Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

It sometimes frustrates me mad trying to tell these guys apart.

Basically --as I understand it --Stroheim was the madman who filmed 'Greed' in Death Valley;

...we later see him as 'Max' in 'Sunset Boulevard'


whereas


Josef von Sternberg was the guiding force behind the career of Marlene Dietrich


Yes or no?

Are you asking if they physically resemble each other? No

Von Stroheim is a a character unto himself, and his ego and abilities are legendary. Sternberg has his own reputation, but I am not as familiar with his work so I can't comment.

Thank you ...I just crave a facile way to tell their careers apart ...obviously two men probably do not resemble each other ...

I need tp check out both. Glad you reminded me. I understand that the film that Norma watches of herself was never quite completed but maybe available with some stills inserted.

https://rateyourmusic.com/film/queen-...

Spencer wrote: "I need tp check out both. Glad you reminded me. I understand that the film that Norma watches of herself was never quite completed but maybe available with some stills inserted."

That film was Queen Kelly. which went way over budget and got dumped before it was complete. It was directed by Von Stroheim.

I've read about Queen Kelly saga. Many twists and turns.

Anyway. Besides his role as Max, von Stroheim was also famously cast as the Prussian officer in Grand Illusion

So I guess it's really more v Sternberg whom does not come as clearly into focus for me, as does his fellow countryman

And the problematic surnames. Both starting with 'von S.......'

Both Stroheim and Sternberg did not have the preposition "von" in their original names. Stoheim added it to indicate nobility of which he was not entitled. And the studio added it to Sternberg without asking him.

Besides the roles already mentioned for von Stroheim, the one I remember him for is Rommel in 'Five Graves to Cairo'. He made a much more sinister figure than the great James Mason in 'The Desert Fox.'

Betsy wrote: "Besides the roles already mentioned for von Stroheim, the one I remember him for is Rommel in 'Five Graves to Cairo'. He made a much more sinister figure than the great James Mason in 'The Desert F..."

I just saw that a week ago. Already one of my favorite films about WWII. I was very surprised by it. A wwii movie that’s more than just a wwii movie. Also, I haven’t seen any other wwii films made during the war where Rommel, etc were main characters.

Also, Stroheim was good in Sunset Boulevard, also directed by Wilder, who directed Five Graves to Cairo.

Honestly, I prefer Von Stroheim the actor to Von Stroheim the director. I’ve seen about 2 or 3 films he directed, and while I was impressed by his style and contributions, I wasn’t crazy about the films themselves.

I agree with you, Bruce, I prefer Stroheim the actor. I think it was awkward to praise Rommel during the war no matter if you admired him. He served his Nazi masters too well. Stroheim showed his arrogant, determined-to-win side quite succinctly.

When Stroheim acted in silent film, he was called "the man you love to hate".

@Bruce.............have you ever tackled his masterpiece Greed
(1924). There are at least a couple of releases, one of which much of it was removed, and the other one in as close to the original as possible since much is lost.

Another Stroheim flick --not a bad one either --look at the fun cast of Bosch with him. Peter Lorre, Sig Ruman. Thick accents galore. Stroheim and Lorre make a team nearly as memorable as Greenstreet & Lorre.

"I was an Adventuress"

writer: Nunnally Johnson, dir. by Gregory Ratoff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Was_a...

Laura, yes. I’ve seen Greed. I wasn’t crazy about it. As far as I can tell, the restored cut wasn’t that restored, or rather time wise and plot wise, maybe, but it was mostly stills and not much for restored footage. In fact, the restored might be worse. It’s been a few years since I saw it, but I remember a LOT of it was just stills. Maybe half, maybe more than half.

I didn't care for the restored version of Greed either, Bruce, where they put in so many stills.

Yeah. I don’t totally mind if it’s stills for, like, a missing reel, and then it goes back, but in Greed it went back and forth, and it seemed there were more stills than footage.

So right, Bruce. Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, when restored had some stills but they were not invasive

I am re-watching The Man You Love To Hate, a six part documentary about von Stroheim, It is on YouTube if anyone is interested. It is interesting but the sound is not very good.