Fairground of life

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Movie
German title Fairground of life
Original title Merry-Go-Round
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1923
length 113 minutes
Rod
Director Rupert Julian ,
Erich von Stroheim (anonymous)
script Erich von Stroheim (anonymous)
production Irving Thalberg
camera Charles Kaufman ,
William Daniels
cut James McKay
occupation

Rummelplatz des Lebens (OT: Merry-Go-Round ) is an American film drama directed by Rupert Julian from 1923. The screenwriter and original director Erich von Stroheim was relieved of his position during production due to various conflicts with the producing film studio Universal is no longer named in the opening credits .

action

Vienna, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War : Count Hohenegg, the last offspring of his family and his fiancée, Countess von Steinbruck, daughter of the Minister of War, live the pampered life of court society - the nobles who are in the service of the emperor. Emperor Franz Joseph wishes the two to marry and has their wedding announced publicly. Hohenegg, a bon vivant, does not love the countess and prefers to have fun with various other women.

He is out and about in the Vienna Prater with two women and other friends. He discovers the beautiful organ grinder Agnes Urban at a carousel owned by the showman Huber . He immediately starts flirting with her while his companions do their laps on the carousel. The count shows Agnes that he is a middle-class businessman and promises to visit Agnes again soon.

Agnes' boss Huber is a sadist who uses his position of power to get closer to her physically. He enjoys inflicting pain on Agnes and forcing her to laugh at the same time. Her father Sylvester Urban also works for Huber. He runs the puppet theater for him . Huber forbids him to leave his job to check on his dying wife. Huber also brutally abuses his wife.

After Urban could only protect his daughter from access by a knife fight, both of them are released. They are immediately hired by Aurora Rossreiter, Huber's competitor in the Prater, but Sylvester is arrested for the knife attack.

By chance, Agnes meets again while strolling with Bartholomew, Mrs. Rossreiter's humpbacked zookeeper who is in love with Agnes, in the town of Hohenegg. Hohenegg and Agnes visit the establishment "Madame Elvira". Little does Agnes know that this is a brothel. At Hohenegg's request, Elvira, who has "connections", ensures that Agnes' father is released. In their absence, Count Agnes wrestles her first kiss. During the ensuing seduction, Hohenegg gradually feels that he feels more for Agnes than he did with his other "conquests" and pauses.

Bartholomew discovers Hohenegg's true identity through a marriage notice and confronts him with it. Hohenegg pretends to have been mistaken for “this man” many times and can thus dispel the emerging distrust of the urban population. In the following, the romance between Hohenegg and Agnes takes its course. Hohenegg tries in vain to change the mind of the emperor about his wedding to Gisela. The emperor then orders the marriage. The marriage takes place.

Sylvester Urban now works as a bajazzo at the fair and is a big draw for the children. As a result, Schani Huber loses customers and, out of envy of Urban’s success, perpetrates a murder with a falling flowerpot. Urban survives seriously injured. The following night, Bartholomew releases an orangutan , previously annoyed by Huber , who climbs into Huber's bedroom and kills him.

When the emperor visits the hospital where Sylvester Urban is recovering, Agnes and her father recognize Count Hohenegg in his entourage. He manages to leave the group unseen to apologize to Agnes and Sylvester and to affirm his love for Agnes. Hohenegg's wife joins them. Agnes and Sylvester learn from her that the count is married. A world collapses for Agnes and now Hohenegg hates Sylvester profoundly.

When war broke out, Graf Hohenegg and his regiment had to go to the front. He comes to say goodbye to Agnes beforehand. She rejects him. On the battlefield, Hohenegg discovers the seriously injured Sylvester Urban, who curses him. The count asks Urban to shoot him, Hohenegg, and gives him his pistol. Just before Urban can pull the trigger, Urban dies.

In Vienna, Bartholomew confesses his love to Agnes and proposes to her. She puts him off until next spring, as her true feelings continue to concern the count. When the Prater reopens after the war, Agnes and Hohenegg meet again. Although he has lost his title of count and his wife is dead, Agnes' marriage to Bartholomew is already scheduled for the day after next.

Out of love for Agnes, Bartholomew sends her to Hohenegg so that she will be happy.

background

The film was produced at Universal Studios in Universal City , California .

