Flesh and the Devil (1926)
Two lifelong friends are divided by a married woman: one fights a duel over her, is sent abroad, and comes home to find the other has married her himself. Adapted from Hermann Sudermann's novel The Undying Past.
The first of three features to pair Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, whose off-screen affair became public during production, Flesh and the Devil sealed Garbo’s Hollywood stardom under Clarence Brown’s direction; it joined the National Film Registry in 2006.
Background
Flesh and the Devil was directed by Clarence Brown and starred Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, who made several films together. The screenplay adapts Hermann Sudermann’s novel The Undying Past, and MGM produced the film in 1926. Lars Hanson and Barbara Kent round out the cast. The film was a major commercial success and established Garbo as a leading Hollywood star. The off-screen relationship between Garbo and Gilbert became public knowledge during production and drew press attention at the time. Garbo had come to Hollywood in 1925 with her mentor Mauritz Stiller, and this picture was among her first major MGM successes.
What to watch for
The film’s central triangle, in which two lifelong friends are divided by a married woman, drives the story. Watch the duel that sends one man abroad, and his return to find the other has married her. Garbo’s screen presence is the main draw, particularly in her close-ups, which the film uses to suggest her character’s ambivalence. Gilbert’s performance is more openly emotional, and the chemistry between the leads gives the romance its intensity. The lavish costume and set design reflect MGM’s approach to silent prestige pictures of the period. The romantic conflict plays out through a series of intense scenes between the two men, and the tragic arc turns on the choices of the woman at the center.
