The Merry Widow (1925)
Directed by Erich von Stroheim

Film Review

The Merry Widow is the second film that Austrian-born director Erich von Stroheim made for MGM studios during his productive (and turbulent) period in the United States.  The first was Greed , a monolithic production which ran to seven hours before MGM took the project away from von Stroheim and ruthlessly cut it to two hours.  Whilst it may lack the awesome scale and realism of Greed, The Merry Widow is no less spectacular and amply shows von Stroheim's innate genius for storytelling and cinematic art.

Based on the popular operetta by Victor Léon and Leo Stein, von Stroheim's The Merry Widow is an engrossing tale of a young woman's fairytale romance that quickly turns sour.  The pomp and pageantry of the setting does not detract from the emotional hold of the central story which is brilliantly played by Mae Murray, John Gilbert and Roy D'Arcy.  There are some moments of great comedy in the first part of the film; by contrast, the second half is much darker, dramatically intense and utterly compelling.

Erich von Stroheim's reputation as a tyrannical perfectionist still prevails and continues to undermine his appeal.  Whilst his filmmaking career was beset with problems, he should rightly be regarded as one of cinema's great visionaries, a cineaste with an unfaltering instinct for how great films should be made.  This is borne out in virtually every frame of The Merry Widow, a film which should be regarded as one of the great silent classics of American cinema.

Film Synopsis

Dancer Sally O'Hara has barely set foot in Monteblanco before she is swept off her feet by the dashing Prince Danilo.  On the day of their wedding, Danilo is persuaded by his uncle, King Nikita I, that he cannot marry a commoner, and so Sally ends up marrying Baron Sadoja, whose wealth is bankrolling the country.  The baron dies on her wedding night, and Sally is left a very rich widow.  A few years later, the former dancer has managed to buy her way into high society.   Attracted by her wealth, the Crown Prince Mirko, Danilo's cousin, sets about courting her.  Appearing to have forgotten her earlier infatuation with Danilo, Sally accepts Mirko's proposal of marriage.  Only then does she realise her mistake…