Blind husbands

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Movie
German title Blind husbands
too: The vengeance of the mountains
too: Thou shalt not desire
Original title Blind husbands
Blind Husbands.jpg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1919
length 93 minutes
Rod
Director Erich von Stroheim
script Erich von Stroheim
production Carl Laemmle
camera Ben F. Reynolds
cut Frank Lawrence ,
Eleanor Fried
occupation

Blind Husbands (Original title: Blind Husbands ) is a film drama by Erich von Stroheim from 1919 . It was the directorial debut of the actor Stroheim, in which he also took on one of the leading roles.

action

The American doctor Dr. Armstrong spends his vacation in the Dolomites with his wife . Erich von Steuben, an Austrian officer and womanizer, stays in the same hotel . On the way there, von Steuben realizes that Armstrong is neglecting his wife. As soon as he arrived in Cortina , von Steuben began to ensnare her. At the same time, he also approaches the hotel maids.

Ms. Armstrong almost succumbs to the advances, but Sepp, a mountain guide friend of Armstrong, stands in the way of Steubens' intentions several times. Finally, Mrs. Armstrong informed von Steuben in a letter that she wanted to remain loyal to her husband.

When the doctor and the officer climb a mountain together, the two men escalate on the summit. Armstrong drops the letter into his wife's hands. He misunderstood the content and believes there is an affair between his wife and von Steuben. He furiously cuts the rope between him and the officer. He leaves him alone and descends into the valley. Halfway there, he finds the letter from his wife to von Steuben, which he had thrown down earlier, and realizes his mistake. Armstrong had an accident on the rock. When he is rescued by local mountaineers, he asks them to get von Steuben from the summit. Von Steuben, who had previously bragged about his mountaineering exploits, panic and falls into the depths while a group ascends to his rescue.

The couple is leaving. Armstrong wants to dedicate himself more to his wife in the future.

background

Erich von Stroheim , who was best known as the villain in anti-German propaganda films , offered producer Carl Laemmle from Universal Studios a screenplay entitled The Pinnacle based on a short story he had written . Through perseverance, von Stroheim succeeded in convincing Laemmle of the prospects for success of his project.

The motifs and characteristics of Stroheim's later works emerged as early as his first film as a director : attention to detail, criticism of the bourgeois family, the decadence of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the erotic events openly shown for the time , women who were "persecuted" not only as helpless Innocence ”. Seldom before have people and their needs, their frustrations and longings been portrayed so emphatically and directly as in Blind Husbands . Stroheim staged largely without the sentimentalities and exaggerations that were common at the time. Stroheim staged himself as the main actor in an unusually self-deprecating manner. This is particularly emphasized in a short sequence in which several children run after Stroheim on the street and imitate his vain behavior.

As a honeymooner, Stroheim's then wife Valerie Germonprez can be seen in one of her few roles.

Compared to Stroheim's later films, the effort was still modest, but even here he exceeded the budget and shooting schedule, a habit that would later ruin his career. The first, later legendary, arguments with Stroheim's producers also took place. After filming closed, Laemmle changed the title from "The Pinnacle" to Blind Husbands because he knew a card game similar to "Pinnacle" and feared it would confuse the audience. Stroheim was horrified, but couldn't prevent it.

Blind Husbands became a huge success and established Stroheim as a master director. It was the first and last film that - apart from the title - came into the cinemas exactly as Stroheim had shot it. The film is dedicated to the mountain guide Sepp Innerkofler .

In 2005, a version of the film that was believed to be lost appeared in Austria , which was published there in 1921 under the title Die Rache der Berge . This version, which is about nine minutes longer than the previously known and German subtitles , is currently considered the most complete of the film.

criticism

“ Blind Husbands is the first film that Stroheim directed. His style is still not well defined, and you can feel the influence of his teacher Griffith, for whom he worked as an assistant director. But one of his favorite topics becomes clear here: the frustration of women due to the ignorance of men. "

- Reclams film guide, Stuttgart 1973

“The censorship-fair melodramatic ending - the seducer falls in the mountains, the man realizes his mistake - does not hide the fact that in the encounter with the Austrian the woman saw the possibility of a fulfillment that she could not find in her puritan husband. "

- Ulrich Gregor , Enno Patalas : History of Modern Film, Gütersloh 1973

literature

  • Herman G. Weinberg: Stroheim. A pictorial record of his nine films. Dover Publications, New York NY 1975, ISBN 0-486-22723-5 .
  • Maurice Bessy: Erich von Stroheim. A picture monograph. Schirmer / Mosel, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-88814-166-4 .

Web links