Stroheim was the older, more experienced and perhaps greater director of the two, while Mann was still learning. There were clashes between them during the shooting, and Mann was wise enough to duck: it's definitely von Stroheim's film, as he succeeds in realizing his perhaps most poignant and shattering film character. He is a total perfectionist doing his job perfectly, when a false woman starts using him for her purposes. He is deluded, but as the perfectionist he is he refuses to realize he has committed a mistake and insists on believing in her the whole way, until everything is lost.
At the same time it is almost autobiographical. He was himself on top in the 20s as one of Hollywood's greatest directors, and then had a long and great fall, just like Orson Welles. He was never allowed to direct again after the total failure of "Queen Kelly" with Gloria Swanson, left unfinished, and all he could do any more was some acting. This is one of the three films in which he still succeeds in taking over the whole film, the other two being Renoir's "La grande illusion" (1937) and "Sunset Boulevard", putting Gloria Swanson back on the screen with a vengeance.
The story of the perfect shot is Vicki Baum's, and the story as unfolded by Anthony Mann is shattering and in a way a parallel to Josef von Sternberg's "The Blue Angel", describing the same kind of long great fall from established greatness to pitiable misery by delusive love. Although short and almost condensed (only 75 minutes), it's a great film deserving only the highest possible applause. Just the introductory scene, as the camera slowly approaches the acting on the stage closing up on a ridiculous clown, when the long shot suddenly is shattered by an unexpected event, is even up to Hichcock's standard.
At the same time it is almost autobiographical. He was himself on top in the 20s as one of Hollywood's greatest directors, and then had a long and great fall, just like Orson Welles. He was never allowed to direct again after the total failure of "Queen Kelly" with Gloria Swanson, left unfinished, and all he could do any more was some acting. This is one of the three films in which he still succeeds in taking over the whole film, the other two being Renoir's "La grande illusion" (1937) and "Sunset Boulevard", putting Gloria Swanson back on the screen with a vengeance.
The story of the perfect shot is Vicki Baum's, and the story as unfolded by Anthony Mann is shattering and in a way a parallel to Josef von Sternberg's "The Blue Angel", describing the same kind of long great fall from established greatness to pitiable misery by delusive love. Although short and almost condensed (only 75 minutes), it's a great film deserving only the highest possible applause. Just the introductory scene, as the camera slowly approaches the acting on the stage closing up on a ridiculous clown, when the long shot suddenly is shattered by an unexpected event, is even up to Hichcock's standard.