Foolish Wives

Plot synopsis:
The silent drama tells the story of a man who names himself Count Wladislaw Sergius Karamzin (von Stroheim) in order to seduce rich women and extort money from them.
He has set up shop in Monte Carlo and his partners in crime (and possible lovers) are his cousins: "Princess" Vera Petchnikoff (Busch) and "Her Highness" Olga Petchnikoff (George).
Count Karamzin begins his latest scam on the unworldly wife of an American envoy, Helen Hughes (DuPont), even though her husband is nearby. He attempts to charm her, planning to eventually fleece her of her money. She is easily impressed by his faux-aristocratic glamor, to the chagrin of her dull but sincere husband. Karamzin also has his eye on two other women, Maruschka (Fuller), a maid at the hotel, and Marietta (Polo) the mentally disabled daughter of one of his criminal associates (Gravina), seeing them both as easy sexual prey.
In the climax of the film Maruschka, the maid he has seduced and abandoned, goes mad and sets fire to a building in which Karamzin and Mrs Hughes are trapped. Karamzin jumps to save himself, leaving Mrs Hughes in danger. She is saved, and is looked after by her devoted husband. Karamzin's public display of selfish cowardice ensures he is shunned by the high society he craves to be accepted by. Humiliated, he tries to restore his pride by seducing Marietta, the mentally disabled girl. Her father kills him, dumping his body in a sewer. Karamzin's "cousins" are arrested for being imposters and con-artists.

Tags: comedy, melodrama

Review:
Today Erich Von Stroheim is best recalled by the general public for his appearances in such films as the 1950 SUNSET BLVD--but fans of silent film know him as one of early cinema's great directors, creator of such films as BLIND HUSBANDS, FOOLISH WIVES, and the legendary masterwork GREED.
The film is available in several VHS and DVD releases; perhaps the best, however, is offered by Kino Video, which also includes a profile of Von Stroheim as well.FOOLISH WIVES is generally believed to be the first film made that cost one million dollars.
In the modern era, when film budgets often run into many millions of dollars, this may seem slight--but in 1922 Universal Studios was staggered not only by the costs, but by Von Stroheim's seemingly endless shooting schedule; at a time when most movies were made in six weeks or less, FOOLISH WIVES took a year or more to complete and threatened to bankrupt the studio.The circumstances brought Von Stroheim into direct conflict with production manager Irving Thalberg, who threatened to replace him with another director.
By most accounts, Von Stroheim laughed in Thalberg's face: not only was he director, he was the star as well, and if he were fired the film would never be completed.
but it was something Thalberg would recall several years later, much to Von Stroheim's chagrin.Set in post-World War I Monaco, FOOLISH WIVES presents the story of the ultra-amoral Count Wladislaw Sergius (Von Stroheim) and his two supposed cousins Olga (Maude George) and Vera (Mae Busch) who present themselves as wealthy Russian nobility--but who are in fact a trio of vicious con-artists who generate cash flow by passing counterfeit bills through Monaco's legendary casinos.
Eager to deflect suspicion, they scrape acquaintance with an American diplomat and his wife (Rudolph Christians and Helen Hughes)--and in time at all the naive wife is so much putty in the Count's diabolical hands.Von Stroheim recreated a fairly large chunk of Monaco on the Universal back lot, and the sets, costumes, and crowds of extras still put most modern productions to shame.
But the film's real fascination are the deadly trio of Maude George, Mae Busch, and most particularly Von Stroheim himself.
The overall cast is quite good, with Miss DuPont a stand out as the diplomat's wife, and the cast plays without recourse to the broad mannerisms often seen in many silent films.
It's all fascinating stuff, and truly this is the film that gave Von Stroheim the title of "The Man You Love To Hate." FOOLISH WIVES was soundly condemned by the moral authorities of the day, and Universal lost a bundle on the project.
While a "complete" version is an impossibility, the Kino version seems to restore the film as completely as possible.FOOLISH WIVES inevitably pales in comparison to Stroheim's later GREED, but it is a remarkably fine, remarkably watchable silent--and the two films would have a circular effect.
