulgence ... which fits with the personalities involved and the sort of rows that erupted between Garbo and MGM over her rôles and her contract. Hollywood toute entiere a sa proie attachee!

In a silent film, of course, the players have to emphasise facial expressions, pregnant pauses, meaningful looks, twitches of eyebrows and so on to make up for lack of speech - a technique which, once recognised, is generally interesting and amusing to watch. It is a different art form, to be appreciated on its own terms for its own skills. At the same time the glamour of wealth, opulence and snob aspiration are emphasised - indicating once more the self importance of the Hollywood studios as well as the assumed appetite of the audience. (Still happens today!)

Looking with a twenty first century eye, I was surprised, personally, to find neither Garbo nor John Gilbert - nor indeed Lars Hanson - particularly glamorous or appealing characters. I am still reflecting on that ... Garbo: quite attractive, but not particularly stunning? Well, well!

A classic film; definitely to be watched. The commentary by Barry Paris is pleasingly unintrusive and usefully informative.