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IMDb > Greed (1924)
Greed
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Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   3,463 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 18% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Erich von Stroheim
Writers:
June Mathis (screen adaptation and dialogue)
Frank Norris (novel)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Greed on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
26 January 1925 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Plot:
The sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
1 win more
NewsDesk:
Live blogging the Oscars
 (From Gold Derby. 22 February 2009, 12:07 PM, PST)

User Comments:
A Classic Reconstructed more

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Zasu Pitts ... Trina

Gibson Gowland ... McTeague
Jean Hersholt ... Marcus
Dale Fuller ... Maria
Tempe Pigott ... Mother McTeague
Sylvia Ashton ... 'Mommer' Sieppe (as Silvia Ashton)
Chester Conklin ... 'Popper' Sieppe
Joan Standing ... Selina
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Additional Details

Runtime:
140 min | USA:239 min (1999 restored version) | Portugal:130 min (original version) (20 fps)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Silent
Certification:
Sweden:15

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Sources have claimed Ernest B. Schoedsack was also a cinematographer, but he denies it, saying he was in the Amazon filming Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925) during that time. more
Goofs:
Continuity: After Marcus breaks McTeague's pipe and throws a knife at him, men pull McTeague's tie off as they hold him back. The tie is back in place a moment later as McTeague rushes out of the saloon. more
Quotes:
Trina: Let's go sit on the sewer. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in 'Sunset Blvd.': A Look Back (2002) (V) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
33 out of 33 people found the following comment useful:-
A Classic Reconstructed, 23 January 2000
10/10
Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA

In January of 1924, director Erich von Stroheim gathered a small group of friends to view his magnum opus, a film which would become legendary. This was GREED & when the experience was over, all there agreed that they had just seen the greatest motion picture ever created. They were the only audience to see the film in its entirety.

Von Stroheim was, with Griffith & Chaplin, one of the authentic geniuses of the silent cinema. He had an unerring eye for what was visual and how to transfer mere words into astonishing images on the screen. He was also terribly adept at spending other people's money. A notorious stickler for the most authentic minute detail, he ignored concerns for time & financial budgets.

The original GREED ran somewhere between 8 and 9½ hours. While that would be fine for a modern TV miniseries, it is unworkable for a motion picture. The bosses at MGM had had difficulty with von Stroheim before and were in no mood to mess around. GREED was taken out of its director's control and hacked down to 140 minutes. All the excised footage was destroyed. This is the blackest spot on Irving Thalberg's memory. Von Stroheim mourned his lost masterpiece the rest of his life.

The story, although incredibly detailed, is fairly straightforward. The corrupting influence of wealth is examined through the lives of seven individuals. The tragic marriage of Mac, a fake dentist & Trina, an innocent young woman, is compared & contrasted to the equally horrific relationship between the mad Maria & Zerkow the Junkman; and to the beatific love between Old Grannis, owner of a dog hospital & Miss Baker, a sweet old lady. Shadowing Mac & Trina is her cousin Marcus, equally in love with her & the $5,000 she wins in a lottery.

The story of Mac & Trina is the main focus & it is utterly compelling. Seldom has the destruction of a marriage been seen in such detail. Certain scenes stay in the mind a long time: the picnic lunch on the sewer; their wedding, while a funeral procession marches by below; their final bloody confrontation.

The movie ends, as does the book it is based on, in Death Valley. Von Stroheim insisted on actually shooting there in summer. The heat was terrible & it shows on the faces of Gibson Gowland as Mac & Jean Hersholt as Marcus. The ending is as stark & unforgiving as the desert itself.

Mr. Gowland & ZaSu Pitts give the performances of their lives, magnificent in every way. Mr. Gowland shows us the full extent of a simple man being driven insane, while Miss Pitts' change from sweetness to a miserly shrew is truly frightening. Had the film not been butchered and their performances seen in their entirety, they surely would had ascended to the very heights of their profession. As it was, Gowland quickly descended back into obscurity, spending the rest of his career in mostly unbilled bit parts. Miss Pitts became a comedienne, whose vague manner & fluttery hands were seen in many comedies over the next 35 years. Von Stroheim continued with his excesses and finally met his directorial downfall a few years after GREED. He was able to continue on in films as a very good character actor, mostly in Europe.

In 1999, Turner Classic Movies had GREED reconstructed, using hundreds of still photographs taken during production, editing based on an original shooting script, an inspired use of color and tints & a new musical score. The result runs for 4 hours and is wonderful. At last we have a better understanding of Von Stroheim's blighted vision & wasted genius.

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Differences Between Versions beeniebag
Redo Full Script as TV Mini-series georgestrum
Full Version DVD.... ivandorris
TCM Version On YouTube Tina-37
Perhaps one of the best movies ever brownbunnyboy
Vote for the DVD release. Yarb40
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