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Queen Kelly

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:10 am
by MichaelPW
Red was also the cetchup on the white shirt. And (I think) Sue sees something inside. It`s similar to a scene Norma Desmond watches in Sunset Boulevard. This scene is from a movie called "Queen Kelly" which wasn`t finished as far as I know (as 4 7). And we have a crucial scene here :-). While the husband of Sue doesn`t know where the paper is (although it is behind him), he exactly knows where the paper is in the toilet.

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:19 pm
by applesnoranges
Also, we are told that the two leads in 4-7 were killed. "Queen Kelly", so I read, killed the careers of both Gloria Swanson and Erik von Stroheim. Some say it is because they argued too long over it, others say that this silent film was buried when talking pictures appeared about the same time, some say it's a combination of both. As the producer in IE told Devon, "We really just don't know why this film was never finished."

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:19 am
by MichaelPW
Some also say that there was a problem with the use of real prostitutes in the movie Queen Kelly. And other say that there were too much costs. Maybe the wicked dream is being a prostitute. And getting the information that hurting the phantom is hurting oneself is getting out of this wicked dream.

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:19 pm
by Lumberton
Queen Kelly is available on DVD, unfortunately it only contains one of the two endings the film had.

Extras in the film were indeed played by real prostitutes.

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:34 am
by MichaelPW
Don`t know whether Queen Kelly is available in Germany. Will try to check this out, but one can`t get it from amazon here. I read that approximate five hours were planned for this movie. Realized were about 70 minutes. A part of this movie was apparently shot on another continent - Africa.

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 3:11 pm
by MichaelPW
Saw this treasure of 1929 now. Gloria Swanson seems to had beautiful long long long hair. It seems that the european-part was shot in German-speaking-areas as there are shields like "Badezimmer", "Schlafsaal 1" and "Abort" in a convent and a fire alarm installation with "Feueralarm - man zerschlage die Scheibe und ziehe den Hebel". The movie is about marriage. Queen Regina V wants to marry Prince Wolfram, but Prince Wolfram loves Kelly. Kelly loves Prince Wolfram but shall marry a cripple in the africa-part what she doesn`t want. Two attempted suicide-scenes by Kelly were planned for the movie and one was realized. There is the luxurious environment in which Queen Regina lives in and the minimalistic environment of the convent in which Kelly lives in. So first there`s a prince on the side of Kelly and later there is a cripple. I didn`t see the saying which is in SB and in IE - but there are three hours of bonus material which I haven`t watched yet. Audio commentary says that it was not planned for SB to take a scene from QK - the script only said something like "an old scene from one of the Gloria Swanson movies".

It seems that Erich von Stroheim was very much interested into details. He paid a lot of attention to details that wouldn`t be seen on the screen. All had to be real - champaign, for example - so that this would have an effect on the acting of the actors. He used different level for different watchers. For example he showed different aphrodisiacs assuming that this wouldn`t see some people.

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:09 am
by applesnoranges
I've seen stills with the titles from the QK film on line but someone from the inlandempirecinema.com forum ("Lynched"), who knows QK very well, also could not find them. Maybe in the bonus material. Lynch must admire Stroheim's attention to detail. In the IE bonus material he is shown making the screwdriver. People wonder why but I imagine he just knew how he wanted it to look so he made his own. Also scenes of him painting Smithie's house and making other things.

I must get busy and order this!

Also, the newest release of SB is a good one with deleted scenes very well organized so we can see where they were, etc.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:47 pm
by MichaelPW
applesnoranges wrote:Maybe in the bonus material.
No, I have watched it now. It`s nice to see different explanations why it wasn`t finished from Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim. There are also documents of the making of that movie. The director seems to was someone who filmed sequences a lot of more times than other directors would do in that time. Also there is a great Orient Express episode with Erich von Stroheim as an actor.

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 2:13 am
by applesnoranges
I think the titles with those lines were only in SB. Does that seem true?

So now do you see any story lines from IE coming from QK?

