The story is ostensibly a simple love triangle in Vienna, but it's elevated considerably by director Erich von Stroheim via his biting commentary on men and marriage. Fay Wray plays an innkeeper's daughter who is dating a crude butcher (Matthew Betz) when she sees and begins flirting with a cavalry officer (von Stroheim). Unfortunately the officer is from a family with financial troubles, and his pragmatic, cynical parents want him to marry the daughter of a factory owner (ZaSu Pitts). We see animalistic behavior from the butcher, duplicity from the nobleman, and marriage unions that are certainly not formed out of love. This seems to be von Stroheim's main point, as the opening intertitle tells us "O Love - without thee - marriage is a sacrilege and a mockery!" followed by a dedication "To the true lovers of the world," whereas everything seems to work against that.
There is thus a dark cynicism that runs through this film, with the nobleman clearly having affairs with multiple women (including the maids), his parents openly despising each other (his mother saying "marriage is one thing and love another!"), and the butcher having the manners of a Cro-Magnon and attempting to rape the young woman. There is also a wild party featuring "exotic" African and Asian women, von Stroheim emphasizing the bacchanalia with some clever overlays. I also liked the special effect of the skeleton hands playing the piano, and the mythology of the iron man statue in the city which frames the story.
Unfortunately, von Stroheim gets carried away in trying to create a grand epic, belaboring scenes which should have been shorter and including things like processions which were unnecessary (one of the latter of which was in color but was limited by technology to just red and green, creating a garish effect). In its pace and its cynicism it feels a lot like Greed (1924), so if you loved that film, you'll probably like this too. For me it's decent but falls a little short, wanting focus and editing.
There is thus a dark cynicism that runs through this film, with the nobleman clearly having affairs with multiple women (including the maids), his parents openly despising each other (his mother saying "marriage is one thing and love another!"), and the butcher having the manners of a Cro-Magnon and attempting to rape the young woman. There is also a wild party featuring "exotic" African and Asian women, von Stroheim emphasizing the bacchanalia with some clever overlays. I also liked the special effect of the skeleton hands playing the piano, and the mythology of the iron man statue in the city which frames the story.
Unfortunately, von Stroheim gets carried away in trying to create a grand epic, belaboring scenes which should have been shorter and including things like processions which were unnecessary (one of the latter of which was in color but was limited by technology to just red and green, creating a garish effect). In its pace and its cynicism it feels a lot like Greed (1924), so if you loved that film, you'll probably like this too. For me it's decent but falls a little short, wanting focus and editing.