Sin would never get off the ground if it were not glamorized. Maybe that's why Eve tempted Adam with the apple, saying, "If you eat this, you will be like God." And maybe that's why MGM, Hollywood's number one studio (in profits) in 1926, lavished so much energy and lighting and complexity on its star, Greta Garbo, in Clarence Brown's Flesh and the Devil (1926). As the amoral Felicitas, Garbo plays both title roles.

Garbo scorches the screen, leaving in her wake the flotsam of dewy innocence personified by Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, and Mary Miles Minter in earlier films. Felicitas is no Pollyana.

In 19th century Germany, best friends Leo (John Gilbert) and Ulrich (Lars Hanson) are cadets at a military academy. Indeed, we see in flashback that as young boys one summer, they took a blood oath to friendship, on a small island they come to call "The Isle of Friendship." Ulrich's younger sister, who has a crush on Leo, looks on admiringly as the two boys make cuts on their own arms and mingle their blood together in token of their oath.

Back to the present day, we pick up Leo, resplendent in full dress uniform, attending a military ball. He chances to see the entrancing Felicitas (Garbo), and instantly Leo is rooted to the spot. Gilbert plays the scene as one who has just seen a saint... only Felicitas is no saint. He approaches, she drops the bouquet she was carrying, and he hastens to retrieve it for her. He's hooked. Anyone who thinks, "well, after all, he made the first move" is unfamiliar with the wiles of a woman on the make. Before long, the two are lovers, delivering some of the most torrid—even horizontal—love scenes ever filmed.

The affair continues until one night their tryst is interrupted by a stranger: Count von Rhaden (Marc MacDermott). Oh, didn't I tell you, Leo? Count von Rhaden is my husband. Of course Leo is shocked and dismayed. The count slaps Leo in the face with his glove, the standard challenge to a duel. But the count makes one stipulation: No scandal must dishonor his name, therefore the "official" reason for their duel is to be a dispute over a game of cards.

In a widely admired scene, Brown shoots the duel entirely in silhouette. The two men select their pistols, take the required number of paces, then turn and shoot. The next thing we see, Felicitas is wearing widow's weeds.

Leo has won, and now he has the alluring Felicitas all to himself... but the Army intervenes. Because of the scandal caused by the duel, Leo is dispatched on a five-year mission to North Africa. He must leave his love behind.

Not wanting to lose her, Leo entrusts the care of the widow to his best friend Ulrich, who knows nothing about their previous relationship. Like everyone else, Ulrich believes the duel was over a card game, and agrees to play Damon to Leo's Pythias.

Ulrich intervenes with the Army to get Leo's service exile reduced, and succeeds in bringing him home after only three years instead of five. Ulrich is eager to see his old friend, for he's got a surprise. "Leo, I would like you to meet my new wife." Leo smiles and starts to kiss the lady's hand, then freezes again, in a moment reminiscent of his first meeting with Felicitas. Yes, it's her again. She has married Leo's best friend.

In the middle of Flesh and the Devil, there's a key scene where a kindly old pastor tells Leo, "When Satan cannot reach us through the spirit, sometimes he creates a woman beautiful enough to reach us through the flesh." The padre means it as a warning, for he had chanced to see Leo and Felicitas together while she was still married to the count. Still, the love-struck Leo is so smitten that he allows Felicitas to entice him again, even though she's married to his best friend.

Now the scene where Leo met the count is revisited, as Ulrich walks in on Leo and Felicitas in a very compromising situation. Ulrich is disgraced, Leo is heartsick, and we can almost see Satan drywashing his hands in glee. The two men agree to fight a duel to the death... and, to complete the irony, their agreed meeting place is none other than the Isle of Friendship, where they had vowed to be friends forever.

Felicitas is certainly the devil, but Greta Garbo emerges as one of the most luminous stars ever to appear in the Hollywood heavens. She is breathtakingly beautiful, and we can well understand John Gilbert's fanatical attraction to her. Their acting was top-notch, but Hollywood history tells us that in their love scenes together—of which there are many—they weren't acting.