Hello Sister

All that remains to us of Stroheim's last directorial effort and his only sound film is contained in this film. In 1932 Stroheim was filming Walking Down Broadway, a story set in contemporary America, concerning the rivalry between two women: Zasu (Zasu Pitts, who played Trina in Greed), plain-looking but scheming, and Peggy, a pretty and innocent small-town girl. Stroheim described the character of Zasu as a psychopathic: “a very complicated and interesting character, in love with love, an introvert, an accident chaser... who goes to funeral parlours on Saturday afternoons to have a good cry at some stranger's last rites.” According to Joel W. Finler's book on Stroheim: “The film has undertones of a more subtle and psychological sadism than previous... films, although there is also a certain amount of physical violence.
“The film evidently had erotic qualities which link it to other Stroheim films as does one of the characters, a prostitute.... (Minna Gombell).”
Fox never released Stroheim's film, and had it completely re-shot by another director (Alan Crosland) and retitled Hello Sister. Today no one can be certain what Stroheim might have contributed to this rare and interesting film.

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