Queen Kelly (1929)

Unbelievable

This film is unbelievable on many levels. First, I can't believe anyone would have trusted von Stroheim, consistently a quintessential "mad genius," to not break the financial backs of his financiers, which he did. Second, I can't believe that anyone would have trusted him to come across with a film that would make it through the censors, which he couldn't. Third, I can't believe that any film, much less a silent film, could so compellingly depict the fast journey to the heart of darkness, which he does. I highly recommend this picture. The DVD extras are all terrific- Kino as usual does a wonderful job, including the von Stroheim-shot scenes from Merry-Go-Round (1923). There's good commentary from a von Stroheim scholar that heightens enjoyment of the film. Although von Stroheim couldn't control his spending or his temprement, or his ability to be so far ahead of his time (who knows what more great pictures he would have gone on to make- and how much more intact those that he did make would remain- if he could have just nodded a little more to those realities), the money's long gone, so enjoy the perversity in the environment of the authenticity he achieves by watching this after seeing another movie of the time- e.g., The Swan (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1925) or another film of the period depicting a "fairytale" kingdom with its dissolute nobles- which won't approach von Stroheim. August 20, 2007

A lesson in film history.

This is Director Eric Von Stroheim's last film, produced by it's star, Gloria Swanson. There is much to be learned from the commentaries and additional features on the deluxe Kino DVD of this silent film. The film itself is a wonderful lesson in filmmaking of its period. Von Stroheim loved to take shots of all the props and costume details of a character - believing that this focus on detail told you more about the character than the actor alone could convey. This technique was later perfected by Hitchcock, where details shots are followed by reaction shots to move the story and emotional life along.
QUEEN KELLY is the story of a convent girl who falls in love with a dissipated prince who is promised to a debauched Queen. By today's standard, Seena Owen's performance as the queen is laughably over the top; she slithers and glowers and when she's really angry, she seems to have something stuck in her eye.
The original story was only about 1/3 completed when the production went way over budget and delved into areas that would never be approved by censors. Arguably, given Seena Owen's almost 100% nude (wearing either chiffon negligee, or a stratiegically held cat) performance, most of it may not have passed censors.
The restoration makes much ado of finding reels from the abandoned "African brothel" sequences, but when all is said and done, the "Swanson Ending" (the only way it was shown - after talkies had come in and silents were pretty much a done thing) is a very serviceable and good ending... evoking Shakespearian tradgedy. Most silents were big on action, short on story, with fairly simple plots. Granted the original was supposed to have a happy, if rather suspicious, happy ending, but this makes total sense, and makes Queen Kelly seem very complete.
The only real loss of the Swanson ending is losing the believably sick (in both senses of the word) performance of Tully Marshall. Between Owen and Marshall, it is a lesson in why the production "code of decency" was developed in the first place. The irony is that, as much as she may have been considered heavy handed or intrusive for firing Von Stoheim, Swanson's ending demonstrates that Swanson really did know what she was doing as a producer. A memorable and informative trip into film history.
January 31, 2007

What might have been

Like just about all of the films directed by von Stroheim, this one too is only available today in a much-shortened form and not the way he intended it to be seen. It's quite sad, since what we do have here, at about an hour and forty minutes, is a very good and compelling story, with fascinating characters and plot developments. Like many of his other films, this one also begins by focusing on the decadent royalty of old Middle Europe, and throws in a lot of bizarre and macabre elements along the way. This was a man with a very unique artistic vision, someone who demanded everything, even down to the smallest details, be done accurately and down to perfection, whose vision was ahead of his time and too wide to be limited to the average hour and a half movie length of the time, someone who had no time or patience for the censors and the self-appointed morality police with their unrealistic and oftentimes Puritanical demands. Sadly, however, the footage we have only comprises about the first half or third of what von Stroheim, Gloria Swanson, and Joe Kennedy, Sr. envisioned as a long epic-length movie. Things are going so well and getting more and more interesting and suspenseful when it all ends abruptly, and we're told, via intertitles and a few stills, about the pivotal events and scenes that were to have come after, complete with the ending that they finally decided on. (Among the numerous extras are descriptions and footage of several different endings different people had in mind.)

