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Product Description
Item Name: Blind Husbands / The Great Gabbo; Studio: Kino Video
Product Description
Rarely in history has a single film catapulted a director to the forefront of world cinema, but the innovative style and sophisticated themes of Blind Husbands made Erich von Stroheim an immediate sensation, exposing the complex layers of repression, lealousy and lust that lie beneath the surface of an American couple's marriage. As they vacation in the Alps, a roguish officer (Von Stroheim) ensnares the wife (Francellia Billington) in a web of infidelity, testing her loyalty and ultimately challenging the manhood of her husband (Sam DeGrasse). One of Hollywood's earliest - and most peculiar - musicals, The Great Gabbo stars Von Stroheim as an egotistical ventriloquist who casts a Svengali-like spell upon an ingenue (Betty Compson), against a backdrop of singularlry strange numbers (including "Icky" and the spider-and-fly themed "Caught in a Web"). Director James Cruze (The Covered Wagon) allowed von Stroheim to endow the character with his signature flourishes, resulting in a wicked cocktail of garish stage shows and Austro-Hungarian villainy that is a diabolical delight.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This excellent DVD features a wonderful silent film from 1919 and one of the first Hollywood musicals from 1929, when "talkies" were introduced, and although I was expecting two silent films, I was not one bit disappointed. Knowing next to nothing about Erich von Stroheim (except that I had to see some of his work one day!) I watched and enjoyed both films without any expectations or preconceived ideas, and simply cannot fault either film.
Blind Husbands is visually lovely, the music is perfectly suited, and it is a poignant story with the morale that it's not always "the other man" who is solely to blame in marriage difficulties. It moves along at a comfortable pace as it unfolds and shows the emotions of each character just at the right moment. It's impressive that von Stroheim wrote and directed, as well as played a lead role. As an actor he comes across subtly yet strongly in this film, and overall I rate this film as a top quality silent movie.
The Great Gabbo is a Talkie and shows that von Stroheim was also very competent in speech, playing a very difficult and troubled showman; a ventriloquist, whose dummy almost steals the show. The dummy dialogues and scenes are superb and delightful, balancing the negative and rough character played by Stroheim. Then the musical really gets going; visually surprising, intriguing and fascinating, with very high quality music and songs as good as any famous Hollywood musical since (and personally, I enjoyed this one more than many others musicals) The picture quality is extremely good, being in pristine black and white, and while the sound might sound a bit tinny to sensitive ears, I still think it's a superior work of remastering. While the music and dummy entertain us, a very moving love story also unfolds, leaving the viewer feeling very satisfied after both of these memorable movies.
The DVD also has some interesting special features; photos, interviews and other snippets, including two recipes by Stroheim such as Almond Strudel which sounds worth a try! Definitely a worthwhile DVD - thanks, Kino Video!
Blind Husbands is visually lovely, the music is perfectly suited, and it is a poignant story with the morale that it's not always "the other man" who is solely to blame in marriage difficulties. It moves along at a comfortable pace as it unfolds and shows the emotions of each character just at the right moment. It's impressive that von Stroheim wrote and directed, as well as played a lead role. As an actor he comes across subtly yet strongly in this film, and overall I rate this film as a top quality silent movie.
The Great Gabbo is a Talkie and shows that von Stroheim was also very competent in speech, playing a very difficult and troubled showman; a ventriloquist, whose dummy almost steals the show. The dummy dialogues and scenes are superb and delightful, balancing the negative and rough character played by Stroheim. Then the musical really gets going; visually surprising, intriguing and fascinating, with very high quality music and songs as good as any famous Hollywood musical since (and personally, I enjoyed this one more than many others musicals) The picture quality is extremely good, being in pristine black and white, and while the sound might sound a bit tinny to sensitive ears, I still think it's a superior work of remastering. While the music and dummy entertain us, a very moving love story also unfolds, leaving the viewer feeling very satisfied after both of these memorable movies.
The DVD also has some interesting special features; photos, interviews and other snippets, including two recipes by Stroheim such as Almond Strudel which sounds worth a try! Definitely a worthwhile DVD - thanks, Kino Video!
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Even thought the Great Gabbo is supposedly restored the famous color sequence is in black and white.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is the best restoration of these two titles likely ever to be seen and I'm very grateful for what is left of these films. Blind Husbands is great and The Great Gabbo is absolutely fascinating. I could listen to Von Stroheim's voice for hours. I don't know if Blind Husbands had an End title, but if it did, the use of an End title with a 2003 copyright is infuriating.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great double feature with extra features
It is odd that 1929's "Great Gabbo" was a commercial flop during that year. Actually it stands up as one of the better and weirder films of that first year of talking pictures. Read more
Published on August 8, 2009 by calvinnme
In memoriam of Sepp Innerflocker, the world famous Alpinist guide!
In the introductory lines, we may realize what the real intention the story. We use to blame the presence of "the other" as responsible of the breakthrough of most of couples but... Read more
Published on November 26, 2007 by Hiram Gomez Pardo
Historically interesting, but not really classics
The two films on this disc are both historic milestones in von Stroheim's career, though I personally found them more of historic interest than the stuff of classic films or... Read more
Published on October 4, 2006 by Anyechka
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