Movie Reviewed: The Flesh and the Devil (1933), starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert

Movie Reviewed: The Flesh and the Devil (1933), starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert

MGM’s 1926 romantic drama

At the end of 1926, when this movie was released, it exploded the box office records not only because of the sensational stars but also due to the dazzling love scenes of Greta Garbo and John Gilbert. The rumor spread from the gossip columnists that they were real life lovers. The publicity was bigger than the movie itself. Clarence Brown who became Garbo s favorite director used the sensationalist story of this movie about a woman desiring only one man (Gilbert) despite she is a married woman.

The Garbo fuse had warmed by her movie "Torrent (1926)" and then fanned by the next film "Temptress (1926)," and finally reached the might of dynamite with "Flesh and the Devil." This is a wonderful pre-code era movie with a lot of “moral” issues. Hay's office would have frowned upon this film if this was produced after the codes were in force in 1933.

Greta Garbo paying for her sins by death on a floe is a dramatic moment in this film. She will be on her way in a hurry to stop the duel between her husband (and best friend of John Gilbert) Ulrich, and Leo (John Gilbert) who still loves Garbo. While racing to stop the duel, Felicitas (Garbo) falls through a layer of thin ice and drowns. The two friends realize that that their friendship is more important than Felicitas and reconcile their differences. This movies is based on the play "The Undying Past" by Hermann Sudermann, and in 2006, Flesh and the Devil was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".