BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Jackson Booth-Millard I found this silent epic in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I read that director Erich von Stroheim (Foolish Wives) originally created a film that lasted 9 and a half hours, but when it premiered in New York, MGM cut it down to a "commercial" length, of just over 2 hours. What was lost is regarded as the greatest tragedy in motion picture history, and the missing footage has been called the "Holy Grail" of cinema, but I found a reconstructed 4-hour version, that tells the full story narrative the director originally intended. Basically in Placer County, California, John McTeague (Gibson Gowland) works as a miner at the Big Dipper Gold Mine. When travelling dentist Dr. "Painless" Potter (Erich von Ritzau) visits the town, McTeague's mother (Tempe Pigott) begs Potter to take her son on as an apprentice. Potter agrees, and eventually McTeague becomes a practising dentist, with his own office on Polk Street in San Francisco. Marcus Schouler (Jean Hersholt) brings his cousin and intended fiancée Trina Sieppe (Zasu Pitts) into McTeague's dental office, Schouler and McTeague are friends and McTeague gladly agrees to examine her. As they wait for an opening, Trina buys a lottery ticket, McTeague becomes enamored with Trina and asks Schouler for permission to court her, seeing his conviction, Schouler agrees. After being with each other for some time, Trina eventually agrees to marry McTeague, shortly after Trina finds that her lottery ticket is a winner, she receives $5,0000 ($71,000 by today). Schouler is bitter and claims that the money should have been his, his bitterness causes a rift between him and McTeague, after the wedding the newlyweds continue to live in their small apartment, but Trina refuses to spend her winnings. Schouler leaves the city to become a cattle rancher, but before leaving he secretly reports his former friend McTeague for practicing dentistry without a license, McTeague is ordered to shut down his practice or go to jail. Trina has saved over $200 in addition to the original $5,000 from the lottery ticket, but she is unwilling to spend the money, the couple are forced to sell their possessions when money becomes increasingly scarce. McTeague finally snaps and bites Trina's fingers in a fit of rage, he goes fishing to earn money, and takes Trina's savings (now totaling $450), Trina's bitten finger becomes infected and is amputated. To make money, Trina becomes a janitor at a children's school, she withdraws the $5,000 from the bank to keep it close to her, spreading it on her bed and sleeping on it. McTeague returns and has spent the savings he took, he asks Trina for more money, after she refuses he confronts her the following day at the school, but she still refuses, after a heated argument McTeague beats Trina to death and steals the $5,000. McTeague is now an outlaw, he returns to Placer County and teams up with prospector Cribbens (James F. Fulton), heading towards Death Valley, they plan to become millionaires after finding a large quantity of quartz (a valuable element). Before they can begin mining, McTeague senses danger and takes a horse, the remaining money and the water jug, several marshals pursue him, with Schouler accompanying them, he is desperate to catch McTeague personally and rides into Death Valley alone. The severe heat slows McTeague down, Schouler's progress is also waning when he spots McTeague and moves in to arrest him. After a confrontation, Schouler fires a gun into the water container, the water spills onto the desert floor, the pair fight one last time, McTeague is victor, but Schouler has handcuffed himself to him. It ends with McTeague left in the desert and the harsh heat with no horse and no water, handcuffed to a corpse, and unable to reach the remaining money. Also starring Chester Conklin as "Popper" Sieppe and Sylvia Ashton as "Mommer" Sieppe. Director Stroheim is quoted as saying "No matter if I could talk to you three weeks steadily could I possibly describe even to a small degree the heartache I suffered through the mutilation of my sincere work". The version I watched was longer, using still images of the original full uncut version, that took 2 years to make, all that is missing are fairly minor scenes, including a subplot depicting the lives of elderly couple Charles W. Grannis (Frank Hayes) and Miss Anastasia Baker (Fanny Midgley). It is an interesting story, the female lead character is obsessive, and the lead male character turns from simple unqualified dentist into a mad violent alcoholic and murderer, greed is ultimately what leads to their tragic fates, if you can find this reconstructed version, then it is a worthwhile classic silent drama. Very good!

De_Sam Erich Von Stroheim was a controversial director in the golden age of Hollywood, he was a student of D.W. Griffith having acted and been assistant to the former filmmaker. He did not only inherit the practical skills of Griffith but also the vision of himself as an artist who would make films the way he wanted them to make; he would not let any studio executive dictate the way he made his film, even if they were eventually cut in a way more suitable to the perceived public at that time.The troubled relationship between Von Stroheim had already climaxed when he was forced to leave the production for 'Merry-Go-Round' in 1923, after which he was fired by the same man, Irving Thalberg the general manager of Universal. Luck was not on Von Stroheim's side as even though he had filmed 'Greed' under MGM, on April 10 of 1924, when the film was still in post-production, MGM merged with another production studio, putting his old rival Irving Thalberg in charge of the cutting.So of the 85 hours of footage, cut down by Von Stroheim himself to a first version of 462 minutes -which allegedly was only shown to 12 people, was eventually cut by the studio to 140 minutes (the cut I got to see, I believe). However the length was not the only problem the film had in appealing to the general public as its pessimistic an misanthropic content was not suited to the 'roaring twenties' in which all other films of the time had happy endings and lighter subjects. The studios still lost money on the project and a lot (It only made half of its production cost of 546.883$ without inflation). It was a lose-lose situation.The film were way ahead of its time, only garnering admiration and praise in the 1950s. It is easy to see why; the beautifully scenes all shot on location, the harsh realistic story of man's darker side, the great directing in which Von Stroheim experimented with techniques that would inspire many other filmmakers after him (e.g. the use of deep-focus in the wedding scene) and a memorable ending that works perfect for the story.Personally I had no problems with the 140 minutes cut in terms of missing story elements or explanation to the motives of the characters. I cannot comment on the so-called "best film of all time" 462 minutes, as can no-one with that version forever lost thanks to the greed of studio executives.

