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poster of Foolish Wives
Rating: 6.5/10 by 79 users

Foolish Wives (1922)

A con artist masquerades as Russian nobility and attempts to seduce the wife of an American diplomat.

Directing:
  • Erich von Stroheim
  • Louis Germonprez
  • Edward Sowders
  • Jack R. Proctor
Writing:
  • Erich von Stroheim
  • Erich von Stroheim
Stars:
Release Date: Wed, Jan 11, 1922

Rating: 6.5/10 by 79 users

Alternative Title:
Närrische Frauen - AT
Tolle Weiber - AT
어리석은 아낙네들 - KR
어리석은 아내들 - KR

Country:
United States of America
Language:
No Language
Runtime: 02 hour 23 minutes
Budget: $1,100,000
Revenue: $400,200

Plot Keyword: court, monte carlo, wig
Subtitle   Wallpaper   Watch Trailer    

Erich von Stroheim
Count Wladislaw Sergius Karamzin
Rudolph Christians
Andrew J. Hughes
Miss DuPont
Helen Hughes
Maude George
Princess Olga Petchnikoff
Mae Busch
Princess Vera Petchnikoff
Cesare Gravina
Cesare Ventucci
Albert Edmondson
Pavel Pavlich
Mary Philbin
Crippled Girl (uncredited)
Nigel De Brulier
Monk (uncredited)
Robert Edeson
Andrew J. Hughes
Louise Emmons
Mother Garoupe
Harrison Ford
Armless Soldier
Mrs. Kent
Dr. Judd's Wife
Edward Reinach
Secretary of State of Monaco

CinemaSerf

It's a soap. Despite all the associated history of cuts, recuts and restoration it is still just a beautifully photographed soap opera. Erich von Stroheim did just about everything in this entertaining, if a little too cyclical, tale of a cad. That cad "Count Sergius Karanzim" (EVS) parades around the Côte D'Azur luring unsuspecting (wealthy) women to his rented villa in which he, with his two "cousins" (Maude George & Mae Busch as the Princesses "Petchnikoff") fleeces them relentlessly. For quite a while his charm, wit and guile provides them with a good living until he aims a little too high with the wife of an American diplomat in Monte Carlo. "Mrs. Hughes" (Miss Dupont) and her husband (Rudolph Christians) may well be about to put a spoke in the wheel of these confidence tricksters. It's good fun, this, with Von Stroheim eminently convincing as the con man and DuPont equally effective as his ditzy mark. The production is maybe a bit static, but at 100 years old, it is still delivered in a fashion that shows off the Mediterranean scenery whilst aiming one squarely between the eyes of the vacuous, riche, clientele who assumed their excesses of funds were adequate compensation for their gullibility, stupidity and naivety. It sags from time to time, so I am not hugely shocked that this original 21 reeler was scaled back somewhat. What we have here, though, still have flows well enough with succinct inter titles that are, at times, quite witty too. I am not sure I would ever bother to watch it again, but I am glad that I did. You can see here the template for so many films that followed.


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