Vintage original 11 x 14 in. US title lobby card from the classic 1920's silent film drama/romance, THE MERRY WIDOW, released in 1925 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and directed by Erich von Stroheim.
The design features beautiful artwork of Sally O'Neal (Mae Murray) and Prince Danilo Petrovich (John Gilbert) in a passionate embrace above the border art, which depicts four officers saluting their Prince. It is unrestored in very good condition.
*"The Merry Widow is a 1925 American silent romantic drama/black comedy film directed and written by Erich von Stroheim. Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film stars Mae Murray, John Gilbert, Roy D'Arcy, and Tully Marshall, with pre-fame uncredited appearances by Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. The film is based on the Franz Lehár's 1905 operetta of the same name, and was its second film adaptation, the first being a 1918 Hungarian film directed by Michael Curtiz.
A print of the film still survives, and the end sequence shot in two-tone Technicolor is available online.
The film was shot over twelve weeks with a budget of $592,000. Filming was tense as Mae Murray and the film's director, Erich von Stroheim, did not get on well. After production, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer decided it could no longer work with the director after he added sexually explicit scenes and changed the operetta's libretto.
Upon its release, the film was both a critical and box office success. Critics praised Murray's dramatic skills while also noting that von Stroheim had "made an actress out of Miss Murray". According to MGM records The Merry Widow took in approximately $1.081 million in theater rentals from the United States and Canada, an additional $852,000 from foreign rentals, and earned a profit of $758,000."
*(source: Wikipedia)
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