MartinHafer "Greed" is a legendary film among old film buffs--the holy grail of silents. This is because the incredibly obsessive director, Erich von Stroheim, made a film of ridiculously large proportions. Reportedly, the original print ran 42 reels!! It would have taken the best part of your day to watch the film and von Stroheim envisioned it being shown on successive nights. Well, the studio wanted nothing to do with this an insisted he cut it. After some cuts (but not enough for the studio), executives took the project away from him and had it cut down to the version we have today. There are lots of stories (probably apocryphal) of the prints sitting in some vault somewhere--waiting to be discovered. And, reports (probably also apocryphal) are that the original film is some sort of work of genius that MUST be seen. Regardless, all we have now is about two and a half hours worth of film--and it's a film that also comes with a lot of hooplah. Folks claim that although its inferior due to the cutting, it's still a work of genius. Let me say that unlike the other reviewers, I was NOT that taken by this shortened version. I think the imagery is ridiculously unsubtle though the film still is worth seeing.The film begins with McTeague (Gibson Gowland) leaving home to learn dentistry from an itinerant dentist. Years pass and now he has a dental practice of his own in San Francisco and he seems like a pretty decent sort of fellow. He meets a very shy lady, Trina (Zasu Pitts) and they soon marry. However, into their seemingly normal lives comes a problem. Trina wins the lottery and the prize is $5000. While this may not seem like much today, back then it was HUGE. But, soon Trina's heart is soured. She refuses to spend any of this money and slowly becomes a nasty miser. As for McTeague, he slowly begins to sour on his wife. She clearly has emasculated him and when he loses his job, she refuses to spend any of her fortune. They live on the edge--with barely enough to scrape by. And, full of bitterness, McTeague begins to drink and eventually lashes out at his tight-fisted wife. Then, he deserts her. Time passes and he returns--returns to claim what is his...ALL of the money. At the same time, there is a subplot involving one of McTeague's friends, Marcus. Marcus, inflamed by jealousy, demands the money that is by no right his--and when he is refused, he sets out to destroy McTeague--though McTeague himself does an awfully good job of this himself. All this leads to a dandy confrontation scene--one of the best of the silent era.As far as the plot goes, it's exceptional--full of great twists, irony and excitement. My problem is NOT with the story. My problem is with von Stroheim's manner of storytelling. He REPEATEDLY uses sledgehammer symbolism--symbolism that is not one bit subtle and he beats the audience with it again and again and again! To further beat this into the viewer, he even had portions of the film colorized golden in order to accentuate the greed aspects of the film. I have seen at least a thousand (probably MANY more) silents and this is among the least subtle I've ever seen. And, among the many films I have seen which have hand-colored elements, "Greed" is the sloppiest--with broad swaths of color instead of having it done in a more thorough fashion. Heck, the Pathe Brothers were doing FAR better jobs mass producing colorizing cels a decade of more before "Greed". So what we have is a great story but poor storytelling. I know folks are sold on von Stroheim--just like von Stroheim was sold on von Stroheim! But, I think he really could have used someone to say "Erich, even by our standards today, this film lacks subtlety and you need to back off and let the story speak for itself". The bottom line is that I still give it a 7 but think the stories about the genius associated with the film are highly exaggerated. Even old school directors like D.W. Griffith wouldn't have pushed the imagery this far and this unsubtlely.

evening1 A grimly fascinating fable about the thin line between love and hate and how money muddies the divide.McTeague (Gibson Gowland) is a gold miner who's extremely rough around the edges. He can tenderly kiss a lame bird, then the next moment toss a contemptuous co-worker into a canyon. "Such is McTeague." While Mac becomes an amateur dentist, he never really changes in character. Zasu Pitts does seem to evolve as Trina. She goes from being a wide-eyed, frigid naïf to a shifty-eyed, obsessive liar. I'd heard her name but never before seen Pitts, and this is a tour-de-force introduction to her work.Jean Hersholt is the greasy-haired friend in ill-fitting suits. As Marcus, he transfers Trina like chattel to Mac, who -- perversely aroused by the woman while she's under ether, having some teeth extracted -- has confided his lustful cravings. When Trina wins a large lottery, Marcus turns murderously venal.There are some extremely memorable scenes in this film. Who will forget Mac serenading Trina on the "sewer"? Or the sun-scorching death scene in the desert.This film touches on some modern themes, including the sexual abuse of patients, and is mesmerizing much of the time. Even my 11-year-old son was drawn in. I learned on Wikipedia that we have the Danish-born Hersholt to thank for our current translations of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales. Great work on both fronts, sir!