Erich von Stroheim's Signed Contract for his First Film as a Director, Blind Husbands....

Description

Erich von Stroheim's Signed Contract for his First Film as a Director, Blind Husbands. Film contract between Universal Pictures and Erich von Stroheim, agreeing to purchase of his story, The Pinnacle, signed by von Stroheim in black fountain ink and dated April 14, 1919; also signed and sealed by a notary. In the same year, von Stroheim would go on to film the story as Blind Husbands, his first of four efforts as a writer/director for the studio. In addition to writing the original story and recreating Austria on back lot Universal, von Stroheim also starred in Blind Husbands as Lt. Erich von Steuben, a lascivious roué seducing the wife of an American doctor (who vengefully leaves him to rot on a mountaintop). Recently restored and released to DVD by Kino, the 90-year old film appears a bit crude and rather restrained for von Stroheim -- but it's a major harbinger of the "Man You Love to Hate" persona he developed so masterfully in Foolish Wives (1922) and The Wedding March (1928), and the excesses he'd notoriously enjoy with first MGM film, Greed (1924). Near Fine with a couple small tears and lightly torn hole punches at the top edge. An extremely important cinematic document, signaling the entrance of a legendary writer/director into Hollywood, one whose work would have a profound influence on the many cinematic auteurs that would follow.

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