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Blind Husbands (1919) 



Directed by 

Erich von Stroheim    

  

Writing credits

Lillian Ducey   titles 

Erich von Stroheim   screenplay 

Erich von Stroheim   story "The Pinnacle" 



An Austrian military officer and roue' attempts to seduce the wife of a surgeon.



Cast 

 Sam De Grasse ...  Dr. Armstrong 

 Francelia Billington ...  Margaret Armstrong 

 Erich von Stroheim ...  Lieutenant Erich von Steuben 

 Gibson Gowland ...  Silent Sepp (as T.H. Gibson Gowland) 

 Fay Holderness ...  The 'Vamp' Waitress 

 Ruby Kendrick ...  A Village Blossom 

 Valerie Germonprez ...  The Newlywed 

 Jack Perrin ...  The Newlywed 

 Richard Cummings ...  The Village Physician 

 Louis Fitzroy ...  The Village Priest 

 William De Vaull ...  Man from 'Home' 

 Jack Mathis ...  Man from 'Home' 

 Percy Challenger ...  Man from 'Home' 

 Tiny Sandford ...  (uncredited) 



Produced by 

Erich von Stroheim ....  producer  

  

Cinematography by 

Ben F. Reynolds    

  

Film Editing by 

Eleanor Fried    

Frank Lawrence    

Viola Mallory   (uncredited)  

Erich von Stroheim   (uncredited)  

Grant Whytock   (uncredited)  

  

Art Direction by 

Erich von Stroheim   (uncredited)  

  

Set Decoration by 

Richard Day    

  

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director 

Edward Sowders ....  assistant director (as Eddy Sowders) 

K.C. Stewart ....  assistant director  

  

Camera and Electrical Department 

William H. Daniels ....  camera operator (uncredited)  

  

Other crew 

Carl Laemmle ....  presenter  

  

Genre:Drama | Romance 



User Comments   (Comment on this title) 

15 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-

The remarkable debut of a cinematic icon, 23 May 2004

Author: wm from Westchester County, NY



Erich von Stroheim's first film as writer/director stands as one of his most satisfying works. Not so coincidentally, it
is the only film he directed that was left largely intact by the 'Front Office' executives of his studio, at least on
its initial release; surviving prints of BLIND HUSBANDS lack some material cut for a 1924 reissue. After this successful
debut Von Stroheim's productions became more elaborate, his off-camera behavior more outrageous, and his relationships
with the studio chiefs and money men behind the scenes more contentious, always resulting in the films being taken out
of his hands and re-edited by others. [Orson Welles' movie career would follow a sadly similar trajectory.] But the
trouble and notoriety came later. In 1919 Erich von Stroheim was still a semi-obscure character actor best known for
playing sadistic Huns in war movies, and this maiden effort as screenwriter, director and star took Hollywood by
surprise.



In comparison with Von Stroheim's later, more elaborate (and occasionally bizarre) works, BLIND HUSBANDS is simple and
straightforward. The story concerns an unhappy romantic triangle involving an upper class American couple, Dr. Robert
Armstrong and his wife Margaret, and a Lieutenant Eric von Steuben, whom they encounter while vacationing at a resort in
the Austrian Alps. The tension between the three is apparent from the beginning, as they share a carriage ride uphill to
the resort. The husband is inattentive to his wife; she is frustrated; and the lieutenant, having quickly analyzed the
situation (and Margaret's legs) begins a determined campaign to seduce her away from her seemingly indifferent husband.
This opening sequence gives us the essence of the plot in a matter of moments, primarily through visuals instead of
wordy intertitles.



We soon learn that Lieutenant von Steuben has other irons in the fire, so to speak: he is a 'serial seducer' with a
number of lady friends at the resort, including a blowsy middle-aged chambermaid and a young local girl who pathetically
takes his protestations of love at face value. Dr. Armstrong, on the other hand, treats his wife coldly, and the only
clue we're given as to why this is so comes when he cheerfully handles a villager's baby-- then shoots a significant
look of unhappiness at his wife, who is shopping and doesn't notice. Clearly, this man wants to have a child, and his
wife is either unwilling or unable to accommodate him. We have to assume that the former is the case, because as the
story develops we learn that although the doctor is something of a cold fish he is also a basically decent guy, and not
someone who would resent his wife for a medical condition beyond her control. Margaret appears to be considerably
younger than her husband, and presumably doesn't feel ready to settle down to child-rearing.



