Flesh and the Devil (1927)

Childhood friends are torn apart when one of them marries the woman the other once fiercely loved.

Director:

Clarence Brown

Writers:

Benjamin Glazer (screen play), Hermann Sudermann (from the novel "The Undying Past" by),

Stars:

John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Lars Hanson

1 win.

Cast

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

Storyline

Leo and Ulrich are life long friends. Home, on leave from their military training, Leo sees the beautiful Felicitas at the railroad station. Awed by her beauty, they meet again at the ball and quietly leave together. In her room, her husband, about whom she has neglected to inform Leo, comes in and challenges Leo to a duel. The duel is done, the Count is killed, and Felicitas is a widow. Leo, however, is 'requested' to serve 5 years in Africa and he tells Ulrich to watch over Felicitas while he is gone. After 3 years, Ulrich is able to get a pardon for Leo, and all that Leo thinks about on the way home is Felicitas. When he arrives, he learns that Felicitas has married Ulrich. Felicitas likes that Ulrich is rich and she never told Ulrich the truth about Leo and her. Leo is crushed and does not visit them which saddens Ulrich as he does not know the reason why. Leo tries to stay away from her, but Felicitas uses every opportunity to tempt him to return to her as her lover. She creating...

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Plot Keywords:

duel | love triangle | friendship | love | widow | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

9 January 1927 (USA)

Also Known As:

El demonio y la carne

Box Office

Budget:

$373,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 112 min (1988 sound)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Barry Paris's commentary on the 2005 DVD release, Garbo initially refused to do this film, which was scheduled for production immediately following her last picture, and also not long after the death of her sister from cancer. MGM sent her a sternly worded telegram, and she capitulated.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Pastor Voss: My Boy, when the devil cannot reach us through the spirit... He creates a woman beautiful enough to reach us through the flesh.

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Connections

Featured in Garbo (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Flesh and the Devil Theme"
(1926) (uncredited)
Music by Frank Owens

User Reviews

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.