La veuve joyeuse

A romantic Prince from tiny Monteblanco attempts to woo THE MERRY WIDOW who once loved him when she was a poor dancer.

Erich von Stroheim, the Teutonic genius who marched through Hollywood's Silent Days like a conquering general, had his final directorial stint at MGM Studios producing this lavish & brilliant film based on the operetta by Franz Lehár. The visuals are striking, with sets that look like actual locations--a mountaintop village; the Castellano Cathedral; Maxim's in Paris--and the occasional bizarre touch--the blindfolded musicians sharing the Prince's seduction bed, for example--which von Stroheim relished. The acting is flawless, with no need for dialogue. The actors' faces speak all that need be said.

Mae Murray & John Gilbert portray the passionate lovers whom Fate (and the plot) contrives to keep apart so successfully. Miss Murray (she and the director loathed each other) powerfully portrays a street-wise performer who, through a series of heartbreaks, becomes a vastly wealthy woman. Gilbert expertly plays a prince whose charm has always gotten him his way. Their scenes together, most particularly the waltz sequences, fairly blaze with unrequited sensual longing and desire.

While it is entertaining to wonder what von Stroheim would have done with the role, it is difficult to imagine anyone better than Roy D'Arcy as the simpering, lusting, sneering Crown Prince; he is pure villainy personified and his eventual fate is absolutely justified. Josephine Crowell gives a fine performance as the Queen. Tully Marshall, one of von Stroheim's favorite character actors, adds another portrait to his gallery of grotesques, this time playing a crippled baron with a foot fetish.

The wonderful organ score which accompanies the film was arranged & performed by Dennis James.

MGM would tackle THE MERRY WIDOW again nine years later and produce a vastly different film, this time directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Maurice Chevalier & Jeanette MacDonald.

Merry Widow, The (1925)

*** (out of 4)

Big-budget version of the classic stage production marked the final time MGM would work with director von Stroheim who was hired on for what was suppose to be a short film but he would take it and mold it into a 137-minute epic of sorts. The story is pretty well known but it centers on an American dancer (Mae Murray) who gets stranded in a small town where she meets a Prince (John Gilbert) who quickly falls for her. The two have many troubles throughout their relationship including the King (George Fawcett) objecting. According to legend, MGM offered von Stroheim a $10,000 bonus if he could shoot this movie in a three week period. Each week he was over that the bonus would be sliced by $2,000. Needless to say, it ended up taking four months to shoot and MGM pocketed any bonus money that was to be given out. Apparently this film nearly brought the studio down but it turned out being a hit and the rest is history. von Stroheim certainly has a very sinister look and atmosphere running throughout the film and this is something I'm not sure would be in future versions. Since this is the first version I've seen I really can't compare it to anything but I'm sure fans of the director or silent film buffs will really eat this film up even if it isn't the masterpiece one would hope for considering the talent involved. The highlight is clearly the visual look of the film, which is quite stunning from the opening shot to the final one. There are all sorts of strange camera set ups including my favorite that happens around the fifty-minute mark as Murray and Gilbert are having dinner and the director keeps the camera in a long shot with the two actors sitting at the very right of the screen, nearly off camera. This is such a strange shot that it can't help but grab your attention and make you take notice. There are countless other great trick shots throughout the film and von Stroheim certainly builds a wonderful atmosphere that is quite thick and at times haunting. The performances by the two leads are very good as well with both playing off one another wonderfully. I thought the romantic aspect of the story was fully believable as both actors perfectly nail the more dramatic parts and Gilbert getting a special notice for some nice comic timing. If I had any problem with the film its the running time as I felt there could have been some trims here and there and nothing would have been lost on the story. Apparently Clark Gable and Joan Crawford are extras in the mammoth ballroom sequence but I was unable to spot them.

This is the kind of silent film that is so enjoyable to watch. Huge budget with a great cast. In the climatic dance sequence, where the "Merry Widow" dances, both Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, both unknowns at the time, were extras.

