Foolish Wives

I appreciated the composition of the shots and their sheer variety. Indoors, outdoors, from above, from below, close-ups, and wide angles. Further, von Stroheim's portrayal of the Russian count is wonderful in its pomposity and bravado, highlighted by the contrast with the bland portrayal of the American wife he means to seduce. Overall though, the plot is the weak link here, as its plods along over 2 hours. The reported short and cut version would likely be an improvement in this case.

Entertaining enough, but quite forgettable - the plot was generic, the characters too, the moral of the story as well - and was seen from miles away. One of those films that lose impact with time. Surely must have had quite the force when it came out, although Intolerance still seems like a bigger feat to me.

Definitely suffers from the butchers of studio heads (not that I want to see its full 6-8 hour form); the missing hour from the premiere cut is most likely much improved.

It's a tad long and a little dated and in both subject matter and in the way it depicts its characters, but it's quite enjoyable none the less. Von Stroheim does great in double duty as director and star and the film tells a good story with a mix of humor and drama.

# 396

#23#, [Kino Lorber - 2013, 142min restored], exp3, rw1, "Project 100-80-60-40-20"-1922#2

441

80.50

As the director, Stroheim comes up with a few pretty good shots. As an actor, he's terrific as the despicable Count Karamzin. But the plot is really quite dull and slow-moving. At nearly two and a half hours, it tried my patience. It's also rather simplistic storytelling... bad guy screws over nice people, gets what he deserves. I know it's unfair to boil a movie down to a trite one-liner like that, but there's really not much more to it than that.

Esposas Ingênuas estreava há 100 anos nos EUA. Me é impensável o Stroheim esticar isso por dez horas, duas horas e meia são mais do que o suficiente para um potente conto que se erige aqui de poder, cobiça, luxúria e uma bela derrocada final. BlurayRip no MakingOff.

"Foolish Wives is disillusionment Von Stroheim style." - Ed Gonzalez

Von Stroheim, complete with monocle and cigarette-holder accessories, is an insufferable Prussian officer, who upbraids a legless cripple for not rising at the playing of the anthem, who dallies with whatever lady will play along, and who still tries to capture the attentions of the retarded girl in his household.

It's quite dull but there is a lot to appreciate about this old Russian film.

462

Karanzim gets whats coming to him in the end, heh

Okay but forgettable (in fact, just hours after I finished it I am already having a bit of trouble remembering what happened.) It's pretty generic by today's standards, though it might have been innovative at the time. von Stroheim is pretty good in the lead role. Ultimately a little plodding with few surprises and a pretty obvious moral message. Mostly fine, but nothing special for me.

#370