Amazon.com: Merry-Go-Round: Norman Kerry, Mary Philbin, Dale Fuller, Maude George, Cesare Gravina, George Hackathorne, George Siegmann, Lillian Sylvester, Anton Vaverka, Dorothy Wallace, Edith Yorke, Albert Conti, Helen Broneau, Rolfe Sedan, Jane Sherman, Al Edmundsen, Sidney Bracey, Spottiswoode Aitken, Fenwick Oliver, Gene Roth, Erich von Stroheim, Rupert Julian: Movies & TV

Merry-Go-Round (1923)

Starring: Norman Kerry, Mary Philbin Director: Erich von Stroheim, Rupert Julian Rating

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Actors: Norman Kerry, Mary Philbin, Dale Fuller, Maude George, Cesare Gravina
Directors: Erich von Stroheim, Rupert Julian
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Silent, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating:
Studio: Image Entertainment
DVD Release Date: April 8, 2003
Run Time: 114 minutes

Average Customer Review:

(6 customer reviews)

ASIN: B00008H2GZ
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,686 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Amazon.com
Erich von Stroheim's credit doesn't appear on Merry-Go-Round, though he wrote the story--about a caddish Count (Norman Kerry) in Old Vienna falling in love with a virginal commoner (Mary Philbin)--and began directing the film. "Von"'s obsessive, budget-busting methods had already tried producer Irving Thalberg's patience, and after a few weeks' shooting, Stroheim became the first director in history to be fired from a picture. Some of his footage survives, including an eerie suicide leap from a bridge and the Count's introduction in his absurdly grandiose bedchamber, but Rupert Julian, the undistinguished replacement director, shot the majority of the film. It shows. Stroheim's attempts to place his story within a textured portrait of Austrian society were scrapped, as was a final, deus ex machina suicide. Still, certain grotesque details and perverse twists could only have come from Stroheim's script--e.g., the devoted friendship of a hunchback and an orangutan. --Richard T. Jameson

Product Description
In Vienna circa World War I, decadent Count Franz Maximillian von Hohenegg (Norman Kerry), posing as a necktie salesman, falls in love with innocent Agnes (Mary Philbin), an organ grinder in the city's pleasure zone. An edgy assortment of characters including Franz's cigar-puffing mother, a sadistic brute and rapist, a sensitive hunchback and his trained gorilla, and royalty and circus freaks populate this lavishly-produced and fascinating cinematic classic. Though his name appears nowhere on the final product, legendary director Eric von Stroheim (Greed) penned the story and script, oversaw the sets and costumes, selected the cast, and directed at least one-quarter of the film before being fired by production head Irving Thalberg and replaced by director Rupert Julian (The Phantom of the Opera).