As a screenwriter, director and leading actor, Erich von Stroheim had almost unlimited freedom in his previous film Foolish Women from 1921. Studio bosses Carl Laemmle and Irving Thalberg had to stand by and watch as Stroheim spent large sums of money on his film because he threatened to quit his role as the main actor if he were to be replaced as a director. Since Foolish Women became a great success despite all the difficulties, Universal kept Stroheim busy. But attempts were made to control Stroheim better this time through various restrictions. He was forced to fill the role of Count Hohenegg, which he had intended for himself, with Norman Kerry . The role of the brutal showman Huber, whom Stroheim's friend Wallace Beery was supposed to play, was cast with George Siegmann . The shooting of additional material was prohibited by a clause in his contract. Nevertheless, the conflicts between Stroheim and the studio managers were not long in coming. Stroheim had the Vienna Prater faithfully reproduced on the studio grounds. Allegedly, he ordered silk underwear for the officers of the Guard, embroidered with the monogram of the Imperial Guard - although the soldiers never took off their uniforms in the film. The extras had to practice correct saluting for days.

Filming began on August 25, 1922. Stroheim ignored all warnings from the area and stuck to his costly working method. On October 6, 1922, he was therefore dismissed by Thalberg. The director Rupert Julian was commissioned to continue the shooting. Filming was completed on January 8, 1923.

Various changes were made to the script. The "murder" of Huber by the orangutan and the happy ending were not included in Stroheim's submission. In the original it was Bartholomew himself who killed Huber. At the end of the film, Hohenegg was supposed to return from the war with an amputated arm and, completely impoverished, was selling postcards at the now closed Prater when he saw Agnes again, who was now working as a prostitute.

In the finished film, which lasts 114 minutes in the version still available today, around 15 minutes of Stroheim's material were used:

  • the beginning of the film until the time when the count leaves the palace
  • the party during which a naked woman emerges from a huge cake
  • the scenes with "Madame Elvira" and part of the unsuccessful seduction of Agnes by Hohenegg.

Some scenes with the count and his friends enjoying themselves in the Prater are probably also from Stroheim.

In 1930 Universal planned a sound film - remake of Merry-Go-Round - again under Stroheim's direction. But the project did not get beyond the planning phase.

Reviews

The film became a huge commercial success in both the US and Germany and received good reviews. The " Berliner Börsen-Courier " said:

“The precision is extraordinary. The photography is fabulous. An American film that is set in Vienna - and does not need to deny its Americanism ”(No. 114, March 7, 1924)

literature

  • Wolfgang Jacobsen, Helga Belach, Norbert Grob (eds.): Erich von Stroheim. Argon, 1994, ISBN 3-87024-263-9 .
  • Herman G. Weinberg: Stroheim: a pictorial record of his nine films. Dover Publications, NY, 1975, ISBN 0-486-22723-5 .
  • Richard Koszarski: The Man You Loved to Hate - Erich von Stroheim and Hollywood. Oxford University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-19-503379-5 .
  • Jon Barna: Erich von Stroheim. Published by the Austrian Film Museum Vienna, 1966.

Individual evidence

  1. W. Jacobsen, H. Belach, N. Grob (Ed.): Erich von Stroheim. Argon, 1994, ISBN 3-87024-263-9 , p. 282.
  2. ^ Herman G. Weinberg: Stroheim: a pictorial record of his nine films. Dover Publications, NY, 1975, ISBN 0-486-22723-5 , p. 74.
  3. W. Jacobsen, H. Belach, N. Grob (Ed.): Erich von Stroheim. Argon, 1994, ISBN 3-87024-263-9 , p. 63.
  4. W. Jacobsen, H. Belach, N. Grob (Ed.): Erich von Stroheim. Argon, 1994, ISBN 3-87024-263-9 , p. 63.
  5. ^ Herman G. Weinberg: Stroheim: a pictorial record of his nine films. Dover Publications, NY, 1975, ISBN 0-486-22723-5 , p. 77.
  6. Jon Barna: Erich von Stroheim. Edited by Österreichisches Filmmuseum Wien, 1966, pp. 35–36.
  7. Bonus material from the DVD Queen Kelly from "Kino International" from 2003.
  8. Richard Koszarski: The Man You Loved to Hate - Erich von Stroheim and Hollywood. Oxford University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-19-503379-5 , p. 98.
  9. quoted from W. Jacobsen, H. Belach, N. Grob (Ed.): Erich von Stroheim. Argon, 1994, ISBN 3-87024-263-9 , p. 282.

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