"Flesh and the Devil" is Nutty

 

by Daniel White

Actor Gregory Peck realized during the filming of Roman Holiday that upon its release, co-star Audrey Hepburn would achieve stardom equal to his. Approaching director William Wyler, he graciously requested she receive appropriate billing. Why some astute MGM executive didn't understand the same phenomenon would happen to Greta Garbo with Flesh and the Devil (1927), and adjust the credits accordingly, is a mystery.

John Gilbert's name is above the title in this well-made silent melodrama. At the time MGM's biggest male star, he is Leo von Harden, an aristocratic German soldier. While on leave with best pal Ulrich von Eltz (Lars Hanson), he encounters the bewitching Felicitas (Gardo). Immediately wowed, he sets out to woo her. Unfortunately, the smoking hot seductress forgets to reveal one minor detail: she has a husband! A duel is fought, the cuckold is killed and Leo is shipped off to Africa until things cool down. While away, he naively asks his buddy Ulrich to pay a visit, now and again, on the grieving widow to see if she needs anything...

Not quite as deliriously bonkers as her previous flick, The Temptress, Flesh and the Devil is still fairly nutty. Garbo's film vamps are reckless, disloyal and selfish, while the men she pursues, earnest, pure, and moral. She is the relentless predator, they, her hapless victims. However, Garbo is such a compelling screen presence and her love scenes with Gilbert so intense, she manages to elicit our sympathy, despite playing an ill-conceived character whose motivation defies logic. The cinematic sex pot is up against another formidable obstacle in Flesh and the Devil. Leo and Ulrich's devotion to each other from childhood is a steadfast, everlasting bond. Garbo may get Gilbert going, but ultimately, his loyalty belongs to Lars .

Still, she triumphed. The film was a huge moneymaker for MGM, the pairing of Garbo and Gilbert proving to be a lucrative one for the studio. Two more silent films would follow, as well as an off-screen romance. She would transition seamlessly to sound, leaving the alcoholic, self-destructive Gilbert behind. Even Garbo's insistence on having him cast in her 1933 biopic, Queen Christina, couldn't save the doomed matinee idol. Destined to be forgotten, except by die-hard film buffs, the tragic Gilbert drank himself to death, passing away in 1936.

Directed by frequent Garbo collaborator Clarence Brown, with her favorite cinematographer, William H. Daniels, making the star even MORE photogenic, Flesh and the Devil is currently available on YouTube.