I have to brace myself - this review is fairly negative (it's "6" rating is mostly due to the acting of the cast and the cinematography and (believe it or not) the wardrobe). Therefore it probably will not get much support - as it is a hit at a key film in the careers of Garbo and Gilbert (two actors I actually like), and Garbo fans at least would be large enough to this day to resent the idea that any film she made is not worthy of full respect. Sorry, I can't respect FLESH AND THE DEVIL.
The reason for my negativity was due to idiocy (there's no better term for it) of the movie script. Maybe with a bit of modern fine-tuning it could be a well regarded study of homosexual love winning, but not in the 1926 story. Even now many people dislike homosexuality, but the subject isn't as buried as it was in the age of Calvin Coolidge.
Lars Hanson (a long forgotten silent film star) is Ulrich, who has been a close, close friend to Gilbert (Leo here) since they were boys. In fact a series of scenes show how close they really are from boyhood on - swearing eternal brotherly love on a small isle on the local lake, called the Isle of Friendship. Then they meet the wife of the local Count (Marc McDermott) who is Garbo (Felicitas here - that means "happiness" by the way). Both men fall in love with her (a fact that is noted by the local Pastor - George Fawcett - a hard drinking, and smoking type, who gives the best performance in the film in my opinion). Gilbert is married to Hanson's sister (Barbara Kent as Bertha), so he hesitates although Garbo is aware of her attraction to him. Hanson ends up in a duel with McDermott and kills the latter. So he ends up marrying Garbo. But it ruins their local reputations!
Gilbert shuns them too. But he is tempted back into friendship with Hanson at the urging of Garbo. This meets with the fury of Fawcett who denounces Larson and Garbo in a sermon about David, Beersheba, and Uriah. Still Gilbert keeps up the friendship with Larson. Then Larson takes a trip to Munich, and Garbo reveals her intense love for Gilbert. They plan to run off, but Larson (of course you can guess) comes home before they flee. In the end he catches Gilbert with Garbo (a furious Gilbert has been told that Garbo is unwilling to flee after all - hey, she'd lose her lovely lifestyle - and started strangling her). The result is a challenge to a duel the next morning on (you got it) the "Isle of Friendship".
It is only through a miraculous death that the two friends are brought to their senses. Interestingly the two male leads are in the clinch at the conclusion.
I just could not sit through this film without thinking how bad the script was - a series of clichés put together, with only the possible homosexual love theme as a savings grace. And speaking of grace, the scene of the Pastor's denunciation is curious too. Fawcett is wonderful, but he's gotten his story wrong. King David did arrange for the death of his soldier Uriah the Hittite to marry Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. But God punishes him by the death of their first child. And Nathan, David's religious adviser, denounces the King and shames him into penitence - resulting in God forgiving David and granting him and Bathsheba a second child: Solomon. That portion was totally dropped by our Pastor in his zeal to shame two (or three) sinners.
By the way - do you think that the Pastor ever had a sermon about David and Jonathan?
The reason for my negativity was due to idiocy (there's no better term for it) of the movie script. Maybe with a bit of modern fine-tuning it could be a well regarded study of homosexual love winning, but not in the 1926 story. Even now many people dislike homosexuality, but the subject isn't as buried as it was in the age of Calvin Coolidge.
Lars Hanson (a long forgotten silent film star) is Ulrich, who has been a close, close friend to Gilbert (Leo here) since they were boys. In fact a series of scenes show how close they really are from boyhood on - swearing eternal brotherly love on a small isle on the local lake, called the Isle of Friendship. Then they meet the wife of the local Count (Marc McDermott) who is Garbo (Felicitas here - that means "happiness" by the way). Both men fall in love with her (a fact that is noted by the local Pastor - George Fawcett - a hard drinking, and smoking type, who gives the best performance in the film in my opinion). Gilbert is married to Hanson's sister (Barbara Kent as Bertha), so he hesitates although Garbo is aware of her attraction to him. Hanson ends up in a duel with McDermott and kills the latter. So he ends up marrying Garbo. But it ruins their local reputations!
Gilbert shuns them too. But he is tempted back into friendship with Hanson at the urging of Garbo. This meets with the fury of Fawcett who denounces Larson and Garbo in a sermon about David, Beersheba, and Uriah. Still Gilbert keeps up the friendship with Larson. Then Larson takes a trip to Munich, and Garbo reveals her intense love for Gilbert. They plan to run off, but Larson (of course you can guess) comes home before they flee. In the end he catches Gilbert with Garbo (a furious Gilbert has been told that Garbo is unwilling to flee after all - hey, she'd lose her lovely lifestyle - and started strangling her). The result is a challenge to a duel the next morning on (you got it) the "Isle of Friendship".
It is only through a miraculous death that the two friends are brought to their senses. Interestingly the two male leads are in the clinch at the conclusion.
I just could not sit through this film without thinking how bad the script was - a series of clichés put together, with only the possible homosexual love theme as a savings grace. And speaking of grace, the scene of the Pastor's denunciation is curious too. Fawcett is wonderful, but he's gotten his story wrong. King David did arrange for the death of his soldier Uriah the Hittite to marry Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. But God punishes him by the death of their first child. And Nathan, David's religious adviser, denounces the King and shames him into penitence - resulting in God forgiving David and granting him and Bathsheba a second child: Solomon. That portion was totally dropped by our Pastor in his zeal to shame two (or three) sinners.
By the way - do you think that the Pastor ever had a sermon about David and Jonathan?