Blind Husbands/The Great Gabbo [Deluxe Collector's Edition]

MOVIE 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.

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Silent
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Screen: Black and White
• Features:
  • Score adapted by Donald Sosin from the 1919 cue sheet
  • Excerpts from the original Blind Husbands pressbook
  • Audio clips of Valerie Von Stroheim and Paul Kohner
  • Dossier on the ill-fated 1929 remake of Blind Husbands
  • "The High Command," a 1944 radio broadcast
  • A note on The Great Gabbo by Erich Von Stroheim
  • Photo gallery
  • Published Works: A Brief Survey
  • Portrait gallery

AWARDS

• Berlin International Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 2007

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Erich Von Stroheim - Great Gabbo
       Betty Compson - Mary
       Erich Von Stroheim - Lieutenant von Steuben
       Gibson Gowland
       Donald Douglas - Frank

• Director:

  Erich Von Stroheim, James Cruze

• Producer:

  James Cruze, Jonathan Cordish

• Screenwriter:

  Erich Von Stroheim, Ben Hecht, Frederick Hugh Herbert

• Cinematographer:

  William H. Daniels, Benjamin F. Reynolds, Ira Morgan

• Composer (Music Score):

  Lynn Cowan, Howard Jackson, Paul Titsworth

• Production Designer:

  Robert E. Lee

• Art Director:

  Erich Von Stroheim

• Costume Designer:

  Andre-Ani

• Choreography:

  Maurice L. Kusell