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The First Million Dollar Picture !
Bio
The 3rd picture of Erich von Stroheim as a director,
who used to be Griffith's actor and director assistant. After the
success of The Blind Husbands, he was trusted a colossal
budget for this incredible reconstruction of the Monte Carlo Casino
(in Monaco on the french riviera) to the last detail. Not only the
set is huge but he wanted the most realist environment for his cast,
with actual glass on windows, working light switch and bellring,
firearms with live ammo, real champagne and caviar served! Von Stroheim
tried to escape from the studio executive's watch by shooting everything
outside Hollywood on an island in south California (Point Lobos
State Reserve), which was unfortunately subject to dreadful weather
conditions, like rain and heavy wind. The set kept busy the entire
Universal staff during 2 monthes to build it! Meanwhile none were
available on sets in Hollywood and all the other directors were
complaining...
At some point a hurrican detroyed part of the set which had to be
rebuilt. The studio worried about the expenses but Stroheim who
happened to play the title role had already shot many scenes thus
he could not be fired as a director or the lead actor would go as
well. Universal got over it and decided to use it as a publicity
arguement. Universal president, Carl Laemmle, was shown handing
out a blank check to Von Stroheim and the unprecedented Million
Dollar budget was featured on Time Square, updated day to day following
the new expenditures, eventually reaching a full $ 1,1 Million.
The film only made $ 800,000, which was a big hit, but not enough
to pay back.
Notes
Introduced by a french film scholar, Fanny Lignon, author of a book
on Erich Von Stroheim, I watched this monumental production recently
that was butchered by Studio cut and censorship. The original 384
min (over 6 hours runtime edited from 65 hours of rushes) director's
cut, only shown once to studio executives, was literaly stolen by
studio executives and edited in a rush onboard of a train to a mere
3 1/2 hours for its public premiere. The director was in the next
train trying to catch his master print but it was too late. The
ambitious director wanted to show his film in 2 parts like most
of his projects. Later edited some more to only 2 1/2 hours and
again to 73 min. Imagine the outrage to the plot integrity and the
castration of the original atmosphere intended by the auteur.
2 truncated versions remains available today :
The american restaured version based on the assemblage of the surviving
european print and the last existing american print. Because the
censorship cut different scenes in either part of the world, it
was possible to form a longer film up to 2h from all the reels.
And the french version, running only 90 min, which is the one I
saw. Fanny Lignon pretends it would be the version the most faithful
to the auteur's intentions because it is flowing better in a coherent
way. The american version, if trying to be the most possibly extensive,
adding up all existing footage, suffers by the discontinuous pace
partly as slow as the director's cut, partly stuttering because
of the censorship holes and lost footage.
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Erich von Stroheim, in a splendid white military uniform, is the
sophisticated Count Sergius Wladislaw Karamzin, a russian expatriate
living in Monte Carlo with his 2 alledged cousins, who are actually
his escort-partners in crime, and his faithful maid. He's a womanizer
who hunts and seduce every woman from all social class to manipulate
them into giving him all their savings, by promising marriage
and love in a mastered con-artist routine.
The peculiar opening scene shows Karamzin range training on a
rocky shore facing the sea, shooting on a target strangely looking
like the austrian monarch (Von Stroheim being an austrian expatriate,
and we know the critical role of austria in the start of WW1)
with a silencer-mounted gun! (note the irony of using a silencer
in a silent film, while he's alone in the open near the sea)
Karamzin reads in the paper the american ambassador and his wife
arrive in Monte Carlo, and figure the neglected wifewill be the
perfect victim of his game. She is seen reading a book titled
"Foolish Wives" written by Erich Von Stroheim
! several times in the film, and Stroheim goes as far as quoting
himself through the count Karamin who reads a sentence in the
book and approve with the implicit moral it conveys. At the end
of the film, her husband quotes another phrase and spins the original
message.
He introduces himself cunningly and befriends with the couple
until he becomes close to the wife and drags her attention enough
to compromise her reputation. Episodes featuring an hilarious
apocalyptic storm in the country side with a flood and a bridge
collapse... leading Karamzin to save the woman on a small row
boat (reminiscent of Sunrise / 1927) and taking her for
the night into the derelict cabin of an old witch living with
goat, toads, crows and a big dog.
Apparently the subplot suffered most from the butchery, as we
don't see much of Karamzin seducing his maid, and a sick woman
he visits during the night by climbing the facade, although her
protective father chase him with a shotgun.
The climax with a spectacular fire burning down a bulding makes
a both funny and tragic conclusion.
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| DETAILS |
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1921 - Erich von Stroheim - USA
Directing : Erich von Stroheim
Scenario : Erich von Stroheim
Photo : William Daniels / Ben Reynolds
Cast : Erich von Stroheim, Miss DuPont, Maude George,
Mae Busch
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Content : +
Playwright : + +
Mise en scene : + +
Craft : + +
Inspiration : +
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