Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

utgard14 Terrific silent melodrama starring Greta Garbo as a seductive woman who comes between two lifelong friends (John Gilbert and Lars Hanson). It's a beautiful-looking film with great direction and cinematography. Also some sizzling chemistry between Garbo and Gilbert. It can be very corny in spots with an unintentionally funny ending that you have to see to believe, but I think the good outweighs the bad. Modern audiences will probably also find a great deal of subtext between the Gilbert and Hanson characters. The two men are frequently affectionately embracing one another and at least half a dozen times in the film I thought they were about to kiss. Add to that the movie's basic message of "bros before hoes" and you come away with a different interpretation of the film than was perhaps intended. Then again, maybe it was the point of the story all along. At any rate it's a good film whether one wants to think about the different layers or not.

thebluesterman Let this begin by my outing myself as an unashamed card-carrying political correctness Luddite. In reading several of the reviews already posted here I was shocked, shocked to find that there was grumbling going on in here. *SPOILER ALERT* One reviewer made reference to misogynism because Felicitas drowns in freezing water beneath a layer of ice and the guys rediscover the depth of their friendship. Allegedly, this happens because it is a male dominated world and women always get the **** end of the morality stick. Sorry...not buying that. She gets it in a wonderfully symbolically perfect (for her character) way (recall Frost's Fire and Ice). AND...17 years later when Phyllis Dietrichson gets offed by Walter Neff I don't think anyone was crying foul because she dies on screen and Walter is left to ponder his inevitable fate in the arms of his pal, Keyes, during the fade out. While watching Flesh and The Devil I was struck several times how noirish was the story line and some of the camera work. The film was shot so well that it was hard to take my eyes off the screen for even a moment (much the same effect that Metropolis has). Others have remarked on the undercurrent of homoerotica. I guess we find what we're looking for. The lens I viewed this film through saw two men who shared a very deep and life-long affection for and loyalty to one another. They displayed this affection openly, viscerally and verbally (through the dialogue intertitles). As a lifelong heterosexual male I have to say that these qualities in some of my male friendships over the years never resulted in me or my pals confusing one another with Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy. Acapulco Gold does not always lead to being a smack addict. So... I accepted this film for what it (in my opinion) is: a really fine film that I was thrilled to discover in the Garbo box set I just bought. So what if this wasn't the first (or last) time in the history of humankind that this theme was worked. Originality can be an overworked and highly overrated quality. For anyone interested in watching a superior film that is now 89 years old, Flesh and The Devil should satisfy. And so say all of us.

MissSimonetta Flesh and the Devil (1926) may be the best example of how beautiful and technically accomplished even the most routine studio project could be back at the beginning of the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1920s. In their heyday, silent films were far from incompetent and primitive; they glistened, the camera work was creative, and the stars were luminous.Flesh and the Devil could have been a pedestrian melodrama with the wrong staff. The story was a common one even for the time: two friends fall out over the love of a seductive woman. What elevates the material are Clarence Brown's direction, William H. Daniels' glowing cinematography, the subdued acting from all involved, and especially the chemistry between John Gilbert and Greta Garbo.Of course, the film's fatal flaw as far as modern audiences are concerned is its misogynistic undertone. (Spoilers ahead) The woman must be punished for her transgressions while the two men are allowed to reconcile. Garbo is continually contrasted with Barbara Kent's innocent, pious character, who never once shows an ounce of desire and thus is more suited to marriage with the protagonist. It is as critic Linda Williams once said: when the woman reciprocates the man's sexually-charged gaze, she must be destroyed. That this ending is also dramatically unsatisfying and anti-climactic almost kills the picture entirely.Luckily, Garbo elevates her character from the sexist stereotype she embodies on the page. Even though she is selfish in the extreme, I would be hard-pressed to say she's evil. She brings a vulnerability to the role, making her more sympathetic. And in the end, she does realize the error of her ways before being punished via death. Without Garbo, the character would be just another heartless vamp.In spite of these issues, this is still a worthwhile film, if only for its technical beauty. Paired with the Carl Davis score, it's a magnificent piece of entertainment, a simple melodrama delivered with all of the trimmings.

jjnxn-1 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.