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1929 | Not Rated | 105 minutes | Digital | English Intertitles | Click Title for Details
It should have been a dream collaboration: a glamorous world-famous movie star (Gloria Swanson) and her financier lover (Joseph P. Kennedy) hire a celebrated director (Erich von Stroheim) to make a groundbreaking masterpiece. Instead, Queen Kelly was canceled mid-production and became the most infamous unfinished film in cinema history. Von Stroheim’s baroque and obsessive drama opens in a European country ruled by a mad Queen (Seena Owen) obsessed with her feckless fiancé, “Wild” Prince Wolfram (Walter Byron). The dissolute prince falls for an innocent but flirtatious convent girl, Patricia Kelly (Swanson), kidnaps her, and brings her to his rooms. When the Queen discovers the lovers, she horsewhips the girl. Returning to the convent, Kelly receives a telegram, summoning her to German East Africa, where her dying aunt begs the girl to wed the syphilitic owner, Jan (Tully Marshall) of the seedy brothel. Basing his reconstruction on von Stroheim’s original scripts, Dennis Doros has employed multiple techniques to recreate the film’s lurid dénouement.
We are proud to screen some timeless and historic masterpieces. These wonderful screen gems are enhanced by live piano accompaniment from Cleveland native David Drazin, an accomplished virtuoso with a talent for playing off the cuff. David selects the perfect piece from his impressive mental repertoire to heighten the viewing experience for our audience. In addition to knowing just the right thing to play for any silent film imaginable, David is also an expert in jazz, classical, blues, and boogie-woogie.
