THE WEDDING MARCH
GREED

Erich von Stroheim
A tre quarti di secolo dalla tragica débícle di Greed, due dei capolavori di Stroheim, vittime della perenne guerra da lui combattuta contro gli studios americani, vengono presentati alle Giornate del Cinema Muto. L’innovativa ricostruzione di Greed ad opera di Rick Schmidlin che, avvalendosi di eccellenti tecnici del montaggio, ha integrato con centinaia di fotografie la versione sopravvissuta del film sulla base delle istruzioni contenute nel copione di Stroheim e delle indicazioni ricavabili dal romanzo di Frank Norris, cui il regista si ispirò e di cui proprio quest’anno ricorre il centenario - ci dà finalmente un’idea della portata e dell’impressionante realismo del progetto originario del cineasta. Grazie alla cura con cui la Photoplay ha eseguito il restauro, abbiamo inoltre la possibilità di vedere The Wedding March così come lo videro i primi spettatori, con la sottile trama fotografica di Hal Mohr e le sequenze in Technicolor, intatte e splendide.
Coincidentally, three quarters of a century after the tragic debacle of Greed, two of the masterpieces which were casualties of Stroheim’s unending war with the studios coincidentally are granted renaissance this year; and the Giornate del Cinema Muto is very proud to show them both. Rick Schmidlin’s ground-breaking reconstruction of Greed - using hundreds of stills together with the surviving film, the instructions of Stroheim’s script, the evidence of Frank Norris’s original novel (celebrating its centenary this year) and the services of first-class Hollywood editors - finally gives us at least an idea of the scope and scale and devastating realism of Stroheim’s original conception. Photoplay’s characteristically meticulous restoration of The Wedding March permits us to see the film as the first audiences might have done, with Hal Mohr’s subtle photographic textures and the Technicolor sequences pristine and beautiful.

THE WEDDING MARCH / SINFONIA NUZIALE (Paramount, USA, 1928). The 1998 Channel 4 Silent / Photoplay Productions.
Dir.: Erich von Stroheim; sc.: Erich von Stroheim, Harry Carr; prod.: Pat Powers; ph.: Hal Mohr; ph. associates: Buster Sorensen, Roy Klaffki; Technicolor cam.: Ray Rennahan; des.: Richard Day; cost.: Max Ree; ed.: Frank Hull; asst. dirs.: Eddie Sowders, Louis Germonprez; military advisers: Donald Overall-Hatswell, Albert Conti; subsequent editors.: Josef von Sternberg, Julian Johnson; partitura composta e diretta da / 1998 score created and conducted by Carl Davis, esecuzione / performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra; cast: Erich von Stroheim (Prince Nicki von Wildeliebe-Rauffenburg), Fay Wray (Mitzi Schrammell), George Fawcett (Prince von Wildeliebe-Rauffenburg), Maude George (Princess von Wildeliebe-Rauffenburg), George Nichols (Fortunat Schweisser), ZaSu Pitts (Cecilia Schweisser), Matthew Betz (Schani Eberle), Cesare Gravina (Martin Schrammell), Dale Fuller (Mrs Schrammell), Sidney Bracey (aide-de-camp), Anton Vaverka (Emperor Franz Josef), Hughie Mack (Schani’s father), Lucille van Lent (Nicki’s maid), Lurie Weiss (Cecilia’s maid), Don Ryan (Archibishop), Carolynne Snowden (black girl in brothel), Lulee Wilson (servant), Captain John Peters, Captain Carl von Hartman, Carey Harrison, Ferdinand Schumann-Heink,Heinrich Reinhardt, Albert Conti, Wilhelm von Brincken (officers); 35mm, 109’ (24fps). Didascalie in inglese / English titles.
Teatro Zancanaro: proiezione speciale alla presenza di / special screening in the presence of Fay Wray.
Evento realizzato in collaborazione con / Event sponsored by CineClassics.

The Wedding March (Sinfonia nuziale), che costituisce con Greed una delle più significative realizzazioni di Stroheim, doveva essere proiettato in due parti, d’una dozzina di bobine ciascuna: ma, come ricorda Davide Turconi, l’insipienza e il gretto commercialismo della Paramount, che aveva assunto la distribuzione del film, rovinò tutta la seconda parte - The Honeymoon (Luna di miele) - affidandone il montaggio a von Sternberg con l’ordine di farne un film a se stante. Stroheim così estromesso non riconobbe questa arbitraria manomissione e proib¦ la presentazione in America di questa parte del film, che circolò solo in Europa e nel Sud America.
