La chair et le diable

The fine cast makes this melodrama work, and turns a rather routine plot idea into a good and sometimes memorable movie. John Gilbert and Lars Hanson are a good combination as the male leads, and Greta Garbo is convincing as always, as the woman at the center of everything. Clarence Brown's direction also contains some good touches.

Gilbert and Hanson work well as the two lifelong friends who fall in love with the same woman. Gilbert's more passionate, hot-blooded character forms a believable and interesting contrast to Hanson's innocently earnest portrayal of his loyal, unsuspecting friend. Garbo's character is treated roughly at times by the story and by some of the other characters, but she more than rises to the occasion, and as she often does, she makes what could have been a stereotyped love interest into a complex and sometimes tormented character.

Barbara Kent also does well in a smaller role, and her character (the younger sister of Hanson's character) is used effectively at some important moments that help develop the main characters. Brown adds a lighter tone to a couple of sequences when suitable, and he provides a good pace. Given the fairly simple story, it might run a bit long, but otherwise it is well-crafted and effective.

"Flesh and the Devil", the 1926 silent film, brilliantly directed by Clarence Brown, was shown recently on cable and the most amazing thing happened: the film looks superb! "Flesh and the Devil" has one of the most amazing team behind the camera, one that made its stars look so magnificently that one can't take ones eyes from the screen for fear of losing something. In addition to the superb director, the work of William Daniels with his camera is amazing. Mr. Daniels created images that are hard to forget.

The opening sequence of the film involving the arrival of Leo and Ulrich in their hometown, has to be one of the best things ever filmed. When Leo discovers the beautiful Felicitas as she descends from the train and walks to the awaiting car, where he runs to rescue the flower arrangement she inadvertently had dropped, is charged with desire and raw sex. Hollywood was more daring during those precode days when anything seemed to go.

Greta Garbo and John Gilbert make this film something to watch again and again. Both stars exuded such charisma that it's not hard to realize they were lovers. Ms. Garbo looked lovely in all her scenes and Mr. Gilbert was one of the handsomest leading men of the era.

One of the best things whoever restored the film was to add a great musical score that makes watching the pleasure it is. Also, in spite of being a silent movie, "Flesh and the Devil" has such a fluidity that, at times, we forget it's not a "talkie", because of the magic that Mr. Brown, and his cinematographer, William Daniels, were able to do together. Of course, the film is what it is because of its stars' magnetism and the way they make us care about the story.

Famed silent is for the time period a well made melodrama. The story is of no real consequence and now seems very familiar as it probably was at the time of it's release. The communion scene is provocative, very erotic even today and must have been a sensation in '26. The real interest is of course the cast, Garbo especially. Of all the players she is the acting standout, with the exception of a few scenes her performance feels very naturalistic. The same goes for her appearance, whereas everybody else looks like they belong in the 1920's her unadorned hairdos and streamlined clothes convey a contemporary feeling, a flesh impact. Gilbert, who was then wildly popular, is a relic from a bygone era. He looks like he could be attractive but his ridiculous mustache and the heavy makeup required at the time sabotage his handsomeness. His acting is quite mannered and uneven, he was much better in The Big Parade, but he and Garbo share an undeniable chemistry. The real offender in overacting is Lars Hanson his eye-popping and herky jerky movements are a textbook example of the worst kind of silent screen performance, the impression that keeps a lot of people from giving silents a try. The other major person in this passion play is Barbara Kent as the angelic young thing in contrast to Garbo's rapacious strumpet. Kent passed away at 103 in 2011 one of the last remaining silent screen stars although she turned her back on public life and had been a recluse since the 50's.

The works of Hermann Suderman have proved immensely popular with film-makers, the most notable adaptation being 'Sunrise. The Story of two Humans.' Although Clarence Brown's film cannot begin to match Murnau's sublime masterpiece it is eminently watchable.

We are treated not only to the biological chemistry between Greta Garbo and John Gilbert but also to the photochemistry of director Brown and his cinematographer William Daniels which was to work so well for Miss Garbo through the years.

Although Louis B. Mayer frowned upon the well publicised affair between his two stars he tolerated it as he recognised the box office potential and indeed cinemagoers queued around the block to experience the vicarious thrill of seeing not two actors pretending but two lovers living it.

By the standards of the time this is a torrid tale and concerns two men Leo and Ulrich, played by Gilbert and Lars Hanson whose intense friendship which could be said to contain a hint of the homoerotic, is shattered by the femme fatale of Garbo's Felicitas.

Garbo exudes sensuality here and already shows her uncanny ability to register thought. Victor Sjostrom called it 'thinking above the eyes' when directing her later in 'Divine Woman' which also starred fellow Swede Hanson. It is to be regretted that only one reel of nine minutes survives of that film following a vault fire at MGM in 1965.