For when Von Stroheim went to Metro to film GREED, he eventually found himself face to face once more with Irving Thalberg...
It is hard to imagine how such different characters like Griffith and von Stroheim could get along with one another, but I assume that the most important feature that they shared was their megalomania.
Soon after, von Stroheim started his career as director and actor, although he had no education at all  not in theater, not in film business, not in literature.
Von Stroheim trained so long, until he could perfectly imitate the behavior of all ranks from a colonel up to a general, from a prince up to a count.
Similar to Don Quixote, he constructed his own reality, including his identity  and believed in it himself.Strangely enough, although von Stroheim directed only about 10 movies, but acted in in 74, he is nowadays known mainly as a director.
So von Stroheim for example reconstructed meticulously the Casino of Monte Carlo for his movie "Foolish wives" (1922).
Von Stroheim's megalomania  caused by his obsession for authenticity in order to convince not only the public but mostly himself about his creations of reality  leaded finally to the end of his directing career in the United States  and also inaugurated much later his fame as the most extravagant film director ever.Married to Valérie Germonpréz, Erich von Stroheim met already in the United States his secretary and later life-mate Denise Vernac (1916-1984), who was 31 years younger than him.
Meanwhile he appeared in main roles in French and again in American movies in which he played his usual roles in order to forget that he sat, as a director, unnoticed by the world in the castle of his girlfriend, writing letters of love to his wife, but fully depending financially on his girlfriend, his only public performances being his showing-ups in Paris' most expensive high-society restaurant "Maxims" where everybody knew him.
Often, von Stroheim presented himself in the restaurant in the costumes of the barons and generals that he played on screen: the borders between reality and fantasy were abolished.
However, he did not lack a special kind of self-irony, and this is shown best in "Foolish wives", where a girl is reading a book with the same title, allegedly written by Erich von Stroheim or in another movie where he played a megalomaniac film director.
In what other movie indeed can you find details like these : - a countess pinching the arm of her maid - a man drinking a calf's blood cocktail first thing in the morning - a US special envoy having trouble in taking off his gloves in front of a prince - a disaster-movie summer storm preventing two would-be sinners from going beyond the point of no return - a wicked hypocrite shedding tears of...TEA ?Stroheim is really the prince of eccentrics ( and not a bogus one !
It is as over ripe and decadent as the novels of Huysmans, with Von Stroheim, an amoral Count that drinks oxblood for breakfast, giving one of the most richly-textured variations on villainy ever seen on film.For all its director's notorious largesse it is the intimate particulars and distillation of atmosphere that enchant: a sea breeze disturbing the drapes and dresses on a sunlit terrace, the Count's tortuously coy dance of seduction in front of the hotel, the interior of a garlanded boat in a bay illuminated by lanterns..
It might have to do with the fact that the original length of the movie was over 6 hours long, which might had shown some of the relevance of certain sequences and characters but there is really no way I'm ever going to watch this longer version.
The movie didn't had very much interesting drama in it and although the main character seemed intriguing, it just didn't worked out powerful enough in the movie.The movie also isn't as technically advanced as some of the other movies from the same time period, clearly directed by more talented and more experimental directors such as F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, Victor Sjöström and D.W. Griffith, among others.But this all of course doesn't mean that the movie is a bad one to watch.
The story of a fake Russian aristocratic lady-killer in Monte Carlo trying to get money from rich ladies as on its own quite a good story and in a way for movie standards also ahead of its time.
Erich von Stroheim plays the real main part of the movie and he does this with lots of flair.
Erich Von Stroheim directs and plays Count Wladislaw Sergius Karamzin (Capt.
Then there is the walk he takes with the wife of the American envoy to Monaco (Miss DuPont) that turns into a total nightmare as they hit a rain storm and when it is raining the hardest Count Sergius takes her into a boat and decides to go across the lake to some hut, where a witch like hag lives with her goats.
The film finally takes off when he tells the American wife to meet him at his villa, where his cousins Maude George as Princess Olga Petchnikoff and Mae Busch as Princess Vera Petchnikoff, who look like Weimar trans-gender women, run a mini casino where they clear Cesare Ventucci, (Cesare Gravina) a Counterfeiter's bills that he makes for them on a regular basis.
