Queen Kelly (1929) :
Brief Review -
A glorious romance by Gloria Swanson, the Queen of Silence cinema, and it comes from the adultery specialist, Erich von Stroheim. Whoever has seen previous flicks by Stroheim knows his style of romance. It was never a regular romance. It was sexually attractive, sometimes too horny and explicit. Queen Kelly is again the same sexualized romance, but because it came late, it looks fine. This isn't highly vulgar; rather, it's cute, fascinating, and lovable. I have loved Stroheim's earlier films based on sex appeal and extramarital affairs, because in some films he tried to spread awareness to married couples. With Queen Kelly, he just tries to explore a sweet, longing tale of romance. It has that brothel reference, unnecessarily, but that's what Stroheim, the adultery specialist, is. The film is about a convent girl who is abducted and seduced by a prince before being sent off to a brothel in East Africa. The prince who was engaged to the Queen refuses to marry her and is sent to prison. Rest, you can predict easily, the happy reconciliation. When I read that this film had two endings, I found that the 1932 version was better, which I saw. That ultimate sad ending didn't make much sense, frankly. Talking about performances, the queen of the late silent era, Gloria Swanson, gave another glorious performance. Walter Byron reminded me of Erich von Stroheim, by looks and by attitude, but thankfully, he didn't play any evil there. His character was out-and-out romantic, something that can make girls go crazy. I loved the dialogues too. "Is he going to marry you? Asks Kelly. The queen answers, "I'm going to marry him." Wow! That was some ego and love clashing with each other. Even that underwear scene was so good. What a perfect pick-up scene for the lingering romance. Overall, another fine film from Stroheim, despite a couple of flaws in the climax. Nevertheless, it's worth a watch.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.
A glorious romance by Gloria Swanson, the Queen of Silence cinema, and it comes from the adultery specialist, Erich von Stroheim. Whoever has seen previous flicks by Stroheim knows his style of romance. It was never a regular romance. It was sexually attractive, sometimes too horny and explicit. Queen Kelly is again the same sexualized romance, but because it came late, it looks fine. This isn't highly vulgar; rather, it's cute, fascinating, and lovable. I have loved Stroheim's earlier films based on sex appeal and extramarital affairs, because in some films he tried to spread awareness to married couples. With Queen Kelly, he just tries to explore a sweet, longing tale of romance. It has that brothel reference, unnecessarily, but that's what Stroheim, the adultery specialist, is. The film is about a convent girl who is abducted and seduced by a prince before being sent off to a brothel in East Africa. The prince who was engaged to the Queen refuses to marry her and is sent to prison. Rest, you can predict easily, the happy reconciliation. When I read that this film had two endings, I found that the 1932 version was better, which I saw. That ultimate sad ending didn't make much sense, frankly. Talking about performances, the queen of the late silent era, Gloria Swanson, gave another glorious performance. Walter Byron reminded me of Erich von Stroheim, by looks and by attitude, but thankfully, he didn't play any evil there. His character was out-and-out romantic, something that can make girls go crazy. I loved the dialogues too. "Is he going to marry you? Asks Kelly. The queen answers, "I'm going to marry him." Wow! That was some ego and love clashing with each other. Even that underwear scene was so good. What a perfect pick-up scene for the lingering romance. Overall, another fine film from Stroheim, despite a couple of flaws in the climax. Nevertheless, it's worth a watch.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.