ERICH VON STROHEIM
Blind Husbands 1919
The Devil's Passkey 1920
Greed 1924
Queen Kelly 1929
Foolish Wives 1922
Unfortunately this film is now deemed lost and the original negative was discovered to have been destroyed during an audit of the Unviersal vaults in 1941.
It is unlikely that this film will ever be seen again, but the reviews and box office returns at the time were strong and favourable. It is notable in that it has an American character portrayed as being unscrupolous and ammoral.
The Merry Widow 1925
The Wedding March and The Honeymoon 1928
Merry-Go-Round 1923
Erich von Stroheim was fired from this film by the head of production, Irving Thalberg, due to excesses which saw production costs spiral. He was replaced by Rupert Julian and only 3 of von Stroheim's scenes remain in the finished film.
Although production on this film was shutdown by producer Pat Powers before completion, there was enough footage shot for it to be released as 2 films in 1928. Erich von Stroheim had originally planned to film 3 installments for this project.
The film below if of the first installment 'The Wedding March'. Whilst 'The Honeymoon' was never completed, it was released in Europe. The only known copy of 'The Honeymoon' was destroyed in a fire in France in 1959, though not before von Stroheim was able to re-dit the films at the Cinémathèque Française in 1950.
This production was financed by Joseph P Kennedy and the film's star Gloria Swanson, who personally sought von Stroheim for a project for her to star in.
Production was shut down after only 1/3 of the movie was filmed. Miss Swanson was unhappy with the scandalous nature and dark undercurrent of the film's production. The final straw came during a sequence in an African Brothel when Tully Marshall dribbled tobacco spit on her. She contacted Joseph Kennedy and von Stroheim was subsequently fired from the picture. Swanson did eventually filmed a tacked on ending in 1931 and footage from the film was famously used 20 years later by Billy Wilder for Sunset Boulevard (which starred both Swanson and von Stroheim). Neither von Stroheim or Swanson harboured ill-feeling towards each other afterwards and she even congratulated him backstage during his stage performance in Arsenic and Old Lace.
The version below does not feature the Swanson ending, just the footage shot by von Stroheim.
Walking Down Broadway 1933 (Now known as Hello Sister!)
Perhaps von Stroheim's most reverred film, it's current form runs at just over 2 hours. The version below is 4 hour in length, although stills have been used in place of footage to try to give the viewer some concept of the full film.
It originally ran at over 9 hours and von Stroheim before he and his friend Rex Ingram conspired to cut the film to a more manageable length.
After it had been cut considerable to a length just over 3 hours, Goldwyn company had merged with Metro studios and MGM was formed. This led to von Stroheim's old nemesis from Universal, Irving Thalberg, being appointed head of production. He ordered further cuts and it was brought down to a length of just under 2 hours.
Though filming and production was strained mainly as von Stroheim clashed with his stars, the film was completed and released to a good reception and box office. Whilst he eventually became friends with John Gilbert, he clashed visciously with Mae Murray.
In fact according to most accounts Thalberg was very cooperative with von Stroheim on this picture, but it was his clash with Murray that caused a rift with studio head Louis B Mayer, which rumour states resulted in a physical assault on von Stroheim by Mayer. This was the beginning of the end of von Stroheim's tenure at MGM.
Though the film's production costs were famously declared to be over $1m, a more realistic figure was posted some years later at around $700,000.
This was the first film to be overseen by production mogul Irving Thalberg, who at 20 years old was the youngest production chief in Hollywood history. Thalberg ran tight controls of the money being spent by von Stroheim, probably for fear of his own burgeoning status. It was the start of a strong rift between von Stroheim and Thalberg, as Thalberg was to become a thorn through von Stroheim's directorial career.
Von Stroheim was eventually ordered to close down production on the film as costs ballooned from it's original $250,000 budget. The original cut ran at around 8 hours, before the studio cut it down to around a 3 and a half hours. Today it runs at 2 hours 20 minutes in it's current form, much to von Stroheim's chagrin.
von Stroehim's first film was made for just over $40,000 and went on to gross over $1,000,000 at the box office. The film caused quite a stir amongst American audiences, some of whom were disgusted by the illicit actions of the central characters, especially the wife of an American diplomat.
The film was a huge success for von Stroheim and ensured his future in Hollywood. Though the studio insisted on editing the film, most of the film was shot and completed to how von Stroheim had envisioned the project. One issue that did cause a problem was the title of the film, which led to von Stroheim announcing his annoyance publicly.
The 9 Films of Erich Von Stroheim 1919-1933
Though the film was predominantly intended as an Erich von Stroheim project, it was completely re-filmed by Fox Studios. Von Stroheim was removed from the film, as the studio felt the story was too dire for the depression-era movie going public. Most of what survives today is a complete detachment to what von Stroheim intended though there are the odd von Stroheim touches you can sense throughout the picture.
