Diretores / 49ª mostra

Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1885. One of cinema’s most controversial figures — celebrated for his audacity, perfectionism, and excesses. Born Erich Oswald Stroheim in Vienna, he immigrated to the United States around 1909. His debut as director, “Blind Husbands” (1919), was a commercial and critical success.
His most ambitious project, “Greed” (1924), originally ran over nine hours before MGM drastically cut it to just over two. The mutilated final release was a commercial failure, but remains as a classic in film history. The restoration of “Greed” was shown at the 25th Mostra. His next films, including “The Merry Widow” (1925) and “The Wedding March” (1928). His unfinished project “Queen Kelly” (1929), starring Gloria Swanson and produced by Joseph P. Kennedy was halted mid-production due to clashes over content and vision, effectively ending his Hollywood directing career. A 1985 reconstruction of the film won
the critics’ prize at the 9th Mostra. In the 1930s and 1940s, von Stroheim reinvented himself as a character actor in America and Europe. He was in Jean Renoir’s “Grand Illusion” (1937) and in Billy Wilder’s “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), his most memorable role, that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Erich von Stroheim died in 1957 in France.