Whatever the reasons for the friction in the Armstrong marriage, the plot turns on Margaret's response to Lieutenant von
Steuben's brazen advances, and this is the crux of the film and what makes it worth watching today. Viewers unaccustomed
to silent drama might expect a great deal of arm-waving, eyebrow-waggling, plate hurling, and other histrionics
associated (with some justification) with the early days of cinema, but here is where BLIND HUSBANDS made its mark in
1919, and why it's still surprisingly watchable today: director Von Stroheim, a one-time assistant to D.W. Griffith,
inspired his actors to give intensely felt but remarkably restrained performances which for latter-day viewers might
suggest Ingmar Bergman's ensemble company, or, more specifically where this material is concerned, the triangle at the
center of Roman Polanski's A KNIFE IN THE WATER. Thanks especially to the understated work of Francellia Billington as
Margaret Armstrong, a great deal of information is conveyed with glances, shrugs, half-smiles, and frowns; no plate
smashing is necessary. It is plain to the viewer that Margaret is startled and somewhat flattered by the lieutenant's
audacity, at least at first, but also that she soon feels he has overstepped his bounds and is more upset than pleased
about the situation. Erich von Stroheim's own performance as [his alter ego?] Eric von Steuben is highly enjoyable and
set the standard for some of his later screen scoundrels, although the character is rather limited in scope in this
early incarnation. Also notable in a supporting role is Gibson Gowland, who would later embody the dentist MacTeague in
Von Stroheim's masterpiece GREED.



Unfortunately, the plotting of BLIND HUSBANDS turns corny at the climax, when the doctor confronts his rival
face-to-face on a mountain top (the screenplay's original title was "The Pinnacle"). There is some
melodramatic hokum over a letter Margaret wrote to Von Steuben, but after all that understatement a little melodrama is
forgivable --and, frankly, rather fun.



An earlier posting concerning this film suggests it's a comedy, which it's not, but there are nice comic touches
throughout. I first saw it at a museum screening a long time ago, and still remember the laughter when Von Steuben
approaches two different women at a party and uses the same pick-up lines, verbatim, on each of them. Now that's funny!
And this movie stands as one of Erich von Stroheim's strongest achievements in his all-too-brief, bizarre career as a
filmmaker. 



5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-

Von Stroheim's first and seminal directorial effort, 15 August 2001

Author: AA from Putney, VT



BLIND HUSBANDS was Von Stroheim's first directorial effort. It is separated from his third (FOOLISH WIVES)by the lost
DEVIL'S PASSKEY and seems a seminal work re themes he was to use later in FOOLISH WIVES and indeed which were to have an
influence on many of his films. Here he cuts the same figure he does in FOOLISH WIVES and THE WEDDING MARCH - the
Austrian military man with shaved head, high boots, monacle and high military cap. He has a dapper air with cigarette
and either riding strap or walking stick. He essentially always plays the same character in these films - the roue, out
to seduce a married woman with the goal of obtaining either sex (BLIND HUSBANDS) or money (FOOLISH WIVES). In one of his
two masterpieces, THE WEDDING MARCH, this character was to be softened by actually falling in love with an unobtainable
woman, while pursuing a marriage of title. In BLIND HUSBANDS he is also two-timing a jealous woman of the lower classes
(here an inn maid). Although this sub-plot does not advance here, it does in FOOLISH WIVES to the point of disaster.



Von Stroheim's films were certainly revolutionary for their time, in exposing the vice and duplicity in human nature
that other film makers were avoiding. BLIND HUSBANDS is rather crude in its acting, cinematography and editing - it was,
after all, Von Stroheim's first film and the medium was just teetering on the edge of its advancement as a true art form
(something which Von Stroheim was to take full advantage of in GREED and THE WEDDING MARCH.) Here then it is the story
that fascinates, not the production values.



