The Merry Widow (1925)

A showgirl (Mae Murray) touring Europe in a musical revue catches the eye of a prince (John Gilbert). They fall in love but on their wedding day, the prince gets cold feet and chooses his royal "duty" over his heart. Loosely based on the popular 1905 operetta by Franz Lehar and directed by Erich von Stroheim (GREED). Making a film version of an operetta during the silent film era may seem an oddity but von Stroheim whips up an elegant epic of love and betrayal, a bit overblown and too long (it runs over two hours) for such a light and frivolous piece. The music isn't missed. In the age of the Me Too movement, the aggressive courting of Murray's showgirl by the prince and his cousin (Roy D'Arcy) comes across as sexual harassment and not romantic. D'Arcy is terrible. His performance consists of a non stop leer and sneer. He may as well have "I'm evil" tattooed on his forehead. It's the kind of performance that gives silent movie acting a bad rap. Remade with sound and with the music returned in 1934 by Ernest Lubitsch. With Josephine Crowell and George Fawcett.