The storyline starts out simply enough; the mad Queen Regina V, ruler of an unnamed nation in Central Europe, is betrothed to the handsome rogue Prince Wolfram (great name!) but is sick and tired of his notorious escapades and how he doesn't even want to be with her and doesn't have feelings for her. As punishment for one such escapade which he didn't know she was watching, he is made to ride, with the regiment he commands, in the hot weather down the Kambach road. This proves to be far from the punishment she intended, for a large group of convent girls are also walking by. Wolfram becomes smitten with one of them, Patricia Kelly (Gloria Swanson), who soon finds herself in trouble with the nuns because of an embarrassing accident that culminated in a rather risque way. Wolfram only sees her as another meaningless conquest, and goes to the convent that night to kidnap her and bring her back to the palace. Kelly meanwhile uses her own punishment, praying alone in the chapel and without supper, to light a candle and pray that she'll see the prince again, instead of repenting what she did. Once back in the palace, Wolfram soon drops his plans of seducing Kelly and then dumping her, genuinely falling in love with her. (It usually annoys me when characters fall into one another's arms at such short notice or with no development of their relationship, but I can excuse it here a little, since it is supposed to be a fairy tale and fantasy of sorts, not a gritty realistic film.) However, while they're making out, Regina catches them in the act and chases Kelly out of the palace, furious at Wolfram as well, throwing him into prison. After an unsuccessful suicide attempt, Kelly is sent to her dying aunt in German East Africa and finds herself among a bunch of seedy characters who work in a brothel. Even worse, she is expected to marry the very seedy creepy Jan Vryheid. This unwanted wedding takes place around her aunt's death bed. This is the point where things are really starting to get interesting, the viewer wondering how everything will work out, what poor Kelly's fate will be now that she's married to this disgusting man and living in a brothel, not knowing anyone there, if Wolfram will ever get out of jail and manage to find his way back to Kelly. Maddeningly, this is where the footage ends, and minus the luxury of seeing the actual story through to the end via film instead of written explanations, it seems kind of like a bunch of deus ex machina developments instead of realistic plot developments, really convenient events leading to an ultimately happy ending (as opposed to the much darker ending von Stroheim had in mind). I also feel that Gloria Swanson looked a bit too old, womanly, and mature to realistically play an innocent virginal convent girl (indeed, she probably would have been more believable as one of the nuns or even Queen Regina), but again, she was such a great actor and the story is so good that one can kind of look past that detail before long.

There are also a bunch of extras included, such as excerpts from the 1924 von Stroheim-directed film 'The Merry-Go-Round,' memos from him, parts of his original script of 'Queen Kelly' and excerpts from the novel version of 'The Merry-Go-Round,' an audio commentary, deleted scenes and footage, descriptions of and footage of a number of alternate endings (none of them as convenient and happy as the one described to us via the text at the end of the actual film), audio interviews, footage of Gloria Swanson talking about 'Queen Kelly' on a television program dedicated to showing silents (she had such a lovely voice, and aged very well), and a lot of other stuff. It does leave the viewer wanting more, even knowing that the film was never completed (the reasons for which are described in the extras and the audio commentary), but overall it's a fantastic package. September 20, 2006

Ah- mazing!!

I was at Borders, looking for this musical called Good News, and another one called Dixiana, but I saw something sticking out on another shelf, and it was Queen Kelly! Normally I only like musicals, but remembered how much I enjoyed and Beyond the Rocks on TCM, so I bought it! And I was like wow! Swanson is good! Although sometimes it got boring, it was pretty good all together. I wish they would put Beyond the Rocks on DVD, the movie Gloria Swanson made with Rudolph Valentino. also, Greed. Greed is my favorite silent movie EVER. It is so amazing, and also directed by Erich von Stronheim. May 29, 2006

From the excel virtue to the decay!

Erik von Stroheim once more proved he was the Wunderkind of his generation in this exquisite and extravagant, daring and mature script. A Covent girl is swept off her feet buy a roguish prince who will send her to live in East Africa where her aunt regents a brothel. As you can guess or imagine the whispering comments originated in that age, I only can remind that clever statement of Nicolas Maquiavello: The half of the sin is the scandal.

February 26, 2005

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