Von Stroheim's character latches onto the neglected wife of an American surgeon, vacationing in Austria. He makes love
to her behind her husband's back but observed by the husband's mountain-climbing guide friend. Eventually the two men
are alone on a summit. Von Stroheim is the weaker men, having had to be helped considerably by the husband to reach the
peak. There the latter finds a letter in Von Stroheim's jacket pocket in his wife's handwriting. Before being able to
read it, Von Stroheim knocks it from his hand and it falls down the mountainside. Did the letter prove his wife's
unfaithfulness? Von Stroheim says yes and the husband leaves him to rot on the summit (We see shadows of vultures on the
rocks - obviously and badly originating in someone offscreen whirling a fake bird on a string). During the descent, the
husband finds the letter and reading it, learns of his wife's innocence. Why did Von Stroheim lie and should the husband
now return to save him or let him rot? I won't spoil the ending.



This is certainly a triangle with more thought involved in its writing and character development than is to be found in
most product of 1919.



The film is interesting and might be worth pairing with FOOLISH WIVES. It is no great achievement on its own, but does
gain significance when studying the developing writing and diectorial career of Herr Von Stroheim and is recommended
more for study than entertainment. 





2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful. 

Restraint, 16 July 2005 



Author: C 



The story is simple and unoriginal: a love triangle, plus man's determination to conquer nature. But, this early effort
by director Erich von Stroheim displays great restraint, especially for a filmmaker who would become notorious for
excess. His films, such as 'Greed' (1924) are better known for their production and post-production histories than for
their actual merits. He would shoot an excessive amount of footage for films of extraordinary length, which the
producers then butchered. That's not the case with 'Blind Husbands,' though; this one has a normal runtime.



It also features the familiar Stroheim touches on a smaller scale. The acting is rather subtile. Stroheim introduces his
typical role as a villainous Teutonic womanizer, with a scar, a monocle and a history of military service--"the man
you love to hate." Here, he's the other man. Furthermore, the mise-en-scène takes precedence over camera
movement or editing. The décor is detailed and occasionally allegorical to the melodrama. Attention to lighting
is also evident. 'Blind Husbands' is sensational and too contrived and ruminant at times, but, for the most part, the
simple story is harmonious with the restrained, yet detailed, film-making. 





1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-

Delightful alpine movie - review of the Austrian version, 30 May 2009



Author: ms from United Kingdom



This is a review of the Austrian version of the film, which is available on the R2 Edition Filmmuseum DVD. I believe it
is also available in the States on Kino DVD in the truncated American version that has a different sentiment.



Blind Husbands is a story about folks holidaying in the alps (Cortina specifically). The main characters are a famous
American surgeon, his wife Maguerite, and Leutnant von Steuben, a German military man (the filmmuseum English subtitles
are a bit misleading here because they translate the intertitles referring to him as an impostor, whereas I believe von
Stroheim's intention was to portray him as someone unfit to wear the uniform rather than literally not allowed to wear
it). Von Steuben is played by von Stroheim himself.



He's meant to be a philanderer of married women. He looks the part, excepting that he is actually very short, shorter in
fact than Maguerite. The world may have changed a lot in ninety years, but I doubt the women back then were too
different from women today who are generally unable to take the advances of men shorter than themselves seriously.



I'll give the world and the female race the benefit of the doubt for the movie's sake. Von Steuben is after a clinch
with Maguerite, but he's already had a squeeze with two of the hotel serving girls by the time he gets round to her.
He's got a soft target really, because the husband is much too self-involved to notice that his wife is feeling lonely
and in need of rekindling. Obviously where the title "Blind Husbands" arises from.



There's quite a lovely dinner scene outside the hotel in Cortina at night, there's all these paper lanterns in lines
interspersed with the permanent hotel lanterns, very pretty really. Maguerite excuses herself from the hubbub and goes
inside to play the piano. Whilst sat at the piano we see her head shot against a totally black background, quite an
unusual shot for a film of any era. It's at this point that she appears totally alone, not just lonely, but alone. Back
to the normal shot and Steuben has sidled in. He picks up a violin and starts to play a duet. What a powerful thing to
do to one in such a suggestive frame of mind! Part two of the plan is to buy her the marquetry box that hubby was too
busy to notice that she wanted. It's apparently two hundred years old, the design on the lid is all lozenges and grains,
really reminded me very much of a Matisse type pattern, we get a lovely close up of it.



As it happens there are another two shots against a dark background, one of a bell ringing in the bell tower (to mourn
the dead) and one of von Steuben pointing his grubby finger at Maguerite.



