Queen Kelly (1932)

 Erich von Stroheim's "Queen Kelly"

In Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard," the butler, played by Erich von Stroheim, tells the protagonist that he used to be the director for Norma Desmond, played by Gloria Swanson. This is true of the real-life events of film history. Erich von Stroheim directed Gloria Swanson in "Queen Kelly" in the final years of silent films. However, the end result was not a success. It did not even get a proper release. 

Swanson plays Kelly, a convent girl who gets kidnapped by Prince Wolfram who is to marry Queen Regina V. The two spend a romantic night together until the queen finds them. She threatens to send Wolfram to prison and vows to kill Kelly.

If this sounds like only a fragment of a film, that is because it is. Swanson was unhappy with the direction the film was going and wanted Stroheim off the picture. She had a lot of leeway because the film's producer, Joseph P. Kennedy, was her husband. The original ending of the film involved Kelly escaping to Africa and marrying a repulsive man named Juan. After refusing to live with him, she becomes a prostitute in a brothel. Swanson did not like this ending and because of it, Stroheim was fired from the production. In 1929, production was halted. An alternate ending was shot, however, in 1931. The alternate ending sees Kelly throw herself into a river over her humiliation. Wolfram goes to her death bed and mourns her. After this ending was filmed and put into the picture, it was released in 1932. By that year, however, silent films had become obsolete. Talking pictures dominated cinema. The film did not succeed financially because of this, as well as only being distributed in Europe and South America, as it was in Stroheim's contract that the film could not be released in the United States without his consent. He allowed the film to be released in the US, however, 18 years later. The massive success of "Sunset Boulevard" enticed Stroheim to distribute the film once again. 

The film has become a forgotten relic of history, released at a time when no one wanted it. It is full of sexual overtones and contains a lackluster story. However, its connection to "Sunset Boulevard" has allowed the film a new viewpoint. It now represents a bygone industry, with a bygone silent film star and a bygone silent film director.