Blind Husbands (1919) :
Brief Review -
Erich von Stroheim's extremist tale of masculine mistakes before he showed feminine faults in Foolish Wives (1922). Erich von Stroheim was an extremist when it came to films that showed feminine and masculine stuff from the perspective of married couples. Of course, that extramarital relationship thing drew a thin line between the acidic forms of female and male. When I saw Foolish Wives, I was stunned by his vision. I just couldn't believe that he made such an erotic film in 1922. Today, when I am just done watching Blind Husbands, I'm even more impressed. And believe me, it hasn't got anything to do with my male ego. At first I thought that this would hurt my male ego or satisfy that feminine anger, but I had no further thoughts of hating anything while watching it. I also realised that this film has given birth to the idea of an ignored wife - with different theories and conclusions, of course. Like, I remember David Lean's "Brief Encounter" (1945), Satyajit Ray's "Charulata" (1964) and "Ghare Baire" (1989), which all had the same idea of an ignored wife falling for the third man. And in the beginning credits, this film makes an extreme speech by saying, "People always blame the third man, but what about the husband?" That's so true. We never really thought that way. With that topic, Blind Husbands has that power to spark a debate even after 103 years, today in 2022. Stroheim excels as an actor and also as a director. Sam De Grasse and Francelia Billington looked great together even though they didn't have many scenes together. The intertitles and screenplay keep you intrigued, and the cinematography is decent. A bit too simple a film, but for 1919, I guess it was too much, especially when you learn the fact that many marriages were actually broken by 'the third man', just like this film says. Overall, a great effort for contemporary filmmaking, if not a great fllm.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.