Negli ultimi anni della sua vita, Stroheim ebbe l’opportunità di rimontare il film. Nel 1954, alla Cinémathèque française realizzò una versione della prima parte che è la stessa che viene qui proiettata. Alla Cinémathèque era conservata anche l’unica copia sopravvissuta di The Honeymoon, ma per Stroheim ciò fu unicamente fonte di imbarazzo. La pellicola andò distrutta in un incendio, cinque giorni dopo la morte del regista. Ha scritto la storica Lotte Eisner (in Von Stroheim, edito nel 1994 dalla Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek e dal Festival di Berlino): "Avevamo iniziato a proiettare The Wedding March per Stroheim da pochi minuti, quando egli balzò in piedi dicendo: ‘È insopportabile. Il film è noioso, terribile.’ Lo guardai inorridita. Le sue parole mi sembravano quasi blasfeme. ‘A che velocità lo state proiettando?’, egli chiese. ‘16 fotogrammi al secondo’, risposi, ‘la velocità giusta per i film muti.’ ‘Ma è stato girato a 24 fotogrammi al secondo. E c’erano dei dischi con l’accompagnamento musicale.’ Corsi in cabina. Ripristinato il suo ritmo originario, il film era stupendo. Eppure Stroheim non era contento. Ricordava molte scene che mancavano: ‘In quel punto, dopo essermi alzato, mi facevo la barba. Quella scena era importante perché mi mostrava in una veste infomale. Bisogna vederla per comprendere meglio ciò che Mitzi vedeva in me.’ Durante la scena d’amore sotto il melo in fiore lo sentii borbottare: ‘Figlio di puttana!’ Sternberg aveva tagliato delle parti sostituendole con le inquadrature di un uccello e di un gufo. In seguito von Stroheim cercò di ricostruire il ritmo di quella scena, ma non ci riuscì, poiché non c’era materiale con cui riempire i vuoti. Alla Cinémathèque lavorava come un ossesso, aiutato da una montatrice del calibro di Renée Lichtig. Era quasi felice."
Early in 1926, with the backing of Pat Powers, Stroheim began to work out a script with Harry Carr … The veteran Fairbanks cameramen Wm McGann and Harry Thorpe started the picture, but quit when Stroheim worked them thirteen hours without a break. Hal Mohr was brought in to take over. Stroheim drove his cast and crew relentlessly … The film had been highly budgeted from the start, but costs began to get out of hand. Harry Carr, who stood in on most scenes as a second director said, "Stroheim’s punctilious insistence on detail has in it a good deal of child - the little boy who wants everything just so - or he won’t play." Estimates on the number of blossoms in the apple orchard scene range from 50,000 to 500,000. Most were made of wax but some were paper so they would float down on cue. According to Mohr, the orgy scenes were played with an exactitude which would have caused apoplexy at the Hay’s Office - they involved prostitutes from Madam Lea Frances’s bordello and gallons of bootleg gin.
By this time, producer Pat Powers realized that the film was outstripping his ability to finance it, and turned the production over to Paramount. Stroheim could no longer depend on his personal rapport with Powers to see him through, since Zukor and Lasky were exerting direct pressure themselves. Hal Mohr quit when Stroheim’s rages turned in his direction. His replacement was Roy Klaffki. The company moved to the Sierras to shoot the hunting lodge episodes. The work was gruelling, with much climbing over hard rock required of ZaSu Pitts and especially Fay Wray. But Powers had run out of patience and Paramount had run out of cash. On January 30, l927 production was stopped. After eight months of shooting, costs stood at $1,125,000 (although Stroheim felt he had spent only $900,000) and 200,000 feet of film had been shot.
The problem of cutting the film to a reasonable length was countered by Stroheim’s suggestion of a two-part work. The first part, to be called The Wedding March would end with the marriage of Nikki and Cecilia. Part two, The Honeymoon, would include all the material from the hunting lodge onward. The original script contains no indication of such a break. For seven months Stroheim worked with Frank Hull, his chief cutter. "On October 8 [1927] I was suddenly taken off the film," he wrote. "B.P. Schulberg announced that he was turning the editing over to Josef von Sternberg, whom, he stated, would edit the picture in two weeks time. Instead von Sternberg took several weeks, and then his version proved so unsatisfactory to Paramount that they took him off the picture and turned it over to Julian Johnson for a new editing." (Stroheim said later that Sternberg was concerned only with the editing of the second film.)
Powers went to New York to show Stroheim’s two-part version to Jesse Lasky, but Lasky refused to look at it. Powers refused to accept the Johnson version. Finally, Lasky gave Powers permission to cut down the two-part film into one twelve reel feature. When Powers showed this new version to Paramount, they supposedly approved it, but began previewing the Johnson version in a screening at Anaheim which was reviewed by the trade papers.
The film was previewed in two versions and then shelved. It was given a musical score, on disc. Finally, on October 14, 1928, the film made its appearance at New York’s Rivoli Theatre. on Stroheim had wanted its great length to take up all the space usually occupied by newsreels, shorts and staged prologues. However, on its first run, The Wedding March shared the bill with a Max Fleischer Out of the Inkwell cartoon. Intial eight-day grosses were a very respectable $51,500, but two weeks later the film drew only $19,900 and was pulled after six days. It drew well at other metropolitan theatres, generally playing the standard single week booking, but was not an exceptional hit even in the big cities. Never released in America, part two, The Honyemoon, was circulated in Europe and South America in an 81 minute version, of which 29 minutes consisted of a condensation of part one.
The film had been so long in the making that two members of the cast (George Nichols and Hughie Mack) had died. They were not the only aspects of the film that time had passed by. Talking pictures were all over Broadway. By contrast, the languorous Wedding March seemed dated and old fashioned.
(Adapted from The Man You Love To Hate by Richard Koszarski, Oxford University Press, 1983)
Late in life, Stroheim did have the opportunity of recutting the film. Working at the Cinémathèque Française in 1954, he produced a version of part one which is the same as is being shown tonight. The sole surviving print of The Honeymoon had also found its way to the Cinémathèque but Stroheim felt it was nothing but an embarrassement. It perished there in a fire five days after Stroheim’s death. Historian, Lotte Eisner, wrote the following recollection (in Von Stroheim, Berlin Film Festival, 1994): "A few minutes into showing von Stroheim The Wedding March, he jumped up saying, ‘This is insufferable. The film is boring, awful.’ I looked at him aghast. His words seemed almost blasphemous to me. ‘What speed are you runing it at?’, he asked. ‘16 fps,’ I replied, ‘the correct speed for silent pictures.’ ‘But it was shot at 24fps. There was music on discs to go with it.’ I hastened to the projection booth and behold, with its original rhythm restored, the film was superb. Still Stroheim was not happy. He recalled many missing scenes; ‘At this point, after I get up, I shaved. The scene was important because it showed my informal side. You have to see that to understand better what Mitzi saw in me.’ During the love scene under the apple blossom I heard him mumble ‘Son of a bitch!’ Sternberg had cut things and replaced them with shots of a bird and an owl. Von Stroheim later tried to re-establish the rhythm of that scene but, since there was no additional material to fill in the gaps, he didn’t succeed. At the Cinémathèque he worked like a man obsessed helped by the first-class editor Renée Lichtig. He was almost happy."

Il restauro / The Restoration
Il problema di The Wedding March è sempre stato il suo l’effetto flou portato all’estremo. Incantevole nelle copie nitrato, quando lo si ristampa può sembrare sfocato. Per questo non lo avevamo mai proposto come un Channel 4 Silent. Ma quando nel 1997 andammo a intervistare Fay Wray per il nostro documentario Universal Horror, rimanemmo così colpiti dalla sua vivida rievocazione dell’esperienza lavorativa con Stroheim che decidemmo di provare.
Alla Library of Congress di Washington, dove era conservato il solo materiale originario sopravvissuto, visionammo una versione in 35mm ristampata nel 1969. Due rulli si erano deteriorati prima dell’acquisizione del nitrato ed erano stati sostituiti con un controtipo a 16mm proveniente da una collezione privata. Il 35mm era estremamente morbido e pieno di macchie, quanto al 16mm era in condizioni indescrivibili. La parte in Technicolor era diventata rosa. Ci sentimmo mancare, ma già nel 1976, la Library, insoddisfatta del negativo, ne aveva fatto un altro con migliori risultati. Sebbene nel frattempo altre parti del nitrato si fossero deteriorate, ulteriori miglioramenti erano ancora possibili. Per di più, la parte in Technicolor era ancora in ottimo stato.
A Parigi, Dominique Paini e Bernard Martinand della Cinémathèque française ci accolsero con entusiasmo, consentendoci di accedere a tutti i loro materiali. Il nitrato originale era andato perduto, ma prima ne era stata ricavata una copia che, sebbene non all’altezza degli standard oggi possibili, comprendeva i due rulli mancanti nella versione della Library.
In America venne fatto un nuovo negativo che combinava quello del 1976, il materiale francese e la parte a colori (appositamente ristampata dall’ YCM di Los Angeles), tenendo presente l’ultima edizione montata da Stroheim. È così che si è ottenuta la miglior versione oggi in circolazione.
La conservazione di una pellicola è spesso una questione di fortuna. Senza la ristampa della Cinémathèque française, non avremmo mai saputo quale fosse il montaggio voluto da Stroheim e 16 minuti del film sarebbero andati perduti. Se la Library of Congress non avesse conservato il nitrato, non avremmo avuto il Technicolor e non si sarebbe potuto realizzare il negativo dal quale è stata ricavata la presente versione. E se non fossimo stati incaricati di girare un documentario sui film dell’orrore non avremmo incontrato l’ispiratrice dell’intera operazione: Fay Wray.
The problem with The Wedding March has always been its extreme soft-focus. Ravishing in original prints, it can seem out-of-focus when copied. For this reason we had avoided the film as a candidate for a Channel Four Silent. But last year, we interviewed Fay Wray for our Universal Horror documentary and she described her experience working for von Stroheim. Her account was so vivid and so moving that we resolved whatever the drawbacks we would go ahead.
At the home of the only surviving original material - the Library of Congress in Washington - we saw a 35mm print copied in 1969. Two reels had decomposed before their nitrate was acquired and been replaced by a l6mm dupe from a private collection. It made depressing viewing, as the 35mm was extremely soft and blotchy, whilst the l6mm was beyond description. The copy of the Technicolor section had faded to pink. Our spirits sank, but curator David Francis, who promised full cooperation, thought that improved lab techniques might now yield better results. The Library, dissatisfied with their negative, had already made another in l976, with better results. Although more of the nitrate had since decomposed, further improvements might yet be possible. Fortunately the Technicolor was still in excellent shape.
In Paris, Dominique Paini of the Cinémathèque Française was also extremely enthusiastic and gave us access to all their material. The nitrate print, which had belonged to the film’s producer Pat Powers, was now lost, but it had been copied. Although not up to the standards now possible, it did include the two reels missing in America. So a new American negative could be combined with their 1976 neg, the French material and the colour (newly copied by YCM in Los Angeles), and matched to Stroheim’s final cut to produce the finest version in existence.
Film preservation is so often a thing of chance. If the Cinémathèque Française had not copied their print, sixteen minutes of the film would now be lost. If Henri Langlois had not allowed von Stroheim to tinker with this precious copy, we would not have known how he felt about the overall editing If the Library of Congress had not preserved their nitrate, we would not have the Technicolor in such pristine condition, nor would they have been able to make the new negative which produced the print you see tonight. And if we had not been commissioned to make a documentary about horror films we would not have met the inspiration for the whole process: Fay Wray.

Kevin Brownlow & Patrick Stanbury

La musica / The Music
Quando venni incaricato di ideare una colonna sonora per The Wedding March Kevin Brownlow mi disse: "Fa che sia il più viennese possibile." Piuttosto che imitare l’originale ho tentato di risolvere una scena ricorrendo alla musica dei maestri viennesi. La famiglia Strauss è ben rappresentata. Per il tema d’amore dell’intero film ho usato Wienerblut, l’ultimo grande successo di Johann Strauss figlio. Talvolta un titolo mi conduceva al brano musicale più adatto. Ho usato le Mîrzveilchen - le violette di marzo - di Eduard Strauss per la scena della venditrice di violette;  Wiener Bonbons di Johann Strauss figlio quando Nicki porta a Mitzi dei cioccolatini. Importante quanto la famiglia Strauss nella colonna sonora è Schubert, di cui ho usato la sonata Aufenthalt - Dimora - per l’Uomo di Ferro. Questo simbolo di brutalità mascolina trova il suo corrispettivo nel comportamento di Schani e Nicki. Il tema è presente quando il cavallo di Nicki si impenna, quando Schani denuncia Nicki e quando Schani tenta di stuprare Mitzi. Il brano di Schubert Trockne Blumen - fiori appassiti - è perfetto per la fragile Cecelia. Ci sono inoltre citazioni da Mozart, la sua Ave Verum Corpus; da Wagner con la famosa marcia di Lohengrin; e Beethoven. Per la processione nel giorno del Corpus Domini ho adattato un inno sacro tradizionale suonato nel corso di questa cerimonia.
Ho visto per la prima volta The Wedding March negli anni Sessanta, e la scena che più ricordo è quella in cui Schani mastica un pezzo di manzo crudo. Stroheim sa essere a volte così icastico che l’azione non ha bisogno di essere evidenziata dalla musica. Spesso uso la musica in apposizione al film; tanto più la scena è sgradevole, tanto più dolce è la musica. L’uso più esplicito di ciò si ha quando i due padri combinano il matrimonio dei figli. Il bordello, in cui questa scena ha luogo, ovviamente è ambientato negli anni Venti e sembra anacronistico rispetto al resto del film. Anziché far uso della musica jazz come la scena suggerisce, ho adoperato la musica quasi gitana di Strauss e dei suoi contemporanei. Si inizia con Eiljen a Magyar di Strauss, per proseguire con la più famosa Danza ungherese di Brahms. L’accordo di matrimonio è sigillato dalla Ciarda di Monti e completato con lo Schatz Walzer tratto da Der Zigeunerbaron (Lo zingaro barone). Spero che la notorietà di queti temi contribuisca a dare all’azione una prospettiva interessante.
When I was commissioned to create a score for The Wedding March, Kevin Brownlow said "make it as Viennese as you can". Rather than imitate the real thing I tried to solve a scene by using the music of the Viennese Masters. The Strauss family is well represented. For the love theme throughout the film I use Wienerblut, Johann Strauss jr’s last big hit. Sometimes a title would lead me to a suitable piece of music. I use Eduard Strauss’ M¬rzveilchen - March Violets - for the violet seller scene; the Danube Maid Waltz when Mitzi refers to them; Johann Strauss jr’s Wiener Bonbons, when Nicki brings chocolates to Mitzi. As important to the score as the Strauss family is Schubert whose song, Aufenthalt - Dwelling Place - I use for the Iron Man. This symbol of masculine brutality finds a parallel in the behaviour of Schani and Nicki. The theme is used when Nicki’s horse rears up, when Schani denounces Nicki and when Schani attempts to rape Mitzi. Schubert’s song Trockne Blumen - faded flowers - is perfect for the fragile Cecelia. In addition there are quotes from Mozart, his Ave Verum Corpus; Wagner, the famous Lohengrin march; and Beethoven. At the Corpus Christi Day parade I have arranged a traditional sacred hymn used for that ceremony.
I first saw The Wedding March in the 60s, and the scene I most remembered was when Schani chews a piece of raw beef. Stroheim is often so graphic that there is no need for the music to underline the action. Sometimes I use the music in apposition to the film; the nastier the scene — the sweeter the music. The most explicit use of this is when the two fathers strike a deal for the marriage of their children. The brothel in which this scene takes place is obviously set in the twenties and feels anachronistic to the rest of the film. Instead of using jazz as the scene suggests, I’ve used the quasi — gypsy music of Strauss and his contemporaries. We start with Strauss’ Eljen A Magyar, then Brahms’ most popular Hungarian Dance. The marriage agreement is struck to the Czardas by Monti and completed to the Treasure Waltz from The Gypsy Baron. The familiarity of the themes will, I hope, put the action into an interesting perspective.

Carl Davis

© Photoplay Productions, 1998