Foolish Wives (no 58)

by Allan Fish

(USA 1922 140m) DVD1

Hell’s Paradise

p  Irving G.Thalberg  d  Erich Von Stroheim  w  Erich Von Stroheim, Marian Ainsley, Walter Anthony  ph  Ben Reynolds, William H.Daniels  ed  Arthur Ripley  art  Richard Day, Elmer Sheele, Erich Von Stroheim

Erich Von Stroheim (Count Wladyslaw Sergius Karamzin), Mae Busch (Princess Vera Petchnikoff), Maude George (Princess Olga Petchnikoff), Rudolph Christians (Andrew J.Hughes), Cesare Gravina (Cesare Ventucci), Dale Fuller (Maruschka), Patty DuPont (Helen Hughes), Al Edmundsen (Pavel Pavlich), Malvine Polo (Marietta Ventucci), C.J.Allen (Prince Albert I of Monaco), Robert Edeson, Nigel de Brulier, Mary Philbin,

When watching either of Von Stroheim’s great films – the same is also true of later classics Greed, Queen Kelly and The Wedding March – one cannot help but think of what might have been.  With Foolish Wives one could argue that it suffered most; originally it was shown in Latin America and parts of Europe at over six hours in length.  For a long time only 108m prints survived until a seventies restoration restored some half hour or so’s footage and used judicial tinting to heighten the drama. 

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