1924 - GREED, made it through this one.

When they said this was the extended version of Greed they weren't kidding.  Four hours of looking at still photos to fill in the missing scenes from this heavily edited film. The photos are given the Ken Burns treatment with lots of panning up and down and left and right and sideways and anyway that can be thought of.  This process of making the stills look like they are moving does not work.

What's left of the film is downbeat to say the least.  This is an unbelievably depressing and relentless film about the worst aspects of human nature.  MGM financed Von Stroheim's "labor of love" and I can't believe they didn't read the script before shooting.  The added still photo scenes flesh out subplots that are really depressing as if the fate of McTeague and Trina isn't enough of a downer. 

 Since it's a Von Stroheim film, there are impressive scenes throughout the film, especially the final confrontation in Death Valley.  But from what I can figure out from all the extra baggage of the still photos the world didn't lose much of a masterpiece.  All the extra subplots don't really add anything to the overall narrative of the film.

Faced with an unwatchable film at a length of 10 hours, you can hardly blame the studio for cutting it down to a more manageable length as if two and half hours is much shorter.

239 minutes

1919 - BLIND HUSBANDS, Erich Von Stroheim's impressive first film

In his first film Erich Von Stroheim is the auteur in every sense, he wrote the story, directed and starred as the slimy Teutonic military officer who attempts to seduce the wife of an American doctor on a mountain climbing holiday in Switzerland.

This is an extremely well made and acted silent film.  Von Stroheim already shows his fascination with the less then sterling side of human nature.  His fascination with Prussian military attitudes is a part of this film and will continue on through many of his films. He clearly enjoys himself as the Prussian  officer trying to get the American doctor's wife into bed.  

For a first time director Von Stroheim showed a pretty strong command of the film medium.  He moves the story along with a strong visual sense and keeps the silent acting of the cast under control having them give naturalistic performances. 

The film's climax during a mountain climbing expedition shows Von Stroheim  setting  the dramatic climax against an impressive background. Arnold Fanck clearly learned a thing or two from Von Stroheim. 

This is a sharply observed character study made by a tough uncompromising filmmaker.  As has been noted, Erich Von Stroheim went on to create a series of impressive films only compromised by his exacting methods and his increasingly extravagant spending on each succeeding film

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.