Queen Kelly (1929)

Director:

Erich von Stroheim

Writers:

Erich von Stroheim (story)
Marian Ainslee (titles)

Release Date:

13 March 1987 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

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:

Queen | Prince | Convent | Wedding | Brothel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

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

Also Known As:

The Swamp (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

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

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System) | Silent

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Gloria Swanson Pictures

Trivia:

The first scenes for the film were the meeting between Kelly and Wolfram on Kambach Road.

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.

Quotes:

[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!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Inland Empire (2006)

A lesson in film history

This is Director Eric Von Stroheim's last film, produced by it's star, Gloria Swanson. There is much to be learned from the commentaries and additional features on the deluxe Kino DVD of this silent film. The film itself is a wonderful lesson in film-making of its period. Von Stroheim loved to take shots of all the props and costume details of a character – believing that this focus on detail told you more about the character than the actor alone could convey. This technique was later perfected by Hitchcock, where details shots are followed by reaction shots to move the story and emotional life along.

QUEEN KELLY is the story of a convent girl who falls in love with a dissipated prince who is promised to a debauched Queen. By today's standard, Seena Owen's performance as the queen is laughably over the top; she slithers and glowers and when she's really angry, she seems to have something stuck in her eye. Swanson herself was the prototype of today's tiny body, big head build favored in television. In her long shots her build looks almost like a pygmy, especially in comparison to Owen. But Swanson has that riveting face, and remains really a fine actress. The interview sections done as introductions to a television viewing of QUEEN KELLY show her to have retained those gorgeous and expressive eyes. This was considered her last film as a real ingénue - she was a bit long in the tooth to be playing a convent girl - but that was the style, bless them.

The original story was only about 1/3 completed when the production went way over budget and delved into areas that would never be approved by censors. Arguably, given Seena Owen's almost 100% nude (wearing either chiffon negligee, or a strategically held cat) performance, most of it may not have passed censors.

The restoration makes much ado of finding reels from the abandoned "African brothel" sequences, but when all is said and done, the "Swanson Ending" (the only way it was shown – after talkies had come in and silents were pretty much a done thing) is a very serviceable and good ending… evoking Shakespearian tragedy. Most silents were big on action, short on story, with fairly simple plots. Granted the original was supposed to have a happy, if rather suspicious, happy ending, but this makes total sense, and makes Queen Kelly seem very complete.

The only real loss of the Swanson ending is losing the believably sick (in both senses of the word) performance of Tully Marshall. Between Owen and Marshall, it is a lesson in why the production "code of decency" was developed in the first place. The irony is that, as much as she may have been considered heavy handed or intrusive for firing Von Stoheim, Swanson's ending demonstrates that Swanson really did know what she was doing as a producer. A memorable and informative trip into film history.

If you're not interested in film history or silent film, skip it.