The Merry Widow was first seen by American audiences on Broadway during the 1907-08 season where it ran for 416 performances. For those of us who know it primarily from the sound films with first Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald and later Fernando Lamas and Lana Turner, this version will be quite interesting. Let's just say that what was put in the talkies was a lot closer to the stage production. Erich Von Stroheim who directed this film added quite a bit to the story. In fact in the end it isn't quite so merry.

Most of the film is taken up with just how Mae Murray became The Merry Widow. She's an American dancer who is stranded in the remote Balkan kingdom of Monteblanco which is ruled by King George Fawcett. In line for the throne is the rakish Roy D'Arcy, a Snidely Whiplash villain if there ever was one. Behind him is his cousin John Gilbert playing Prince Danilo.

Murray comes to the attention of both men, Gilbert actually falls for her, D'Arcy would like an occasional roll in the hay, but marry her? There's a third guy out there in Tully Marshall who is the wealthiest man in the kingdom and it's principal banker. He leaves and the whole place goes into receivership. Marshall's an old dude with some alternative sexual interests that Von Stroheim exploits to the fullest on screen and he'd like a young trophy wife and Murray fills the bill.

She does become a wife ever so briefly and then of course the Merry Widow having had her fill of royalty. But now that she holds the Monteblanco purse strings, D'Arcy has taken a renewed interest in her and maybe she just might be a suitable queen.

I think you can see where this is going though Von Stroheim does tease us a bit with some possible alternatives before the film concludes. The audience of 1925 saw one lavish production that nearly broke the new Metro-Goldwyn studio. We only see about half the footage he shot if that.

One thing that Metro did not have to worry about was a soundtrack. The music of The Merry Widow was very familiar to the American public and it's played on the organ throughout the film. Young contract players Joan Crawford and Clark Gable are extras in the ballroom scene and good luck in spotting them. Although in the Citadel film series book on The Films Of Clark Gable there is a still from The Merry Widow where Gable is pointed out.

I'm sure John Gilbert little dreamed that in six years Gable would be supplanting him as the number one leading man at MGM. But in The Merry Widow he's a stalwart and resolute Danilo and Mae Murray actually does suggest a bit of what Jeanette MacDonald's performance would be in the first sound remake.

In the fate of what happens to D'Arcy's character, Von Stroheim opts for some realism in terms of the European scene of the past 25 years or so before the film debuted. In fact very little of the happy tone of The Merry Widow is preserved here. The film given how Murray got her millions ought to be retitled, The Trophy Widow.

Still it's an interesting alternative to the normal operetta productions we're used to seeing.

"Manhattan Follies" dancer Mae Murray (as Sally O'Hara) attracts much male attention while touring the "Kingdom of Monteblanco," especially from sexually aggressive John Gilbert (as Danilo Petrovich) and Roy D'Arcy (as Prince Mirko). Soon, Mr. Gilbert's lunging leers turn to love, and Ms. Murray succumbs to his charms. However, Royal rulers Josephine Crowell (as Queen Milena) and George Fawcett (as King Nikita I) are against Gilbert's proposed marriage. Feeling jilted, Murray marries grotesque banker Tully Marshall (as Sixtus Sadoja), who promptly kicks the bucket. Newly rich, Murray becomes "The Merry Widow" of Paris. There, Mr. D'Arcy seems to win her affections, but Gilbert hasn't given up the courtship.

With this film, big-spending director Erich von Stroheim showed he could make an entertaining and innovative crowd-pleaser; his previous "Greed" (1924) had run over-budget (and over eight hours). But, although they had their hoped-for hit, MGM had also had enough of Mr. Stroheim; still, he departed on a high. "The Merry Widow" also helped rejuvenate Murray's fading career, albeit briefly. The cast is superlative, with D'Arcy essaying one of his most memorable roles. Perfectly representing Stroheim's famous foot fetish, Mr. Marshall is one of silent filmdom's forgotten treasures. Most of all, the flicker put Gilbert on the road to superstardom, which he cemented with a winning performance in "The Big Parade" (later in 1925).

Spotting Clark Gable and Joan Crawford as extras isn't as easy as counting Stroheim's foot references.

******** The Merry Widow (8/26/25) Erich von Stroheim ~ Mae Murray, John Gilbert, Roy D'Arcy, Tully Marshall