Garbo had been here, done this by the time she starred in The Temptress. She had previously starred in Torrent, and would go on to star in Flesh And The Devil. In all three, she plays a seductive temptress who men just can't keep their hands off of. Her temptresses in all three of these are supposed to be Spanish- thank goodness for silent film, because Garbo is about as Spanish as Swedish meatballs. I would have liked to have just HOW she could have played a Spanish woman in the sound era.
Flesh And The Devil is the best film as a whole, and contains her best overall performance (despite the fact that the character of Felicitas is supposed to be an unattractive forty-some she-devil and Garbo was a cute little twenty-one-year-old Swedish import), but this film has by far the best ending of the three. Perhaps the best ending of any Garbo film ever.
She isn't given much to do with her role as Elena the temptress, other than simper, pout, and watch the men fawn over her. Antonio Moreno meets her at a costume ball, and follows her to Argentina. And how the men fawn over her! One guy gets shot in an argument over her, there's a brawl for her affections- what fun! She just sort of stands there and watches them do so.
The ending is fabulous, however. The rest of the film may be cheesy, stilted and very clichéd, Garbo would go on to greater things- even greater silents- but the way the film is shot as a whole, particularly THAT ENDING, makes it more than worthwhile.
Antonio Moreno's character goes to the big city, sees Garbo's character, recognizes her, but she doesn't recognize him. Tired, worn-out, ravaged by syphilis and probably on some kind of drug, she repeats that she doesn't know him, saying that she meets so many men. She has become a prostitute, a moral payback for her temptress life. Moreno's character buys her a drink, and she keeps repeating that she meets so many men- he is still in love with her, even watching her like this.
It finally ends with her being such a combination of drunk and raving sick, hallucinating that another man in the bar is Jesus. She gives him her ruby ring, then stumbles off into the sunset- we presume that she dies soon after. There is a happy ending print of this film, but I don't want to see it. The ending of this one is perfect. Just perfect. Arguably the only good part.
The intertitles aren't great, and once you've seen one Garbo-does-a-temptress film, you've seen them all, but if you have to see one, see the ending of this, the storm scenes of Torrent, and the entire Flesh And The Devil.
Recommended to Garbo fans and people who have never seen her in a silent film.
Flesh And The Devil is the best film as a whole, and contains her best overall performance (despite the fact that the character of Felicitas is supposed to be an unattractive forty-some she-devil and Garbo was a cute little twenty-one-year-old Swedish import), but this film has by far the best ending of the three. Perhaps the best ending of any Garbo film ever.
She isn't given much to do with her role as Elena the temptress, other than simper, pout, and watch the men fawn over her. Antonio Moreno meets her at a costume ball, and follows her to Argentina. And how the men fawn over her! One guy gets shot in an argument over her, there's a brawl for her affections- what fun! She just sort of stands there and watches them do so.
The ending is fabulous, however. The rest of the film may be cheesy, stilted and very clichéd, Garbo would go on to greater things- even greater silents- but the way the film is shot as a whole, particularly THAT ENDING, makes it more than worthwhile.
Antonio Moreno's character goes to the big city, sees Garbo's character, recognizes her, but she doesn't recognize him. Tired, worn-out, ravaged by syphilis and probably on some kind of drug, she repeats that she doesn't know him, saying that she meets so many men. She has become a prostitute, a moral payback for her temptress life. Moreno's character buys her a drink, and she keeps repeating that she meets so many men- he is still in love with her, even watching her like this.
It finally ends with her being such a combination of drunk and raving sick, hallucinating that another man in the bar is Jesus. She gives him her ruby ring, then stumbles off into the sunset- we presume that she dies soon after. There is a happy ending print of this film, but I don't want to see it. The ending of this one is perfect. Just perfect. Arguably the only good part.
The intertitles aren't great, and once you've seen one Garbo-does-a-temptress film, you've seen them all, but if you have to see one, see the ending of this, the storm scenes of Torrent, and the entire Flesh And The Devil.
Recommended to Garbo fans and people who have never seen her in a silent film.