Scott Lord on Silent Film

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Scott Lord Silent Film: The Wedding March (Eric Von Stroheim, 1928)





Author William K. Everson, in his volume Amwrican Silent Film writes, "Stroheim's understanding of film technique was so thorough that 'The Wedding March' (eleven reels, 1927) is structured around the editing process. Everson notes that when the two romantic characters meet they never appear in the same frame together, their habing been editied as apart from each other. It was Everson's impression that "while Griffith would use film technique (rather than plotting or acting) to tell his stories, often calling attention to that technique in the process, Stroheim put all the emphasis on the story itself and on players (for the most part actors rather than stars) to hide his technique.." Vn Stroheim appears in the film with acresses Fay Wray and Zazu Pitts.

Motion Picture Magazine, in a page on camera angles from 1927, pointed out Von Stroheim's use of a shot filmed conversely to the top shot, a "worm's impression" which phtographed the soles of the soldier's shoes by being filmed from underneath them in a glass topped pit.

The periodical Close Up claimed that at the time of publication that Von Stroheim had completed the filming of "The Wedding March" but but was still cutting the film, which inits original form was a monolithic fifty reels in length.Silent Film

Eric Von Stroheim

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