The Merry Widow

Running time: 136 mins

Erich von Stroheim's lavish, hothouse adaptation of Franz Lehar's 1906 operetta. An American showgirl marries a lecherous count to spite the handsome officer who has rejected her; but on her wedding night she finds herself widowed and very wealthy. This was the only unqualified box office success for director Stroheim in Hollywood. Not only does it have wonderful performances by John Gilbert and Mae Murray (and a marvelously creepy villain in Roy D'Arcy), but it also contains Stroheim's usual penchant for the bizarre.

When producer Thalberg complained about excessive film being shot of shoes, director Stroheim defended himself by explaining one of the characters had a foot fetish, to which Thalberg retorted "And you have a footage fetish!"

"Like all the great silent directors he knew how necessary it was to abandon taste for obsession... His films amassed detail relentlessly, but never lost sight of character or structure." - David Thomson

"Not a production to which one ought to take others with finer sensibilities." - The Times