On February 8 at 4:00 PM, Clarence Brown’s «Flesh and the Devil» (1926) will be shown as part of the «Forgotten Silent Films» series of silent film screenings with experimental musical accompaniment.
HSE School of Design students Madina Tambieva and Svyatoslav Modestov will provide live musical accompaniment. The duo will present an electroacoustic composition that will not only convey the emotional power of this classic film but also reveal the characters' personalities.
The collaboration between the Russian State Film Fund and the HSE School of Art and Design has been ongoing for several years now—students and faculty from the Sound Art and Sound Design program have created unique soundtracks for dozens of silent films by Russian and international directors. Each participant chooses their own approach—focusing on the fluidity of individual shots, conveying the overall emotional intensity of scenes, or perhaps challenging the film’s pacing and allowing viewers to experience it from a different perspective.
Upon its release, Flesh and the Devil became a breakthrough film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The film largely introduced audiences to the then-little-known director Clarence Brown, capturing a tense story of all-consuming passion, friendship, and fateful choice.
In 2006, Flesh and the Devil was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry as being «culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.»
Flesh and the Devil also played a huge role in the career of Greta Garbo, arguably the most important star of early Hollywood. This year marks the 120th anniversary of the actress’s birth. It was in Brown’s film that her defining screen myth was born—that of the femme fatale, whose beauty possesses hypnotic, destructive power. This was largely due to the sensual scenes between Garbo and actor John Gilbert, whose on-screen romance continued off-set, making them one of the most famous couples in the history of world cinema.
At modern screenings of the film, the famous love theme has been particularly prominent in the garden scene. It is considered the masterpiece of Carl Davis, an American and British composer who lived in the UK. Davis is best known for his soundtracks to classic silent films.
At screenings of the restored print of the film abroad, arranged versions of this soundtrack or live organ improvisations were often performed.
The film will be introduced by Alexandra Ustyuzhanina, chief art historian at the Analytical Department of the Russian State Film Fund and film scholar.
This time, the live musical score will feature the author’s own interpretation with distinct jazz elements—a duo of performers will use the sounds of clarinet and xylophone.
Madina Tambieva and her solo project «D minor Sonata» are sound artists working in electroacoustic composition and a student of the Sound Art and Sound Design program at the HSE School of Design. In her practice, she explores psychoacoustics, the «word,» and the timbral potential of various musical instruments. She frequently interacts with field recordings and processes them live using the Pure Data and VCV Rack programming environments.
Svyatoslav Modestov, performing under the pseudonym «Unknown Pleasure,» is an emerging artist and sound designer working in genres such as dream pop, jazz, soul, alternative, and indie. He is a student in the Sound Art and Sound Design program at the HSE School of Design. Nostalgic melodies and ethereal textures mixed with jazz structures create a unique sound in his music.
1926, 109 min., drama, USA, 18+ Director: Clarence Brown Cast: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lars Hanson, Barbara Kent, William Orlamond