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:05 am
by MichaelPW
applesnoranges wrote:I think the titles with those lines were only in SB. Does that seem true?
Maybe there is more material which isn`t easy available nowadays. And maybe Billy Wilder had access to that as he and Erich von Stroheim were friends.
So now do you see any story lines from IE coming from QK?
It depends on where Nikki really lives. Kelly really lives in a convent (=not luxurious). Can you say me where Nikki lives? Does she live in the luxurious house or does she live under circumstances in which she has to save money? Queen Kelly is Queen Kelly for one night. The Nikki who lives in the luxurious house seems to be satisfied. The Nikki who has to save money seems not to be satisfied (btw - She seems to be sure that the one who isn`t pleased with his beer is the father.) Nikki and Kelly wind up in places they don`t want to. When we regard the attempted murder on Nikki by "Doris" as attempted suicid we have suicide attempts in Queen Kelly and in Inland Empire.

Erich von Stroheim - as David Lynch - compares animals and humans. There is a great short fight scene between cat and dog after there was a "fight" between the prince and the queen.

I can recommend Queen Kelly to you, if you don`t expect "catching-intensitiy" like we have in IE there and have an understanding for the possibilities they had in those times.

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:12 pm
by applesnoranges
MichaelPW wrote:Maybe there is more material which isn`t easy available nowadays. And maybe Billy Wilder had access to that as he and Erich von Stroheim were friends.
Is the scene itself in QK without the titles? It would be great to learn that the titles were cut from QK but Stroheim let Wilder use them for SB.
It depends on where Nikki really lives. Kelly really lives in a convent (=not luxurious). Can you say me where Nikki lives?
No. Her palace is in fairyland. Coffee appears just brewed as if by magic any time she orders it. She has a butler and a headwaiter and other servants. Maybe she also has a coachman, a footman, a groom for her horse, etc. etc. etc. I think Nikki lives in the womb.

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:44 pm
by MichaelPW
applesnoranges wrote:Is the scene itself in QK without the titles?
I can`t tell you that exactly, because I remember it in an abstract form: Gloria Swanson is praying and there are candles in the foreground. So what I can tell you is that there is Gloria Swanson praying with candles in the foreground in SB and in QK. But I can`t tell you if exactly the scene we see in SB is a scene we see in QK.
It would be great to learn that the titles were cut from QK but Stroheim let Wilder use them for SB.
So the question is who the one is who invented the titles.
Her palace is in fairyland.
Do you mean the palace would be like the house in which "Nikki" and Visitor 1 are speaking in?
Coffee appears just brewed as if by magic any time she orders it. She has a butler and a headwaiter and other servants. Maybe she also has a coachman, a footman, a groom for her horse, etc. etc. etc. I think Nikki lives in the womb.
Nice idea - I know you mentioned this before, but now I really see the possibilty. Yes, a sweet womb-life. But on the other side there are people who live just like that I assume.

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:32 pm
by applesnoranges
MichaelPW wrote:Do you mean the palace would be like the house in which "Nikki" and Visitor 1 are speaking in?
I only meant to describe that house of infinite size she lives in; I don't know how it relates to the "palace" mentioned by Visitor #1.
Coffee appears just brewed as if by magic any time she orders it. She has a butler and a headwaiter and other servants. Maybe she also has a coachman, a footman, a groom for her horse, etc. etc. etc. I think Nikki lives in the womb.

Nice idea - I know you mentioned this before, but now I really see the possibilty. Yes, a sweet womb-life. But on the other side there are people who live just like that I assume.
As I mentioned, the womb idea is just a speculation on my part. But this scene cannot represent any kind of reality of anyone from our own world. No matter how wealthy someone is, nobody can make real coffee that fast. A world where coffee is always ready immediately must be David Lynch's idea of heaven. The "new neighbors" she is going around meeting may be newly departed souls.

Also a deliberate point is made of not mentioning the names of either of the women. So if she is not yet born, she doesn't have a name. The Butler only calls her "Madam", but the instant she appears in the story V1 is telling her, the first word out we hear is Kingsley saying, "Nikki".

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:05 am
by MichaelPW
applesnoranges wrote:But this scene cannot represent any kind of reality of anyone from our own world. No matter how wealthy someone is, nobody can make real coffee that fast.


:lol:

It can be just a coincidence. Maybe the coffee was made right on this time, because it is coffee-time. The rabbits could have thought in the "rabbit-office": "When will be the fitting time to go there?" And the answer could have been: "When the coffe is ready."

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:16 am
by applesnoranges
"There's no such thing as a bad coincidence." (LH)

I'll get back on the rest later, but for now, have you seen this?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0460829/board/thread/100142766