Tonight's Movie: Foolish Wives (1922) - A Flicker Alley Blu-ray Review
Karamzin is a sleaze extraordinaire, as he also has his eye on the mentally challenged daughter (Malvine Polo) of the counterfeiter (Cesare Gravina) he works with...and he's also promised to marry the maid, Maruschka (Dale Fuller).
The maid, realizing she's been led on, sets fire to a building which traps Karamzin and Helen, which starts the ball rolling downhill to Karamzin's ruin...
This was an interesting film, described by von Stroheim in an opening narrative card as "A tale of crime through the life of someone who knows it." The plot was frankly a little "out there" for me to fully enjoy that aspect; the dark tone is set from the opening scenes in the villa, with incense burning, one of the mean "Princesses" pinching the maid's arm when she's displeased, and the Count drinking an animal blood cocktail (?!) for breakfast. It's made clear at the outset that these are very abnormal people.On the other hand, the film's narrative cards are delightful, even hilarious, such as a description of Monte Carlo which says in part that it's a place of "Amours! - and Suicides - and waves - and waves - and waves!"
After the Count and Helen end up trapped by the fire, one of the "princesses" says "You were supposed to compromise her, but you didn't have to call out the fire department!"
That levity helped offset the story itself, which frankly feels fairly grimy at times. von Stroheim, in particular, is fearless in playing a real creep. The moment where he jumps from a burning building first, leaving Helen behind, was a true gasp-inducing moment.I was also wowed by the production values of this famously expensive movie, "the first real million dollar picture." There are elaborate sets with scores of extras; some of the filming (by William Daniels and Ben Reynolds) took place along California's Monterey coastline.
In addition to the aforementioned fire, there's a huge rainstorm, and the night scenes have beautiful tinting. The film is a visual pleasure, even if the story is on the sordid side, and it's hard to imagine this century-old film looking better than it does as seen on Flicker Alley's new Blu-ray.
As usual, Flicker Alley's set is visually enticing in and of itself; the Blu-ray and DVD (seen here) have attractive coordinated colors, and there's also reversible cover art. An informative illustrated 24-page booklet is included in the case.Extensive extras include a documentary on the making of the film with Dave Kehr of MOMA; featurettes on the film's restoration and on the locations; an archival short with footage from the set; photo galleries; and restoration comparisons.
The film is accompanied by a new orchestral score composed and conducted by Timothy Brock which was originally commissioned for the 2020 San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
Thanks to Flicker Alley for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray/DVD set.
The set may be purchased at the Flicker Alley website or through retailers such as Amazon.
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