Carl Laemmle
offers
Blind
Husbands
Copyrighted by Universal Pictures Corporation
From the book
The Pinnacle
by Erich Stroheim
Adaptation and scenario by
the author
Directed by
Erich Stroheim
Edited by
Frank Lawrence
and
Eleanor Fried
Photographed by Ben F. Renolds
Titles by Lilian Ducey
Dedicated to
Sepp Innerkofler, world-famous mountain guide—who risked his life again and again to save others, finally sacrificing it on the Monte Cristallo. Let us remember him through years for his pure and mighty heart.
Cast
| The Husband | Sam DeGrasse | |
| The Wife | Francellia Billington | |
| The Other Man | Erich von Stroheim | |
| The Mountain Guide | T. H. Gibson-Gowland | |
| The "Vamp" Waitress | Fay Holderness | |
| A Village Blossom | Ruby Kendrick | |
| Honeymooners | Valerie Germonprez Jack Perrin | |
| The Village Physician | Richard Cummings | |
| The Village Priest | Louis Fitzroy | |
| Three Men from "Home" | William Duvalle Jack Mathes Percy Challenger | |
One of the most frequent reasons for divorce is "alienation of affection"...And the reason within the reason is the fact that "the other man" steps in with his sincere (or insincere) attentions just when the husband in his self-complacency forgets the wooing wiles of his prenuptial days...Guilty! says the world condemning "the other man"...But what of the husband?
Beneath the blue sky...as old...as the world itself...the Monte Cristallo....
...and set like a gem...almost choked by the nearness of the Alpine magnitude lies the little village of Cortina...
Note: Cortina D'Ampezzo, on the Austro-Italian Frontier—the Mecca of American tourists.
...the Seventh Day...
...and a people...simple and faithful...
The wine room of the Hotel Croce Bianca.
A son of the eternal mountains...strong and mute...as they...Silent Sepp...
Hotel Croce Bianca
Reserve room. If possible, the one we had before. Arrive tomorrow.
Dr. Armstrong
"To the end of my days—I remain your friend—"
Into the solitude of the immortal mountains——where man is little and God is great——comes Doctor Robert Armstrong, America's famous surgeon, seeking rest and relaxation.
Margaret, his wife....
Lieutenant Von Steuben, an Austrian cavalry officer, with a keen appreciation of three things: Wine, Women, Song.
"Robert—what time is it?"
Österr. Post
The next morning...
"Oh Robert—I forgot my sweater!"
"Yes,—I saw it—lying on the bed—"
10
"Did you find it?"
That night was the Festival of the Transfiguration....
Three men from home!
Honeymooners.
Lover's Lane.
"—this wonderful night is ours——yours and mine!"
"Even the good old moon seems to give us her blessing."
"—I love you."
"You'll never neglect me like that?"
"Why do you think of him—he does not think of you?"
"This wonderful night is ours—yours and mine—"
"—and even the good old moon seems to give us her blessing—"
"—I love you."
"Well, Doc, tomorrow we climb the Monte Cristallo. And from the north side too—what do you know about that?"
"But why from the north side? No one ever made it before——"
"That's just the reason!"
"Don't try to break records. The mountains have no patience with such worldly motives—they'll call you to account——"
"What do you think, Sepp?"
"It is bad for man to believe he is more almighty than mountains, I know."
"To me mountains are lifeless rocks. My pleasure has always been to master them."
"We'll be back tomorrow night—keep your eyes peeled for us!"
Daybreak.
....and as the morning advanced....
"Robert, look here—isn't this wonderful?"
"Two hundred and fifty kronen—but it's two hundred years old."
"I'm sorry, Margaret, but Dr. Brunner has a very urgent case—a little mother needs us—I have to go."
"Lieutenant, please look after my wife until I return—"
"—you were created for nothing else but love—love with its longings—its ecstacies."
"You must not talk that way. I am married—and I love my husband."
"Husband? Love? How can one love alone?"
....In the rose glow of an Alpine sunset....
"What I foresaw has happened——I am going up to bring them help."
