Foolish Wives (1922)
Country: US
Technical: bw 117m
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Cast: Erich von Stroheim, Miss DuPont, Maude George, Mae Busch, Rudolph Christians
Synopsis:
Bearing only a few telltale scars from the recent global conflict, Monte Carlo picks up its game of winners and losers where it left off. Among the hawks are a counterfeit Russian Count and his would-be cousins, who prey off the rich set by deploying his natural charm and military trappings against the naïve wife of an American diplomat.
Review:
Von Stroheim ('The man they loved to hate') pretty much plays himself in this lavish sex drama, at least in so far as his transplantation from Viennese Jewish anonymity to Hollywood poseur-dom was concerned. Not satisfied with a 'will she, won't she?' raciness in his central masquerade, von Stroheim added in a vile dependent serving maid and a halfwitted daughter for the Jew who provides them with their fake 1,000 franc notes, thus making plain that his character's lechery knew no bounds of class or beauty. Insert shots of the Count licking his lips and other displays of madness and depravity represented an advance in the psycho-social depth of screen acting at the time, but the scene depicting his comeuppance is alas lost to posterity. No matter, the film was groundbreaking in its suggestion of the possibility of sexual gratification, whether it be so subtle as the Count placing the sleeping Miss DuPont's hand on his thigh. The full-scale sets of the casinos and hotels pushed the budget to the dizzy heights of $1 million, a first for the time; with hindsight it is doubtful whether it was worth all the trouble and it is inordinately long, but it stands as monument to one man's attempt to introduce cynicism and perfectionism to the entertainment factory, in this case Universal Pictures. Does that make it any better than Heaven's Gate? Discuss.
Country: US
Technical: bw 117m
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Cast: Erich von Stroheim, Miss DuPont, Maude George, Mae Busch, Rudolph Christians
Synopsis:
Bearing only a few telltale scars from the recent global conflict, Monte Carlo picks up its game of winners and losers where it left off. Among the hawks are a counterfeit Russian Count and his would-be cousins, who prey off the rich set by deploying his natural charm and military trappings against the naïve wife of an American diplomat.
Review:
Von Stroheim ('The man they loved to hate') pretty much plays himself in this lavish sex drama, at least in so far as his transplantation from Viennese Jewish anonymity to Hollywood poseur-dom was concerned. Not satisfied with a 'will she, won't she?' raciness in his central masquerade, von Stroheim added in a vile dependent serving maid and a halfwitted daughter for the Jew who provides them with their fake 1,000 franc notes, thus making plain that his character's lechery knew no bounds of class or beauty. Insert shots of the Count licking his lips and other displays of madness and depravity represented an advance in the psycho-social depth of screen acting at the time, but the scene depicting his comeuppance is alas lost to posterity. No matter, the film was groundbreaking in its suggestion of the possibility of sexual gratification, whether it be so subtle as the Count placing the sleeping Miss DuPont's hand on his thigh. The full-scale sets of the casinos and hotels pushed the budget to the dizzy heights of $1 million, a first for the time; with hindsight it is doubtful whether it was worth all the trouble and it is inordinately long, but it stands as monument to one man's attempt to introduce cynicism and perfectionism to the entertainment factory, in this case Universal Pictures. Does that make it any better than Heaven's Gate? Discuss.
Country: US
Technical: bw 117m
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Cast: Erich von Stroheim, Miss DuPont, Maude George, Mae Busch, Rudolph Christians
Synopsis:
Bearing only a few telltale scars from the recent global conflict, Monte Carlo picks up its game of winners and losers where it left off. Among the hawks are a counterfeit Russian Count and his would-be cousins, who prey off the rich set by deploying his natural charm and military trappings against the naïve wife of an American diplomat.
Review:
Von Stroheim ('The man they loved to hate') pretty much plays himself in this lavish sex drama, at least in so far as his transplantation from Viennese Jewish anonymity to Hollywood poseur-dom was concerned. Not satisfied with a 'will she, won't she?' raciness in his central masquerade, von Stroheim added in a vile dependent serving maid and a halfwitted daughter for the Jew who provides them with their fake 1,000 franc notes, thus making plain that his character's lechery knew no bounds of class or beauty. Insert shots of the Count licking his lips and other displays of madness and depravity represented an advance in the psycho-social depth of screen acting at the time, but the scene depicting his comeuppance is alas lost to posterity. No matter, the film was groundbreaking in its suggestion of the possibility of sexual gratification, whether it be so subtle as the Count placing the sleeping Miss DuPont's hand on his thigh. The full-scale sets of the casinos and hotels pushed the budget to the dizzy heights of $1 million, a first for the time; with hindsight it is doubtful whether it was worth all the trouble and it is inordinately long, but it stands as monument to one man's attempt to introduce cynicism and perfectionism to the entertainment factory, in this case Universal Pictures. Does that make it any better than Heaven's Gate? Discuss.