Most of the film basically concerns the von Steuben/Maguerite cat and mouse game. Can't blame him for chasing Maguerite
really, my favourite shot of her was her wearing these lovely antique sunglasses with wildflowers in the back of her
alpinist hat band. The movie is all shot really quite sympathetically, I'd almost call it realism, a surprising term for
a 1919 film! According to others the level of mise en scene is apparently not up to Foolish Wives or Greed standard, but
I'll go with it on an absolute basis.



If you see the movie as containing realism, then the ending is a bit of a cop-out, a sop to dramatic cliché.
However we'll let Erich off as it still kind of works. The movie turns into a bit of a bergfilm at the end, American
superman, surgeon, strong, weakling German braggart, this being totally exposed as they climb the mountain, having been
rather sotto voce before.



The only silly part of the film concerns the shadow of an eagle, which is blatantly produced by a crude silhouette
hanging on the end of a wire (unless eagles can fly backwards), yikes! Other than that though I thought the movie was
brilliant. 





Interesting Early Stroheim, 27 August 2006



Author: e from United Kingdom



A basic marital morality tale, enthused with Stroheim's lust for self-loathing. He plays an over-sexed, effete, lizard
of a Prussian Officer, named Von Steubens, who zealously seeks to dishonour the wife of an American doctor holidaying in
an Alpine retreat.



Interestingly, Stroheim is said to have virtually stalked Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal, in order to get his
story, The Pinnacle, made into what would become Blind Husbands. Not the least hint or sign, then, of the crazy,
obsessive auteur, a part that Stroheim would pioneer! As a director, Stroheim does have a wonderful visual eye (scenes
of men climbing mountains etc.). There are also some very inventive shots, such as when the wife is looking at her
practically impotent husband, the doctor, sleeping in bed, via a mirror, and then sees a young couple at the lodge in
place of him, completely in love, before going back to the snoring doctor.



Moreover, the English actor who would go on to play McTeague in Stroheim's much greater, later, work: Greed, here plays
a mountain guide. He is a symbol of the people of the mountains, strong, pious and devout, a complete opposite to Von
Steubens' decadent Officer, who uses his cultural refinement only to guarantee his baser purposes, wooing the local
peasant girls with poetry for instance, and wooing the doctor's wife with a violin.



But that's the problem with film. Although the characterisation isn't completely two-dimensional, the esteemed doctor,
for instance, shows envy and hatred. His wife also admits an ambivalent interest in Von Steubens unwholesome charm. But
Stroheim seems to idealise these mountain people from the get go, which is stupid romanticism. Anyone who has such
romanticism should read An Alpine Idyll, a short story by Hemingway.



Still, an interesting early Stroheim. 





Amazingly simple film, 29 July 2006



Author: ps from Bradenton, Florida



Wow--is this the SAME director that was known for his obsessive need to film and re-film and re-film ad nauseum? Is this
this the director who made GREED at over nine hours and insisted it not be cut any further? Is this the same director
whose work was severely limited because the studios grew tired of his inflexibility and excessive spending? None of this
appears to be the case when you watch this simple film, but all are amazingly true--just not evident in this film.
Somehow, von Stroheim was able to complete a film that is simple, a reasonable length and well worth seeing. In fact, he
also co-stars in this movie and does a fine job playing an adventurous cad.



The plot is pretty simple. A husband has a tendency to take his wife for granted while on vacation to the Dolemites (a
mountain range in Northern Italy). A soldier and adventurer, von Stroheim, sees this and slowly tries to seduce the
lonely wife. How all this works out as well as the beautifully filmed conclusion I'll leave to you to figure out on your
own. This is a morality play that for its day isn't too preachy and is sure to entertain. 





Strong Early Stroheim, 4 July 2006



Author: cb from United States



This is really a bookend with "Foolish Wives" for me. The later film was perhaps more melodramatic but they
both share the Euro-womanizer and gullible wife angle. In "Husbands," Stroheim casts himself unsympathetically
(and rather courageously, if you think about it) and seems to relish the villainy and cowardice of the role. The cast is
excellent with particular credit due the off-balance wife for her uncomfortable acceptance of the Leutenant's
attention.



Stroheim's strength as a director always pivoted on his ability to move a story forward, however, and that's the very
quality that makes this film work; one is always interested to follow along and see what happens.



It's a real shame that the world of cinema was denied the complete development of Stroheim's directorial skills as it
would have been fascinating to see how he developed full-formed in the sound era. 



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