DramaThriller

Foolish Wives

A con artist masquerades as Russian nobility and attempts to seduce the wife of an American diplomat.

Release Date : 1922-01-11

Language :No Language

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Universal Film Manufacturing Company

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Count Wladislaw Sergius Karamzin

Original Name : Erich von Stroheim

Gender : Male

Character Name : Andrew J. Hughes

Original Name : Rudolph Christians

Gender : Male

Character Name : Helen Hughes

Original Name : Miss DuPont

Gender : Female

Character Name : Princess Olga Petchnikoff

Original Name : Maude George

Gender : Female

Character Name : Princess Vera Petchnikoff

Original Name : Mae Busch

Gender : Female

Character Name : Maruschka

Original Name : Dale Fuller

Gender : Female

Character Name : Cesare Ventucci

Original Name : Cesare Gravina

Gender : Male

Character Name : Marietta

Original Name : Malvina Polo

Gender : Female

Character Name : Pavel Pavlich

Original Name : Albert Edmondson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Crippled Girl (uncredited)

Original Name : Mary Philbin

Gender : Female

Character Name : Monk (uncredited)

Original Name : Nigel De Brulier

Gender : Male

Character Name : Albert I

Original Name : C.J. Allen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Andrew J. Hughes

Original Name : Robert Edeson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bit Role

Original Name : Agnes Emerson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mother Garoupe

Original Name : Louise Emmons

Gender : Female

Character Name : Armless Soldier

Original Name : Harrison Ford

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dr. Judd's Wife

Original Name : Mrs. Kent

Gender : Male

Character Name : Secretary of State of Monaco

Original Name : Edward Reinach

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dr. Judd

Original Name : Louis K. Webb

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-07-06

It's a soap. Despite all the associated history of cuts, recuts and restoration it is still just a beautifully photographed soap opera. Erich von Stroheim did just about everything in this entertaining, if a little too cyclical, tale of a cad. That cad "Count Sergius Karanzim" (EVS) parades around the Côte D'Azur luring unsuspecting (wealthy) women to his rented villa in which he, with his two "cousins" (Maude George & Mae Busch as the Princesses "Petchnikoff") fleeces them relentlessly. For quite a while his charm, wit and guile provides them with a good living until he aims a little too high with the wife of an American diplomat in Monte Carlo. "Mrs. Hughes" (Miss Dupont) and her husband (Rudolph Christians) may well be about to put a spoke in the wheel of these confidence tricksters. It's good fun, this, with Von Stroheim eminently convincing as the con man and DuPont equally effective as his ditzy mark. The production is maybe a bit static, but at 100 years old, it is still delivered in a fashion that shows off the Mediterranean scenery whilst aiming one squarely between the eyes of the vacuous, riche, clientele who assumed their excesses of funds were adequate compensation for their gullibility, stupidity and naivety. It sags from time to time, so I am not hugely shocked that this original 21 reeler was scaled back somewhat. What we have here, though, still have flows well enough with succinct inter titles that are, at times, quite witty too. I am not sure I would ever bother to watch it again, but I am glad that I did. You can see here the template for so many films that followed.