The Wedding March (1928)
(Erich von Stroheim, US 1928, 113 min., 16mm)
Erich von Stroheim was able to create a spectacular and lavish film out of any mundane story. And a clichéd plot he would turn into a drama of great psychological complexity. A prince falling in love with an innkeeper’s daughter is subject for a standard melodrama, even an operetta. But when the prince is played by “the man you love to hate”, i.e. von Stroheim himself; when the girl is Fay Wray in all her seductive innocence; when the story is set in Vienna on the brink of World War I; when fifteen minutes of the purest love scene under the apple blossoms are intercut with ten minutes of an orgy in a brothel – one is up for a memorable cinematic experience. Von Stroheim’s dedication to accuracy prompted him to purchase many pre-war props directly from Vienna, from the royal carriages that had belonged to Emperor Franz Josef right down to the military underwear the soldiers wore. The prostitutes and gin in the orgy scene were also authentic. What was artificial was the apple blossoms – somewhere between 50,000 and 500,000 of them. Presented with its original Western Electric soundtrack including original score and sound effects, The Wedding March is difficult to see and a true masterpiece.