Foolish Wives | |
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Directed by | Erich von Stroheim |
Written by | Erich von Stroheim |
Produced by | Carl Laemmle Erich von Stroheim |
Starring | Erich von Stroheim Miss DuPont Maude George |
Cinematography | William H. Daniels Ben F. Reynolds |
Edited by | Arthur Ripley |
Music by | Sigmund Romberg |
Production company | Jewel Productions |
Distributed by | Universal Film Manufacturing Company |
Release date |
|
Running time | 384 minutes (original cut) 117 minutes (original release) 142 minutes (2013 restoration) 147 minutes (2023 restoration) |
Country | United States |
Languages | Silent film English intertitles |
Budget | $1,103,736[1] |
Foolish Wives is a 1922 American erotic silent drama film produced and distributed by Universal Pictures under their Super-Jewel banner and written and directed by Erich von Stroheim. The drama features von Stroheim, Rudolph Christians, Miss DuPont, Maude George, and others.[2]
When released in 1922, the film was the most expensive film made at that time, and billed by Universal Studios as the "first million-dollar movie" to come out of Hollywood. Originally, von Stroheim intended the film to run anywhere between 6 and 10 hours, and be shown over two evenings, but Universal executives opposed this idea. The studio bosses cut the film drastically before the release date.[3]
Foolish Wives, and the fulsome media coverage that added to its “sensational notoriety”, elevated von Stroheim into the ranks of preeminent directors of the early 1920s.[4]
In 2008, Foolish Wives was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[5][6]
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