I saw this "Mr Magorium's Wonderful Emporium" because I think this was the first to construct a story with the primary intent of creating a character for an actor. In this case the actor is the writer and director. He's a slight Jewish kid with poor education and working class background. For the international movie industry, he created an extremely well articulated story about himself as an Austrian nobleman, with bearing and art in the blood. He did so by extreme consistency in lies throughout his life, but he introduced himself, using films as the main truth. This is the first.The story is simple: he is traveling with a renown doctor and his supposedly beautiful wife to the Alps. While the doctor is away, he seduces the wife. The doctor confronts him on the mountain and he dies. It is told primitively: von Stroheim was for all his own story never a good storyteller. The mountains are significant of course, being something that references and defines the majesty of the Germanic soul. They would be exploited later in the service of Nazi identity, using much the same technique of imposing the unreal of the ideal on the real.Does it matter that he created this life for himself. It does for me, because I consider "Sunset Blvd." a touchstone and his placement in it an act of genius.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

A basic marital morality tale, enthused with Stroheim's lust for self-loathing. He plays an over-sexed, effete, lizard of a Prussian Officer, named Von Steubens, who zealously seeks to dishonour the wife of an American doctor holidaying in an Alpine retreat.Interestingly, Stroheim is said to have virtually stalked Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal, in order to get his story, The Pinnacle, made into what would become Blind Husbands. Not the least hint or sign, then, of the crazy, obsessive auteur, a part that Stroheim would pioneer! As a director, Stroheim does have a wonderful visual eye (scenes of men climbing mountains etc.). There are also some very inventive shots, such as when the wife is looking at her practically impotent husband, the doctor, sleeping in bed, via a mirror, and then sees a young couple at the lodge in place of him, completely in love, before going back to the snoring doctor.Moreover, the English actor who would go on to play McTeague in Stroheim's much greater, later, work: Greed, here plays a mountain guide. He is a symbol of the people of the mountains, strong, pious and devout, a complete opposite to Von Steubens' decadent Officer, who uses his cultural refinement only to guarantee his baser purposes, wooing the local peasant girls with poetry for instance, and wooing the doctor's wife with a violin.But that's the problem with film. Although the characterisation isn't completely two-dimensional, the esteemed doctor, for instance, shows envy and hatred. His wife also admits an ambivalent interest in Von Steubens unwholesome charm. But Stroheim seems to idealise these mountain people from the get go, which is stupid romanticism. Anyone who has such romanticism should read An Alpine Idyll, a short story by Hemingway.Still, an interesting early Stroheim.

Wow--is this the SAME director that was known for his obsessive need to film and re-film and re-film ad nauseum? Is this this the director who made GREED at over nine hours and insisted it not be cut any further? Is this the same director whose work was severely limited because the studios grew tired of his inflexibility and excessive spending? None of this appears to be the case when you watch this simple film, but all are amazingly true--just not evident in this film. Somehow, von Stroheim was able to complete a film that is simple, a reasonable length and well worth seeing. In fact, he also co-stars in this movie and does a fine job playing an adventurous cad.The plot is pretty simple. A husband has a tendency to take his wife for granted while on vacation to the Dolemites (a mountain range in Northern Italy). A soldier and adventurer, von Stroheim, sees this and slowly tries to seduce the lonely wife. How all this works out as well as the beautifully filmed conclusion I'll leave to you to figure out on your own. This is a morality play that for its day isn't too preachy and is sure to entertain.

This is really a bookend with "Foolish Wives" for me. The later film was perhaps more melodramatic but they both share the Euro-womanizer and gullible wife angle. In "Husbands," Stroheim casts himself unsympathetically (and rather courageously, if you think about it) and seems to relish the villainy and cowardice of the role. The cast is excellent with particular credit due the off-balance wife for her uncomfortable acceptance of the Leutenant's attention.Stroheim's strength as a director always pivoted on his ability to move a story forward, however, and that's the very quality that makes this film work; one is always interested to follow along and see what happens.It's a real shame that the world of cinema was denied the complete development of Stroheim's directorial skills as it would have been fascinating to see how he developed full-formed in the sound era.