Review of Queen Kelly (1929) by Jason D — 09 Apr 2010

Deliciously kinky and debauched romance of S&M proportions, set in a vaguely European but also very American, dictatorial Principality (think Lick-My-Stein, more than Liechtenstein) that sees Convent Girl Gloria Swanson go to the bad when her knickers fall down in front of horny Prince Walter Byron while he is out on maneuvres.

He makes the moves on her later that night, then the mad Queen who is his keeper chases her out of the Palace with a whip and...just when it got interesting, Swanson (who was also producing with then lover Joe Kennedy, the President's Dad) fired director Erich von Stroheim as she felt the rest of script (it saw her bunking off to Africa to run her Aunt's brothel) was too saucy for the critics.

A definite must watcch to piece together the clips left all over the world (even in Swanson's comeback, Sunset Boulevard, 20 years later) and see a master of naughty social commentary in fine form.

It looks beautiful, it feels cruel, it would have been von's world cinema masterpiece but instead remains a tantalisingly naughty, vapour-inducing stump of masochistic silliness.