While Erich von Stroheim’s complete vision for his Gloria Swanson collaboration Queen Kelly was never realized, as the second half of production was scrapped due to a massively ballooning budget, one of the most significant restoration projects of recent years gives the late 1920s silent film new life. Using new research and recently discovered materials, Milestone Films “reimagined” the work in a new restoration, utilizing von Stroheim’s original script.
World premiering earlier this year as the Pre-Opening Night event of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival before screening in the 63rd New York Film Festival’s Revival section, Kino Lorber will now give the restoration a theatrical release beginning on January 16th at Film Forum. We’re pleased to exclusively debut the new trailer for this major restoration.
Here’s the synopsis: “Queen Kelly opens in the imaginary European country of Cobourg-Nassau, sometime before the first World War, where the vain and cruel Queen Regina V (Seena Owen) obsesses over her feckless fiancé (Walter Byron), Prince “Wild” Wolfram. When the dissolute prince encounters an innocent but flirtatious convent girl, Patricia Kelly (Gloria Swanson), he falls in love. Desperate to see her before his upcoming wedding to the Queen, he kidnaps Kelly and brings her to his rooms in the palace. When the Queen discovers the lovers, she whips the nightgowned girl and throws her out into the night. After an unsuccessful suicide attempt, Kelly returns to the convent, where she receives a telegram, summoning her to the bedside of her dying aunt (Florence Gibson) in Dar-es-Salaam, German East Africa. There, the innocent young girl is shocked to find herself in a seedy bordello. On her deathbed, Kelly’s aunt begs her niece to wed the syphilitic brothel owner, Jan (Tully Marshall). A Milestone / Kino Lorber release.”
The reconstruction is led by Dennis Doros and Amy Heller of Milestone Film & Video in Harrington Park, NJ. Nitrate materials and stills are courtesy of The George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York. 4K digital stabilization, timing, and cleanup by Metropolis Post, NYC. The colorist is Jason Crump and digital restoration artist is Ian Bostick, with the process supervised by Milestone Films.
See our exclusive trailer premiere below, along with the official poster.