The cigarette-lighting scene and that involving the communion cup are unforgettable and one is astonished that the scene in the hunting lodge managed to escape the unwelcome attentions of the Production Code. As it happens Felicitas pays the ultimate price for her sins which presumably made it acceptable. There is also a priceless scene where the Pastor of George Fawcett fulminates in the pulpit against the sin of adultery whilst Felicitas applies her lipstick.

The film is enhanced immeasurably by the beautifully created Austrian setting courtesy of the art department under the supervision of Cedric Gibbons.

The romance between Garbo and Gilbert was not fated to last and as her star rose, his fell. Although their love scenes now seem tame, not far short of a century on this film remains, in the words of film historian Mark Vieira, 'a landmark in cinematic sexuality'.

"Garbo multiplied the cinema's power of suggestion to infinity,

and the gaze so deep that every spectator there found what he sought

she spoke a different language to every man" Ado Kyrou, 1957

FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1926), the first film that the director Clarence Brown made with "an immigrant actress" who Greta Garbo had been before its premiere occurred to be one of the very best films for its time. People flocked to see it, Garbo became so eminent that she could almost dictate the terms in film industry, her relationship with John Gilbert turned out to be no baseless gossip. However, since then, 80 years have passed, not many people know how important the premiere of the film was, how historic it turned out to be in Garbo's career. Yet, it seems never to be fading since there are STILL many people who watch this film in its recent DVD release. Let us look at some aspects that make it a real classic, not only for its time, but for the general history of cinema.

THE CINEMATOGRAPHY by William H. Daniels is magnificent. Probably, anyone who has seen the film will never forget its most famous lighting effect when Gilbert lightens Garbo's cigarette in the shadowy garden. Another stunning moment is the scene of Leo Von Harden and Count Von Rhaden's duel. It is played in silhouette against the vast sky and, as a result, we can see not so much people but rather their shadows. An excellent moment that remains in memory is the waltz of Felicitas and Leo on the ball at Stoltenhof. The scene is filmed so memorably that it is hard to be skipped. Yet, the image of the "Isle of Friendship" where two best friends swore eternal loyalty as children and then went to fight in a duel is presented in an unforgettable way. Such pictures never fade in memory.

THE CAST are very talented, real elite of the time.

GRETA GARBO and JOHN GILBERT: Gilbert, who was Hollywood's leading man after the death of Rudolph Valentino, does a great job here as Leo Von Harden. His love to Felicitas (and to Garbo in real life) is so natural that everybody will get an impression that it is real what they can find on the screen. The love scenes between the two are particularly natural, hardly to be found elsewhere in films! If there is chemistry between the stars in a film, it is, without any doubt, in FLESH AND THE DEVIL. Greta Garbo performs so well that no wonder people saw her (many for the first time) and very soon started to admire her as an actress. She is excellent in the role and her acting still does not appear to be dated whatsoever! The whole of Garbo's sequence is marvelous but if I were to choose which scenes are particularly memorable, I would pay attention to two brilliant moments: first, the one at the train station when Leo and Felicitas meet for the first time and Leo picks the flowers that fell onto the ground and gives them to her, and, second, the moment when Leo and Ulrich, two lifelong friends, go to fight in a duel. Viewer's attention is directed towards Hertha, Ulrich's virtuous sister. She does her best to persuade Felicitas to take steps to stop this madness that a duel between two best friends appeared to be. How beautifully Garbo shows a change of heart... I admit that I have never seen such a performance before! Therefore, the words by Kyrou about Garbo, entailed at the beginning of my review, appear to accurately fit here.

OTHER CAST: Besides Garbo and Gilbert, there is a great Swedish actor, Lars Hanson, with whom Garbo played in one film before FLESH AND THE DEVIL (this was Mauritz Stiller's THE SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING). He is memorable as Ulrich, particularly in the final sequence when friendship occurs to be, indeed, sacred. The fabulous acting of the three (Garbo, Gilbert and Hanson) is expressed in a brilliant scene of the three meeting after Leo's return from Africa and drinking a toast. Other cast give very good performances, too, including Barbara Kent as Hertha and Marc Mc Dermott as Count Von Rhaden.

OTHER MEMORABLE MOMENTS include a number of humorous scenes that are, in no way, dated. It is important to state that many silent films may seem "silly" because today's viewers laugh at the scenes that were not supposed to be funny. It is caused by the challenge in people's sense of humor. However, it does not appear to be in FLESH AND THE DEVIL. Humor is retained and still serves its purpose. Consider the pastor seeing twins and believing to be drunk (he sees one girl in double). Or the final shot ... "You won't bid me goodbye?"

FLESH AND THE DEVIL is a film that I would recommend to anyone to see. It is a real classic and, in this regard, it may be considered similar to other classics of the time, like SUNRISE (1927), BEN HUR (1925) and THE LAST LAUGH (1924). But there are three more aspects about it that make the movie a must see - William H. Daniels' cinematography, Clarence Brown's direction and Greta Garbo's magnificent silent performance together with her alluring beauty. See it so that the film can last forever in your most beautiful memories. 9/10!