SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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.

joan_freyer I still remember one scene from my college days of Gilbert coming back and discovering his best friend (homosexual lover?) has married Garbo. Gilbert's face is first transformed by joy, passion, then surprise, shock, contempt, concern for his unstable and naive friend, and finally cold irony --- all in the space of less than two minutes and this is not over acting !!!! But rather the best film acting. Twenty years later I watched this film again and am impressed anew how good Gilbert is.Garbo's mystique aside, Gilbert delivers a great acting performance here. Didn't anyone notice this scene? Tell me one modern actor who could have done this scene? Gilbert's work is I think underrated because of Garbo's later reputation and his tragic destruction courtesy of Mayer. But his acting in films from early Fox to later MGM films all show he took acting seriously, took his characters seriously, hated his 'great lover' title, and wanted to be a good actor. And I think he was a good actor too. He usually underacted. He was not a 'ham'. People should watch him work here instead of just looking at Garbo or writing him off as a 'pretty face'.In Dark Star (bio by his daughter) we are told Noel Coward made a homosexual pass at Gilbert and Gilbert just laughed and give him a whiskey. I can't believe Gilbert was stupid, being a writer himself, not to read between the lines and understand the implied homosexual undercurrent. The other male actor was clearly playing Urich as homosexual. So I think we can assume the 3 leads understood the implied theme and had fun with it. This is Pre Code before Pre Code.

theowinthrop 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?

michaelstep2004 This early Garbo vehicle is a superb, over-the-top melodrama. Garbo is a simply glorious vamp, a radiant beauty who enjoys and manipulates the passionate love of two best friends (in every sense), to their near destruction and ultimate redemption.The relationship between the two guys -- John Gilbert and Lars Hanson -- is as homoerotically suggestive as any on film before the 1970s -- and you can see from the emotions flooding Garbo's face that she feels the competition!Very good acting -- silent screen mode -- across the board in this nicely mounted MGM production.A good, rich, era-appropriate musical score with Wagner/Mahler overtones adds depth to the TCM broadcast of this silent classic!And tonight, TCM also broadcast their 90-minute "Garbo" documentary -- excellent, and a great complement to this film..What a GREAT MOVIE STAR she was! Maybe the greatest of all?