Let’s watch the newly restored “QUEEN KELLY” (1929) by E. Von Stroheim + dinner
Details
THIS IS AN EVENT NOT TO BE MISSED. Erich Von Stroheim is a legendary master of world cinema. His Queen Kelly (1929), the story of a convent girl who is seduced by a spoken-for prince, became a fiasco when his exacting methods and excesses led to its star, Gloria Swanson, bolting and her producing partner, Joseph P. Kennedy, halting the production. A bastardized version was released abroad, leading to decades of wondering what might have been.
Queen Kelly now returns in what Milestone Films calls “an improved reimagining” that draws on nitrate prints, outtakes, stills and more (after a previous reconstruction in 1985). The shimmering, sensitively scored restoration brings out the production’s opulence and hence the regal stage von Stroheim sets for his characters’ attractions and abjection. The palace of the film’s “mad queen” (Seena Owen, introduced imperiously wearing a cat) dazzles with its chandeliers, checkerboard floors and arrayed guardsmen. Swanson glows in close-ups as Patricia Kelly, the innocent who catches the eye of Prince Wolfram and the ire of said queen, his fiancée.
IT’S A SILENT FILM (105 mins). Features new orchestral score by Eli Denson.
**THE GORGEOUS TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rIOemOVl5Q**
**YOU CAN BUY YOUR TICKET HERE: https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/queen-kelly**
**THIS RESTORED VERSION WAS FIRST SHOWN AT LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA 2025. https://queenkelly.net/**
We’ll meet in the lounge at 5.50pm. I’ll be sitting at one of the tables along the wall.
Looking forward to seeing this film with you. AFTER THE SHOW, WE’LL GO FOR DINNER AND DISCUSSION.