Film: Greed
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Country: Austrian-American
Released: December 1924
Runtime: 239 minutes
Genre: Drama
Studio: MGM
Influenced: King Vidor, Josef von Sternberg, Orson Welles, John Huston, Billy Wilder
Stroheim's Greed is a faithful adaptation of Frank Norris' 1899 novel, McTeague, even down to using the exact locations. And it was the use of location shooting that was one of the major innovations of this film, with Stroheim using actual houses instead of sets and exterior locations such as Death Valley, where the film's climactic ending takes place. The crew had to take drastic measures to keep the cameras and film stock cool in the desert (covering them in damp covers). One of the crew even died and others left the shoot early.
In essence, the story is about a wife who wins the lottery and becomes obsessed with hoarding the money, even to the extent of keeping her alcoholic husband McTeague penniless. It's about jealousy, greed and the dehumanising power of a love of money, and gives an unflinching portrait of the unravelling of the couple's marriage and of McTeague's mental health. The climactic moment of the film is iconic, with McTeague – after killing his wife and stealing her money – caught up in a wrestling match with the deputy sheriff (Marcus) who's come to arrest him in the desert. In an unforgettable scene, McTeague kills his enemy Marcus but is bound to the corpse by handcuffs.
Stroheim knew he was making a masterpiece but one that was too long to be shown in cinemas, and inevitably that meant it would be an economic flop as a result. MGM brutally chopped the film's length from 42 reels to 10 – in effect, reducing an original director's cut of 9 hours to 140 minutes – and Stroheim refused to watch the resulting movie. A reconstructed version of the film is now available, running for close to 4 hours, and that's the version I watched on Blu-ray (over 2-3 sittings). It's mesmerising and intense, and full of unforgettable moments like when the wife (played by ZaSu Pitts) caresses her naked body with gold coins after winning the lottery.
Nobody alive has seen the complete version of Stroheim's film, but it is still regarded by some critics to be one of the greatest ever made. In later life, Stroheim would be shown the mutilated version of his film, and is reported to have said: "This was like an exhumation for me. In a tiny coffin I found a lot of dust, a terrible smell, a little backbone and a shoulder bone."
He was an authentic true artist until the end, and his work and reputation would gather for him a legion of fans among future directors, all in awe of his commitment to the art of cinema. Later in his career, Stroheim would re-appear on film in a memorable performance as Gloria Swanson's butler in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard.
The influence of Greed has been widespread in cinema, notably on classic films such as Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) and John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). In Huston's film, the characters' pursuit of wealth leads to moral decay, descent into madness and betrayal, mirroring the consequences depicted in Greed. In Welles' film, the decline of the Amberson family is partly attributed to their own greed and inability to adapt to changing circumstances.
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