In the imaginary European country of Cobourg-Nassau, sometime before World War I, the cruel Queen Regina V becomes obsessed over her reckless fiancé, Prince Wolfram. When he encounters an innocent but flirtatious convent girl, Patricia Kelly, he falls in love. Desperate to see her before his wedding, he brings Kelly to the palace. When the queen discovers them, she whips the girl and throws her out. Summoned to the bedside of her aunt, Kelly is shocked to find herself in a brothel. On her deathbed, Kelly’s aunt begs her niece to wed the syphilitic brothel owner, Jan.
Reconstruction: Dennis Doros and Amy Heller, Milestone Film & Video.
Nitrate Materials and Stills Courtesy of The George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York. 4K Digital Stabilization, Timing and Cleanup by Metropolis Post, NYC. Colorist: Jason Crump. Digital. Restoration Artist: Ian Bostick. Supervised by Milestone Films.
Original music composed by Eli Denson. Commissioned by Indiana University Cinema through the Jon Vickers Scoring Award.
Reconstruction Partners at the George Eastman Museum: Peter Bagrov, Anthony L’Abbate, Chris Crouse, Nancy Kauffman, Deborah Stoiber. Reconstruction Advisors: Richard Koszarski, Steve Wilson, Scott Eyman, Bret Wood.
Queen Kelly
1929
105 min
Fiction
USA
USA, international film festivals, restored films
P&B
Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim
Gordon Pollock, Paul Ivano
Viola Lawrence
Gloria Swanson, Seena Owen, Walter Byron, Wilhelm vonBrincken, Madge Hunt, Wilson Benge, Sidney Bracey
Gloria Productions for United Artists
Adolph Tandler (1931), Eli Denson (2025)
Milestone Film
49