Greed is a 1924 dramatic silent movie starring Gibson Gowland, ZaSu Pitts, Jean Hersholt and Chester Conklin. Erich von Stroheim (September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was a filmmaker and actor, noted for his arrogant Teutonic character parts. ... Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 - September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... June Mathis (June 30, 1892, Leadville, Colorado USA - July 26, 1927, New York City, USA) was born June Beulah Hughes, and adopted her stepfathers surname, Mathis. ... Erich von Stroheim (September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was a filmmaker and actor, noted for his arrogant Teutonic character parts. ... Benjamin Franklin Norris (5 March 1870, Chicago – 25 October 1902) was an American novelist during the Progressive Era, the United States first important naturalist writer. ... Zazu Pitts (1894-1963) sporting her famous bob hairstyle ZaSu Pitts (January 3, 1894 (?) – June 7, 1963) was a United States movie actress. ... Gibson Gowland (1877 - 1951) was a British film actor. ... Jean Hersholt (July 12, 1886 - June 2, 1956) was an Danish actor. ... Chester Conklin, 1916 Chester Cooper Conklin (January 11, 1886 - October 11, 1971) was an American comedian and actor. ... For alternate meanings of MGM, see MGM (disambiguation). ... December 4 is the 338th day of the year (339th on leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about the comedy film. ... Gibson Gowland (1877 - 1951) was a British film actor. ... Zazu Pitts (1894-1963) sporting her famous bob hairstyle ZaSu Pitts (January 3, 1894 (?) – June 7, 1963) was a United States movie actress. ... Jean Hersholt (July 12, 1886 - June 2, 1956) was an Danish actor. ... Chester Conklin, 1916 Chester Cooper Conklin (January 11, 1886 - October 11, 1971) was an American comedian and actor. ...

The plot follows an honest dentist whose wife wins a lottery ticket, only to become obsessed with money. When her former lover betrays the dentist as a fraud, all of their lives are destroyed.

The movie was adapted by Erich von Stroheim (shooting screenplay) and Joseph Farnham (titles) from the novel McTeague by Frank Norris. (The onscreen credit for June Mathis was strictly a contractural obligation to her on the part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, as she was not actually involved in the production). It was directed by von Stroheim. Erich von Stroheim (September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was a filmmaker and actor, noted for his arrogant Teutonic character parts. ... Joseph Farnham (December 2, 1884 - June 2, 1931) is an Academy Award-winning film writer and film editor of the silent movie era to the early 1930s. ... Benjamin Franklin Norris (5 March 1870, Chicago – 25 October 1902) was an American novelist during the Progressive Era, the United States first important naturalist writer. ... June Mathis (June 30, 1892, Leadville, Colorado USA - July 26, 1927, New York City, USA) was born June Beulah Hughes, and adopted her stepfathers surname, Mathis. ... For alternate meanings of MGM, see MGM (disambiguation). ...

Production

The story of the making of the movie has become a Hollywood legend. Under the aegis of the Goldwyn studio, von Stroheim attempted to film a version of the book complete in every detail. To capture the authentic spirit of the story, he insisted on the filming on location in San Francisco, the Sierra Nevada mountains, and Death Valley, despite harsh conditions. ... Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company founded in 1916 by Samuel Goldfish in partnership with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn using a combination of both last names to create the name. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range that is almost entirely in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of California. ... Death Valley and Panamint Range The salt lake at Badwater, Death Valley is the lowest point in western hemisphere. ...

The result was a final print of the film that was an astonishing ten hours in length, produced at a cost of over $500,000 — an unheard of sum at that time. After screening the full-length film once to meet contractual obligations ^[1], Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the studio that acquired Goldwyn during production, forced von Stroheim to edit the film to a more manageable length, and, with the assistance of fellow director Rex Ingram and editor Grant Whytock, he reluctantly trimmed the film to about four hours. The film was then removed from von Stroheim's control and cut further, despite his protests. Even key characters were removed from the final version so that it could be screened in a reasonable timeframe. Existing prints of Greed run at about two hours and twenty minutes. The hours of cut film were destroyed (although it appears that much of it survived until at least the late 1950s), and this film is known as one of the most famous "Lost films" in cinema history. The released version of the film was a box-office failure, and was fiercely panned by critics. In later years, even in its shortened form, it was recognized as one of the great realistic films of its time. Rare behind-the-scenes footage of Greed can be seen in the Goldwyn Pictures film Souls for Sale. Rex Ingram (October 20, 1895 - September 19, 1969) was an African American film and stage actor. ... A lost film is a film which, for any of several reasons, is no longer in existence. ... For alternate meanings of MGM, see MGM (disambiguation). ... Souls for Sale is a 1923 silent film written, directed, and produced by Rupert Hughes from his novel of the same name. ...

In 1999, Turner Entertainment (the film's current rights holder) decided to "recreate," as closely as possible, the original version by combining the existing footage with still photographs of the lost scenes, in accordance with an original continuity outline written by director Erich von Stroheim. This restoration runs almost four hours. The re-edit was produced by Rick Schmidlin. (Other classic films with missing footage include Orson Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons, Frank Capra's Lost Horizon, George Cukor's A Star Is Born and von Stroheim's Queen Kelly). Turner Entertainment Company was established August 4, 1986 to oversee Turner Broadcastings film library after its acquisition of MGM/UA. In addition to the studio, Turner got its library, which included all of MGMs films, Warner Bros. ... Rick Schmidlin (b. ... George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American theatre and film producer and director, and a theatre, radio and film actor. ... The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 film based on the novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington. ... This article is about the film director. ... Lost Horizon is a 1937 film directed by Frank Capra starring Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, John Howard, Margo, Thomas Mitchell, Edward Everett Horton, Isabel Jewell, H.B. Warner, and Sam Jaffe. ... George Dewey Cukor (July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director. ... A Star Is Born is a 1954 musical remake of the original 1937 film, directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Garland and James Mason. ... Queen Kelly is the title of an American silent film produced in 1929. ...

The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

A representative for Warner Home Video has said that a DVD release of the film is planned either in late 2006 or in 2007. [1] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

See also

• List of films recut by studio

According to the prevalent framework of film criticism, with Auteur Theory at its core, a film director is viewed as the individual most responsible for the creative aspects of a finished film, and it follows from this that directors should have final editorial control over their films (also known as...

References

1. ^ Patrick Robertson: Film Facts, 2001, Billboard Books, ISBN 0-8230-7943-0

External links

• Greed at the Internet Movie Database