1928 - Male/Female relationships Von Stroheim's THE WEDDING MARCH

Von Stroheim's 1928 film is a love story about an impoverished Prussian Prince who falls in love with a lower middle class woman but is forced by circumstance to marry the daughter of a rich industrialist. The entire story was filmed with great detail and glowing photography, it's a sophisticated but perverted film. Although the Prince's love for the woman Mitzi appears to be genuine, the Prince is hardly a likable leading man in the traditional sense. Scenes throughout the film show the Prince spending time in a bordello and it's clear he has been sleeping with the chambermaid at his parent's home. Even the beginning of his love scene with Mitzi is played next to a statue of the crucifix.

The other major male character, the butcher, who is in love with Mitzi is deliberately photographed to look like a pig. His attempted seduction of her towards the end of the film involves lots of unsubtle symbolism with the camera cutting back and forth between the butcher and a live pig running around the butcher shop.

Both female characters have some sort of physical handicap throughout the film. Mitzi, after she first meets the Prince, breaks her leg and hobbles around on a crutch throughout most of the film. The other female character Cecelia, was born with a limp. These details further push Von Stroheim's theme of the exploitation of vulnerable women.

Originally a two part film, the conclusion of the story called The Honeymoon exists only in stills photos, an interesting intelligent film about corruption of the innocent.