Нам ничего не нужно сочинять - ни покушений со стороны наемников рвущего-мечущего И. Тальберга, ни лестниц, ни иных превратностей, которых не миновать объектам увлечений: Эрих все раньше выдумал за нас)
"In interviews in America, Stroheim discussed his military past.
..."I became an officer in the army, and I saw service in the Bosnian campaign and in Mexico." He explained that his facial scar came from the Bosnian battle. In another account, the Bosnian campaign became even more bloody. He said that he crossed the lines into Bosnia on horseback and came out in an ambulance with sixteen inches of cold Bosnian steel through him [sic!]. A group of Viennese surgeons repaired the damage. Then, he said, something went wrong, and he was banished for five years. "It comes under the head of private troubles," was the laconic description by the banished. It is a heroic tale, a romantic tale, a plausible tale, but unfortunately a completely fanciful one."
(c)