The Honeymoon (lost sequel film to "The Wedding March"; 1929): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:35, 4 July 2024

A Swedish theatrical poster of the film.

Status: Lost

The Honeymoon is a 1929 American synchronized sound romantic drama film directed by Erich von Stroheim and was distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was a follow-up to the events of The Wedding March (1928) and starred much of the same cast, including Erich von Stroheim as Prince Nicki, Fay Wray as Mitzi, Matthew Betz as Schani, and ZaSu Pitts as Cecelia.

Unlike its predecessor, The Honeymoon was only released to theaters in Europe and South America,^[1] and its only known copy was destroyed in a fire at the Cinémathèque Française in 1959.^[2]

Plot

As mentioned above, the film follows up the event where Austrian-Hungarian Prince Nicki and Cecelia get married. As the newly wedded couple spend their honeymoon in the Alps, Mitzi still pines for her love of Nicki, which angers Schani.

Meanwhile, Schani (who agreed to marry Mitzi after promising not to kill Nicki) is still bitter and decides to murder him out of revenge for getting him sent to jail. He tries to shoot at Nicki, but Cecelia decides to sacrifice herself and take the bullet for Nicki. Afterwards, Schani decides to go into hiding after being declared a fugitive.

Nicki and Mitzi meet one last time, where Mitzi tells him that she will go to a covenant. Nicki gets drafted for battle to World War I, where he gets killed in battle.

Production

Director Erich von Stroheim's vision for The Wedding March was to create a two-part film that could be shown on consecutive nights. However, cost overruns and poor test screenings led to Paramount deciding to split The Wedding March into two films, with the second part being retitled The Honeymoon.

The first three reels of The Wedding March were used as exposition to the intro of The Honeymoon.

Availability

While The Wedding March isn't lost and has been available in the public domain since 2024, The Honeymoon hasn't been seen since its only known copy was destroyed in a fire in Paris in 1959.^[3]

All that has surfaced of The Honeymoon is its Swedish theatrical poster and a few still images.

Gallery

Still (1/4).
Still (2/4).
Still (3/4).
Still (4/4).

External Link

References

↑ National Film Registry's article on The Wedding March, with a mention of The Honeymoon. Retrieved 04 Jul '24
↑ Seductive Cinema on Archive.org, discusses the loss of The Honeymoon at page 93. Retrieved 04 Jul '24
↑ Silent Era's article on The Wedding March, with a brief mention of The Honeymoon's lost status. Retrieved 04 Jul '24

[1] National Film Registry's article on The Wedding March, with a mention of The Honeymoon. Retrieved 04 Jul '24

[2] Seductive Cinema on Archive.org, discusses the loss of The Honeymoon at page 93. Retrieved 04 Jul '24

[3] Silent Era's article on The Wedding March, with a brief mention of The Honeymoon's lost status. Retrieved 04 Jul '24

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@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 As mentioned above, the film follows up the event where Austrian-Hungarian Prince Nicki and Cecelia get married. As the newly wedded couple spend their honeymoon in the Alps, Mitzi still pines for her love of Nicki, which angers Schani.
-Meanwhile, Schani (who agreed to marry Mitzi after promising not to kill Nicki) is still bitter and decides to murder him out of revenge for getting her sent to jail. He tries to shoot at Nicki, but Cecelia decides to sacrifice herself and take the bullet for Nicki. Afterwards, Schani decides to go into hiding after being declared a fugitive.
+Meanwhile, Schani (who agreed to marry Mitzi after promising not to kill Nicki) is still bitter and decides to murder him out of revenge for getting him sent to jail. He tries to shoot at Nicki, but Cecelia decides to sacrifice herself and take the bullet for Nicki. Afterwards, Schani decides to go into hiding after being declared a fugitive.
 Nicki and Mitzi meet one last time, where Mitzi tells him that she will go to a covenant. Nicki gets drafted for battle to World War I, where he gets killed in battle.