Queen Kelly

In an accompanying 20-minute interview on this disc, silent screen star Gloria Swanson says of director Erich von Stroheim, "Well, he sort of had a mind of his own." Talk about an understatement! This is the man whose 1925 classic Greed came in at a respectable 140 minutes, after seven hours were trimmed by MGM execs. 1929's Queen Kelly, by contrast, would have been a comparatively svelte five hours long, had the powers-that-be (including producer Swanson) not stepped in and taken control when, among other issues (such as the sudden advent of "talkies"), Stroheim's censor-approved script location of an East African dancehall metamorphosed into an all-out brothel. Watching the restored 101-minute version of what's left of Queen Kelly today (kudos to Dennis Doros at Milestone Film & Video for a loving restoration), however, one can't help but feel robbed by the prudes and penny pinchers. Set in some undetermined European capitol, Queen Kelly is a love story (albeit twisted) charting the rocky love affair between a comely convent orphan (Swanson) and an alcoholic wastrel nicknamed "Wild" Wolfram (Walter Byron) who also happens to be betrothed to the mad nymphomaniac Queen Regina V (Seena Owen). Although the final third is rather choppy (Swanson ends up in the brothel because her aunt is dying), the first 70 minutes offer a number of decadent treats: prime among them, a scene in which Owen horsewhips Swanson while simultaneously (and elegantly) descending a lavish staircase. Sporting a handsome image, the disc also includes a number of extras: the aforementioned interview, an excellent commentary track by Richard Koszarski, the "Swanson ending," and a half-hour TV mystery starring Stroheim. Recommended. (R. Pitman)