I saw a print at the Brussels Cinemateque years
ago. I know that the MOMA in NY owns one as well.
As you probably know, Thalberg took Von
Stroheim (and Wallace Beery) off the project, replacing them with
Rupert Julian and George Siegmann (of not very happy memory as
the brutish mulatto in "Birth of a Nation"). The
project remains very clearly a Stroheim work. The two stars, Mary
Philbin and Norman Kerry, appear 2 years later in the same
director's "Phantom of the Opera", in which I would say
that pretty much stink. What is wooden in the later film is very
much "control" and "understatement" in the
"Merry-Go-Round". Among great silent film performances,
I think Philbin's performance surpasses Gish's in "The
Wind". (It's not incandescent like Louise Brooks, but she's
a force of nature, so it's probably not fair to compare her to
other actresses.) Philbin was apparently distraught that Mr. Von
was taken away from her.
I've only seen the movie once, so I can't be
thoroughly trusted. I have found no one (other than the Brussels
audience who gave it a standing ovation) who feels anywhere as
strongly as I do. See it if you possibly can. It has amazing
juxtapositions of observation of human character (the hunchback
gnoshing on a pickle) and wild expressionism. The orangutan as
nemesis is one of the great scenes in movie history.
I've not seen "Queen Kelly", but
M-G-R my favorite Stroheim so far.
