Erich von Stroheim’s third feature, the most expensive film made at that time, cost more than $1 million, this restored 142-minute version makes most of the surviving film footage to present its entirety, still elisions are evident, especially relative to the downfall to the protagonist “Count” Sergius Karamzin (von Stroheim), an imposter of aristocrats with his two accessories-and-kissing-cousins, “Princess” Vera and Olga Petchnikoff (Busch and George), the final blow is omitted.

Renting a cliffside castle in Monte Carlo (a magnificent replica built in the Hollywood studio) and tucking in caviar for breakfast, Sergius and co. must earn extra lucre to maintain their opulent existence besides the usual business with the banknote counterfeiter Cesare Ventucci (Gravina), who, inexplicably, still lives in the sleazy environs with his dim-witted but nubile daughter Marietta (Polo). When a US envoy arrives to meet Albert I, Prince of Morocco, Sergius finds his next quarry in the person of Helen Hughes (DuPont), the 21-year-old wife of Andrew Hughes (Christians, in his last picture), the said envoy.

This reviewer hopes he is not the only one who finds Sergius’ chaining-smoking, monocle-sporting, continental noble mannerism appallingly off-putting, but as beauty is in the eyes of its beholder, Ms. Hughes, derisively denoted as an unsophisticated, incredulous, cocooned American wife, embraces Sergius’ guise wholesomely, much to the chagrin of her husband, and precariously puts her own reputation on the line during a stormy night when she goes out with Sergius alone, saved by the fortuitous appearance of a passing-by monk (De Brulier), yet the unmitigated grubbiness of Sergiusnever relents, he soon easily ropes naive maid Maruschka (a woebegone Fuller) into giving up her petty savings on a false promise of matrimony, and simultaneously sows the seed of his undoing, which catches up with him after successfully extracting money from Ms. Hughes out of her own volition.

It smells like a vanity project, but von Stroheim at least manages to transmute his production excesses into something of a spectacle, not least for its money shots of a turret engulfed by fire and the actors’ desperate derring-do of jumping onto a spring mattress. Although the attendant metallic store by András Hamary of this restored version may not cleave closely to the emotional ups-and-downs of the narrative, von Stroheim’s FOOLISH WIVES, for what it is worth in its pieced-together form, like the meta-novel Mr. Hughes reads, cunningly reflects a satirical sting out of its full-fledged enterprise of a cautionary tale.

referential entries: Billy Wilder’s SUNSET BLVD. (1950, 9.0/10); F.W. Murnau’s FINANCES OF THE GRAND DUKE (1924, 6.3/10), SUNSET, A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (1927, 9.0/10).

有这样一种奇妙的职业，你穿着意大利剪裁的西装，瑞士的薄底皮鞋，哈瓦那的雪茄，丝绸衬衫，珍珠袖扣，全年穿梭在蒙地卡罗，尼斯和戛纳的赌场、豪华饭店和海滩俱乐部，只需要与阔太名媛谈笑风生，而且收入不菲。

流连在蒙地卡罗赌场的王公贵族不计其数，他们常常号称来自欧洲某个没听说过的小国，实则大部分的身份都值得推敲。他们举止优雅，谈吐不俗，让来自德克萨斯的石油大亨遗孀们，寂寞的外交官妻子们和家教保守的纽约长岛debutante们为之神魂颠倒。他们始终眉头深锁，站在爬满天竺葵的露台上眺望远方——他的祖国——由于政治斗争和革命，他们流亡在蒙地卡罗，急需一大笔金钱支付家族的债务，洗清家族的名誉，或者组织一支反抗军夺回失落的王位。在真假难辨的眼泪和花言巧语里，这些地理历史不怎么好的太太小姐们纷纷自告奋勇充当救世主，大义凌然的取出支票簿搭救落难王子，顺便以身相许打包奉送。于是这些“王子”、“贵族”们又拿到了好几个月甚至好几年的生活费和赌资，之后故技重施搜寻下一个猎物。

这就是con man，他们的身份unspeakable，他们的手段unbelievable，他们的结局unpredictable。

电影里最早作为主角的con man大概是施特罗姆1921年的Foolish Wives ，他本人饰演一个俄国的贵族军官，在蒙特卡罗租一栋别墅，和两个表姐（情人？搭档？）生活在一起，早餐是新鲜的公牛血和鱼子酱。他试图引诱住在Hotel De Paris的大使太太，一个年轻，单纯，喜欢幻想的美国女人。这种凭着好运气嫁到上流社会的女人到欧洲游历时一方面总是想方设法结识各国王公贵族，好在回国后有料吹嘘，表示自己交游广泛；另一方面，粗浅、乏味的美国男人怎么能和worldly，sophisticated的欧洲绅士相提并论呢？于是她很快被施特罗姆吸引，钻进圈套里。

施特罗姆是一个 you love to hate 的人，他下流粗鄙，却有一种难挡的魅力，他假扮的俄国军官懂得各种在蒙地卡罗吃喝玩乐的方法和去处，简直是最佳向导，陌生的游客到了享乐主义的圣地蒙地卡罗，又有大笔的闲钱，不正是需要一个这样能玩会玩的人带着going places，seeing things吗！

电影里面他最终没有得逞，而是有一个颇苍凉的结局——在身份被识穿，走投无路时，他试图强奸收留他的主人家的智障女儿，被主人打死，尸体丢进下水道。

那么大多数的con man结局又如何呢，如今世道，贵族是凤毛麟角的稀罕玩意，贵族式的行骗也需要高超的技巧，付出昂贵的成本，试想想为了佯装贵族而培养出高雅的品味，自然不露痕迹的优雅做派和举止岂是一朝一夕可以办到的呢！何况出来玩的人更多是金睛火眼，轻易不受糊弄。这一行渐渐式微了。而蒙地卡罗更多的是摆明车马依靠原始本钱讨生活的男生，这就是另外一个古老职业——gigolo。

电影里的gigolo实在是恒河沙数，很多时候都只是人肉布景板而已。真正让人有印象的，还是田纳西威廉斯的《爱君风流》（Sweet Bird of Youth）里面保罗纽曼那个心怀梦想，下海找机会而最终梦想破灭，泥足深陷的Chance Wayne ,他的client， 亚历山大（杰拉汀珮芝），也是一个sympathetic的角色，她演绎把一个在事业瓶颈期彷徨，绝望的女明星。一个larger-than-life的女人，她的情绪就像活火山一样随时处在爆发的边缘，得戚时放浪的笑声，失落时fragile的眼神，硬是盖住了保罗纽曼的光芒。

Con man和gigolo，没有他们，蒙地卡罗的传奇色彩就失掉大半，毕竟那些prepare for adventure的游客们，谁的黑暗的内心不是想要一段疯狂愚蠢，yet short-lived的异国艳遇，然后pay for the bill呢？