The permanently depressed and abused maid Marushka (Dale Fuller) however has been having an affair with the Count as well, she has even given him her life savings after he has a crocodile tear scene asking her for money, which she consents to do thinking of his (false) promise of marriage.
Foolish Wives (1922) *** (out of 4) von Stroheim's third feature (his second is now lost) had a budget of $250,000, which was quite high for the time but the "man who love to hate" managed to grow crazy during production and the final cost to Universal was just over $1.2 million.
The director also managed to turn in a film running six-and-a-half hour only to have the studio cut it down to three-and-a-half.
Using so many prints has left the quality quite shaky and poor but it is the film that counts.Set in Monte Carlo, Count Sergius Karamzin (von Stroheim), with the help of his two cousins, lives a luxury life thanks to his ability to seduce married women and then blackmail them for money.
I'm not sure if the story would have worked at over six-hours but I'm going to guess that the longer version probably features more plot built around other characters including a maid as well as the two cousins who are more than likely lovers to the Count.
von Stroheim actually rebuild the entire Monte Carlo city on the Universal back lot and the attention to details is quite amazing.
von Stroheim has no problem slipping into this snake role and he does a great job at playing the seducer as well as the con man.
Even though the film is epic in scale, some of the best moments are smaller, quiet ones including a tremendously powerful scene where DuPont reacts to a man who has lost both of his arms in the war.
Its obvious that Von Stroheim was trying to convey a message (with the foolishness of American women and the improper behaviors of the aristocrats), rather than tell a story, and the film really can bore modern audiences, like me, easily by doing that.
They are: maid-pinching Maude George (as Princess Olga Petchnikoff), blonde-wigged Mae Busch (as Princess Vera Petchnikoff), and monocled lady-killer Erich von Stroheim (as Count Wladislaw Sergius Karamzin).
Mr. von Stroheim is the film's star, director, and writer.
Mr. Christians died during the production, and his white-haired replacement, back to the camera, is obvious; with all the expense obviously spent on "Foolish Wives", it's difficult to understand why von Stroheim could not add a little bit of cheap shoe polish to Robert Edeson's head.
Still, the studio heads could not cut the neither the length of von Stroheim's cigarettes, nor the fact that his (vanity) production of "Foolish Wives" retains its spectacle..
Apparently Erich von Stroheim never met a roll of film he didn't like.
There is a scene where one of his lovers sees she is not exclusive and sets a fire, trapping Von Stroheim and his mark.
The sets were nice, Erich Von Stroheim was, obviously, pretty great, and it certainly wasn't boring, but there wasn't much happening.
Well, now that I've seen the entire film I can confirm that by the time it all ends, a whole lot has sure happened!Mixing various elements of humor, drama, and suspense, Stroheim invents a true one of a kind masterpiece, a true silent era gem.
Scenes like the huge storm that Stroheim's character gets stuck in and has to find his way out of, or the grand fire sequence towards the end, which I would hate to spoil (just let me tell you, it is truly spectacular and thrilling to watch).The characters are certainly unlikable at times, but that doesn't mean they aren't entertaining or even funny to watch be their awful selves every now and then.
No matter how repulsive Stroheim's character manages to be at times, I still always wanted to see more of him, because he really does bring in a lot of the true entertainment value.Other than the excellent story and characters, I absolutely loved "Foolish Wives" for being a technical masterwork, with it's grand set design, cinematography, and filmmaking techniques.
Three members of Russian aristocracy , lease "Villa Amorosa", in Monte Carlo.These are princesses Olga and Vera Petchninoff and their cousin Captain Count Vladislav Sergius Karamzin.
Mrs. Hughe's diplomatic husband finds a note in his wife's dress, understands everything and goes to the count, causing him to take off his monocle and punch him in the face.
Erich von Stroheim writes, directs and stars in his first "grand vision" of a film which somewhat fittingly focuses on a leading character with no likable qualities or redeeming features.
Erich Von Stroheim is a very, very odd character in the history of cinema.
In the cases of "Greed" and "Foolish Wives" he also delivered films which were impossibly long--so long that audiences of the day never would have sat through movies of six or more hours in length!
It's one of those mysteries we'll never solve, as the films only exist in truncated versions...though the folks who restored "Foolish Wives" tried their best to restore the missing 2/3 of the film.
Keep this in mind when you're seeing the movie...it's not Von Stroheim's film but it's also not the general release either.The film begins just after WWI and is set in Monte Carlo.
Sergius (Von Stroheim) is a cad and plans on using the American Ambassador's wife to make a fortune and a false sense of respectability...all in order to help his poor cousins, the Princesses, to live in luxury.
I liked this movie for a reason: when I saw it I got a glimpse of some shots and found that Stroheim was really ahead of his time where it concerned his shots.
(Let's not forget that just like this character, the real "von Stroheim" was quite a similar fake in real life.) It's hard to imagine why any woman would fall for him, even when the woman in question is as dull and uninteresting as Miss Dupont.
The two other ones, however, 'Scorpio Rising' from Anger and 'Foolish Wives' from Von Stroheim, truly did.
'Foolish Wives' is not as good as I thought it would be, but still, it's Von Stroheim's best picture (even though I saw 'Greed' too).
Erich von Stroheim is most famous for writing and directing the film 'Greed' (1924), which originally clocked in at 9 hours in length (42 reels of film).
The film tells the story of a con man, a fake Count Karamzin (Stroheim) and his accomplices: it is never boring, is full of extravagant sets, some rich set pieces and it makes great use of color tinting and quick dissolves.Stroheim's style seems to have had two main aspects: extravagant production and design with authentic detail, and scenes and sequences that unfold and develop in their own sweet time.
The first obvious example is the opening scene on the balcony, in which we are introduced to the key characters (the Count, his two 'cousins,' the maid, the counterfeiter, Ventucci, and his daughter, who all figure in the finale) during a leisurely breakfast.
The entire film is interesting to watch, with von Stroheim nicely telling us with eye, tongue, and facial movements his wicked intentions, feelings and duplicitous nature.The musical score by Sigmund Romberg is listenable all by itself, but is not the greatest matching piano accompaniment.
I found this silent film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, back in its day it was the most expensive film made, billed as the "first million-dollar movie" to come out of Hollywood, originally it was meant to be over 6 hours long, I watched the 2-and-a-half-hour version, directed by Erich von Stroheim (Greed).
Basically set after the First World War, in Monte Carlo, a man is posing as Count Wladislaw Sergius Karamzin - Captain 3rd Hussars Imperial Russian Army (Erich von Stroheim) in order to take advantage of unsuspecting women and citizens.
Count Karamzin begins scamming the unworldly wife of an American envoy, Helen Hughes (Miss DuPont), he starts to charm her, despite her husband being close by.
It is a simple enough story about corruption and sexual obsession, a fake "count" swindling rich women, the pace may be uneven by today's standards, and the plot and acting styles are not perfect, but it still has interesting moments, and the casino, hotel, café and boudoir locations look good, overall it is a reasonable silent drama.
(A 10/10 Kino DV).COMMENT: Kino's superb restoration of this million dollar drama of a trio of Russian con artists who fasten on the newly appointed U.S. ambassador and his wife in a most extravagant and elaborate studio-reconstructed Monte Carlo, is must viewing even for non-Stroheim fans.
Complete with Sig Romberg's original score and gorgeously tinted photography, the movie holds viewers spellbound from first to last, partly due to the unusual story and its twisted characters and partly due to the drive, yet fastidious attention to detail, of von Stroheim's direction.
Needless to say, the von, meticulously attired from polished boots to rakish cap, has seen to it that he is nearly always the center of interest; but Miss DuPont has some great moments as the wife of the title, and Rudolph Christians (in his last film - he died of pneumonia on 7 February 1921) impresses as the naïve but finally open-eyed spouse..
They call Erich Von Stroheim the man you love to hate, and after seeing 'Foolish Wives' - the first film of his I've seen - I can see why.A critical, cynical eye is cast over all who enter, and by the end there are none who escape untarnished.