Name: Queen Kelly (1929) Director: Erich von Stroheim Studio: Gloria Swanson Productions / Joseph P. Kennedy Presents (distributed by United Artists) Starring: Gloria Swanson, Walter Byron, Seena Owen, Tully Marshall, and Sidney Bracey Release Date: December 1929 (Germany); never officially released theatrically in the U.S. in full form Runtime: 101 minutes (surviving versions vary) Format: Silent with synchronized music and effects (early sound sequences in some versions) Country: United States Language: Silent (English intertitles) Genres: | Drama | Romance | Historical | --- Summary: Queen Kelly tells the tragic tale of Kitty Kelly, a convent girl whose beauty captures the attention of Prince Wolfram, the dissolute fiancé of the mad Queen Regina V. Torn from innocence and thrust into a world of decadence and cruelty, Kitty’s life spirals into scandal and exile. From the opulent European court to a grim African outpost, her story unfolds as one of passion, downfall, and shattered dreams. --- Background: Queen Kelly was an ambitious and notoriously troubled production directed by Erich von Stroheim and produced by and starring Gloria Swanson. Filmed in 1928–1929, the project was meant to be Swanson’s grandest vehicle yet. However, von Stroheim’s perfectionism, obsession with dark sexual themes, and excessive costs led to his firing midway through production. The film was left incomplete in the U.S., though a shorter, altered version was later released in Europe with a newly filmed ending by another director. Despite its chaotic production, Queen Kelly became legendary among cinephiles for its lavish sets, daring subject matter, and its place in Hollywood lore. --- Trivia: * Director Erich von Stroheim was dismissed from the film after conflicts with Gloria Swanson and producer Joseph P. Kennedy (Swanson’s business partner and lover at the time). * Only parts of the film were ever completed as originally envisioned; von Stroheim’s full version was never finished. * Footage from Queen Kelly appears in Billy Wilder’s *Sunset Boulevard* (1950), representing Swanson’s character Norma Desmond’s old movie career. * The film’s extravagant European sequences were shot at the United Artists studio and on elaborate sets costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. * The “African” ending was filmed after von Stroheim’s dismissal and is considered tonally inconsistent with the earlier footage. --- Hashtags: #QueenKelly1929 #GloriaSwanson #ErichVonStroheim #SilentFilm #PreCodeHollywood #UnitedArtists #FilmHistory #LostCinema #OldHollywood #SunsetBoulevard