"Dr. Brunner is detained in the country—I am the only physician here——I must go."
"It's a long way. We won't return before tomorrow night."
Ready to bring aid to those who had recklessly challenged the spirit of the mountains...
...Morning...and somewhere a lovebird was calling...calling to its mate....
Lieutenant Eric Von Steuben
Hotel
und
12
13
"Suppose my husband were to come now—!"
"Your husband does not think of you—he climbs the mountains——"
"—I promise. But give me time! Please——please——!"
...I call the living...I mourn the dead...
"If you feel strong enough—we'll leave for Rome tomorrow."
"—No! Not until you've had your climb to the Pinnacle."
"Then—if you don't mind—I'll go tomorrow."
"Take me with you as far as the Pinnacle hut—and I'll wait for you until you come back——"
"Maybe Lieutenant Von Steuben would like to join our party?"
"Perhaps—I've heard him say that he has climbed most of the mountains of the world."
...Cortina had been left far behind...and into the cloud-mist where voices grew fog muffled to an echo...went the party....
Am 16 September 1879 wurde Franz Hüber von Alois Bauer während einer geheimer Zusammenkunft mit der Ehefrau des letzteren überrascht und im darauf folgenden Zweikampfe von diesem Felsen herunter geworfen.
Wanderer bete ein Vater Unser für die arme Seele!
On Sept. 16th 1879 Franz Huber was caught by Alexis Bauer holding a secret meeting with the latters wife. In the ensuing fight the former was thrown by the betrayed husband down this precipice and killed.
Passerby pray for the condemned soul of the poor sinner
...and just below the timberline, where all the earth scents mingle...the Pinnacle hut....
"Separate rooms—if we can have them? I leave at sunrise for the Pinnacle and do not want to disturb my wife."
6
1
...night and drifting fog...and a mountain owl wierdly calling...calling...
August
12
Joseph Kogler
Innsbruck
9:00 PM
"When all is quiet—remember——"
3
Hütten-Preise Gastzimmer
2
Auf
der alm
da gibts ka Sünd.
In
the Alps
there is no sin.
6
The Pinnacle, one of three sister peaks in the Dolomites—not the highest but famed for its inaccessibility. Buried at its foot lie the victims of many an intrepid expedition.
Lifting itself to immortal Heaven—aloof...forbidding...and still, still as everlasting death...
essenGala
Peter
A platoon of Austrian Alpine soldiers on a mapping expedition.
"Do you think they are in danger?"
"Not if they left their worldly troubles behind."
The Pinnacle—at the very feet of God—where man forgets his baser self and the soul beneath his mind grows clean.
"Sepp! Sepp!"
"Something terrible is happening—I know it—I feel it. Sepp, I must go to them."
"Did my wife write this letter to you?"
"Was that letter written by my wife?"
"Yes—what of it?"
"What can one man do alone? There is only one way up—but many ways down——"
Zinnen-Hütte
"I am going to give you one chance—if you speak the truth—and I shall know it—I will not harm you. But if you lie—and I shall know that too—down you go——"
"Did she promise to go away with you?"
"You will not hurt me if I speak the—truth?"
"She did!"
"No law of God or man can make me take you down again!"
"I lied because I was afraid you wouldn't believe the truth."
"I didn't do it—I tell you! I swear I didn't!"
Lieutenant Von Steuben:
The promise I made you was simply to save myself at that moment. I love my husband and my husband only.
Please do not bother me any longer with your attention.
Margaret Armstrong.
P. S. The box I left with the hotel owner.
"Doctor Armstrong—"
"I've found him—"
"He is still up there—save—him——"
...the spirit of the mountain had spoken...and again everything was still...still as everlasting death...
—Until we meet again.
"Be good to her—"
"Little I know of the world—but one thing she needs: Love."
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
Copyright law abroad tends to consider the following people authors of a film:
- The principal director
- The screenwriter, and/or other writers of dialogue
- The composer/lyricist (if the film is accompanied by sound)
- The cinematographer
- By extension, the authors of any works that may serve as the basis for a film's plot
The longest-living of these authors died in 1957, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 66 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse