FOOLISH WIVES, released on this day

Released on this day--11 Jan.--in 1921, Erich Von Stroheim's FOOLISH WIVES. Stroheim was one of the early geniuses of cinema but being a relentlessly-driven artist and perfectionist and having scant regard for the authority of the studio chiefs to whom he owed his living proved a volatile combo and eventually fatal to his career as a director.

FOOLISH WIVES, about a grifter who feigns being an aristocrat in order to seduce and extort money from wealthy women, was the first movie ever made to cost $1 million. Stroheim wrote, directed and starred in it, and his original cut was over 5 hours long and meant for it to be exhibited over the course of 2 evenings. Instead, Universal--concerned about the reception of the salacious material in the aftermath of the Fatty Arbuckle "scandal," invited a collection of censors to a pre-release screening to allow them to recommend cuts. Stroheim was, as one might expect, furious and, raging over it, was fired, at which point the studio edited the film down to a mere 117 minutes and released it. Even in this butchered form, it was a box-office success and cleared the path for Stroheim to make what would become his magnum opus GREED at MGM.