Behind the Screen: Stories of Cinema - The Man You Loved to Hate

• 1979
• 1 hr 30 mins

• Watchlist

Frequently depicted as wearing riding trousers, complete with a pith helmet, an ascot, a monacle and a riding crop, Hollywood silent movie director Erich von Stroheim (1885-1957) was caricatured, ridiculed and hated. His real name was Erich Oswald Stroheim, and he was the son of a Jewish hat manufacturer who lived and did business in Vienna. Nonetheless, he styled himself as a former career officer in the Prussian cavalry, and adopted the name Erich Hans Carl Maria Stroheim von Nordenwall to bolster his imaginary identity. This documentary unveils the filmmaker, artist and man behind the myths, includes interviews with key figures in his career, and features clips from some 30 of the films he either directed or starred in, including the disastrous production, Greed. Due of his insistence on quality and authenticity, among other things, he had difficulty with the studio bosses of his day, and last directed in 1932. From 1928 onward, he earned his living primarily as an actor.