Foolish Wives (1922) :
Brief Review -
Erich von Stroheim's powerful con drama that spread awareness for so many foolish wives. It's so much in the title that one can even guess the story without watching the film. Foolish Wives, the word says everything that it is about a wife being foolish and falling prey for scams set by money-hunter. I remember watching the similar sort of story in Marathi stage drama which became a sensation all the over the state during 60s decade. Now, this con-drama of Stroheim came in 20s, so this topic was running riot in society and so many wives had been fooled easily then. But after this film i guess many of future preys might have saved themselves from hunters and not to forget Stroheim made similar awareness film for Husband's with 'Blind Husbands' 3 years before this. In Foolish Wives we see a con artist masquerades a Russian nobility and attempts to seduce the wife of an American diplomat. If this film has anything beyond expectations then it is the lavish design and high production cost. It was even famous for being the "First-Million-Dollar Movie". How the producers cut it brutally is a different matter to discuss. I am gonna talk only about the version i saw, the restored version (142 minutes). So, yes its fine drama with enough crisp in the plot and surviving factors. It is little long considering the predictability of the story and i wonder what else the director had in that long 384 minutes original cut. Stroheim himself acts in the film and without any doubts he's the best performer here. Miss DuPont remains the 2nd best and i liked that metaphorical touch given to her character-you see, she's the foolish wife in the film and she herself is a fan of the same book. And despite calling it a crap book when her husband reads the last lines in the climax.. that scene was just wow. Overall, it's a very good take on awareness and Highly important for its time.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest
Erich von Stroheim's powerful con drama that spread awareness for so many foolish wives. It's so much in the title that one can even guess the story without watching the film. Foolish Wives, the word says everything that it is about a wife being foolish and falling prey for scams set by money-hunter. I remember watching the similar sort of story in Marathi stage drama which became a sensation all the over the state during 60s decade. Now, this con-drama of Stroheim came in 20s, so this topic was running riot in society and so many wives had been fooled easily then. But after this film i guess many of future preys might have saved themselves from hunters and not to forget Stroheim made similar awareness film for Husband's with 'Blind Husbands' 3 years before this. In Foolish Wives we see a con artist masquerades a Russian nobility and attempts to seduce the wife of an American diplomat. If this film has anything beyond expectations then it is the lavish design and high production cost. It was even famous for being the "First-Million-Dollar Movie". How the producers cut it brutally is a different matter to discuss. I am gonna talk only about the version i saw, the restored version (142 minutes). So, yes its fine drama with enough crisp in the plot and surviving factors. It is little long considering the predictability of the story and i wonder what else the director had in that long 384 minutes original cut. Stroheim himself acts in the film and without any doubts he's the best performer here. Miss DuPont remains the 2nd best and i liked that metaphorical touch given to her character-you see, she's the foolish wife in the film and she herself is a fan of the same book. And despite calling it a crap book when her husband reads the last lines in the climax.. that scene was just wow. Overall, it's a very good take on awareness and Highly important for its time.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest