Blind Husbands (Silent)

Doctor Armstrong, America's most famous surgeon, heads to the Alps for some much needed rest and relaxation, accompanied by his bored wife Margaret. There they meet Lieutenant Erich von Steuben, an Austrian cavalry officer. The lascivious Steuben immediately notices the strained relations between Dr. Armstrong and his wife, and sets out to seduce Margaret. The lonely young woman finds herself fascinated by the aristocratic officer. The night before he and her husband are to scale "The Pinnacle", the most treacherous peak in the Alps, she leaves a note under the lieutenant's door. Once the men reach the top, Armstrong discovers his wife's note in Steuben's pocket. Thousands of miles above the ground, the two men clash over the fair Margaret .but only one will return home safely to claim her heart.

By 1919, the inimitable Erich von Stroheim (1885-1957) had made a name for himself playing Prussian villains in Hearts of the World (1918) and The Heart of Humanity (1918) He had also distinguished himself working as an assistant director to D.W. Griffith. So it was perhaps inevitable Stroheim would want to direct a film in which he himself would star. After hounding Universal mogul Carl Laemmle, Stroheim was granted a relatively meager budget -- the same amount the studio spent on Westerns -- to adapt his short story "The Pinnacle". Stroheim ended up spending ten times the original budget. Supposedly inspired by a duel Stroheim fought during his time in the Austrian Royal Palace guard, the theme of two men fighting a desperate battle over a woman would be repeated in the director's masterpiece Greed (1924). Scenes in the mountains were shot in Sudtirol, Italy, standing in for the Swiss Alps. Universal took over editing the film after they discovered Stroheim's dictatorial tendencies led to the death of a dog during production (to prevent this from happening in the future, he would lock himself in the editing room with a loaded gun.) They also changed the name of the picture to Blind Husbands. The film was both a massive critical and commercial success, grossing over a million dollars. "This picture is exceptional. It marks an epoch," said Variety, and they were right, as Stroheim became one of the most influential filmmakers of the silent era.

• silent