Queen Kelly (1929)

Réalisateur:

Erich von Stroheim

Writers:

Erich von Stroheim (story)
Marian Ainslee (titles)

Release Date:

13 mars 1987 (Finland)

Genre:

Drame

Plot:

Prince Wolfram is the betrothed of mad Queen Regina V of Kronberg. Supreme ruler, her word is law and he is a playboy...

Plot Keywords:

Kidnapping | Whipping | Suicide Attempt | Brothel | Convent

Awards:

1 win

Avis des utilisateurs:

Incredible high camp!

Ensemble

Gloria Swanson	...	Kitty Kelly, aka Queen Kelly
Walter Byron	...	Prince Wolfram
Seena Owen	...	Queen Regina V

Autre(s) titre(s) :

The Swamp (USA) (working title)

Durée:

UK:75 min (Swanson Version) | Sweden:101 min | USA:101 min (1985 restored version)

Pays:

USA

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Son:

Mono (Western Electric System) | Silent

Classification:

Finland:K-8 (1986) | Portugal:17 (director's cut) | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

FBO Studios - 860 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Gloria Swanson Pictures

Anecdotes:

When Tully Marshall dribbled tobacco juice on Gloria Swanson's hand during the wedding sequence and explained that director Erich von Stroheim ordered him to do it, it was the final straw. She called producer Joseph P. Kennedy and demanded that von Stroheim be fired. He was, effectively shutting down the production.

Goofs:

Continuity: The positions of the two different groups, the troops and the convent girls, are constantly changing in relation to the shrine on Kambach road.

Guillemet:

[as Wolfram and Fritz are racing their horses down the street]
Girl 1: Come on, Wild Wolfram! I've bet my nightie on you!
Girl 2: Come on, Fritz! She hasn't GOT a nightie!

Connexions De Film:

Referenced in Inland Empire (2006)

Incredible high camp!

Erich von Stroheim's infamous final stab at direction (unfinished, when the plug was pulled by producer and star Gloria Swanson) is a sophisticated piece of silent cinema, wrapped in a camp plot and looking fabulous.

Gloria Swanson plays Patricia Kelly, a convent girl who meets the Prince of her dreams ('wild' Wolfram, played by Walter Byron) while she is out with the nuns. After a risqué scene concerning the soldiers and her bloomers, Gloria prays to the Holy Virgin to let her see the Prince again, while the Prince feels trapped in his engagement to the mad Queen Regina (a scene-chewing Seena Owen).

The first half of the film concerns how 'Kelly' and Wolfram come to meet up again, this time in the Palace where the jealous Queen loses no time in whipping Kelly out of doors and roaring that the Prince is 'Mine, MINE, MINE!'. The second half (unfinished) concerns Kelly's fortunes thereafter, called by her dying aunt to Africa where she finds herself in a brothel and betrothed to loathsome cripple drunk Jan Vryheid (a repellent and compelling performance from Tully Marshall), and eventually (and improbably) turns the situation round to get her happy ending, 'Queen Kelly' again.

Gloria Swanson looks absolutely gorgeous in the shimmering black and white close-ups, and her acting as Kelly is impeccable throughout - no one made better use of the 'look of horror' or the 'dipping of eyelashes' or the 'flirty smile'. Walter Byron is a moustachioed hero in the mould of John Gilbert and is an amusing second lead.

With the gaps plugged by wordy slides (in some prints, Kelly becomes Kitty in these explanatory bits, but never mind ...) and still photographs, 'Queen Kelly' is a boisterous and worthy final feature for its director. Many have seen a small bit of this film as part of Norma Desmond's home projections in 'Sunset Boulevard', but try to see the full thing - hugely enjoyable, and if not as mushily romantic as 'The Wedding March', its satirical splendor more than makes up for it!