Greed (film)

Greed (film)

Greed is a 1924 American silent film directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on the 1899 novel McTeague by naturalist writer Frank Norris. It stars Gibson Gowland as McTeague, Zasu Pitts as his wife Trina and Jean Hersholt as McTeague's friend and eventual enemy Marcus Schouler. In the film McTeague, a San Francisco dentist, marries his best friend Marcus' girlfriend Trina, who shortly afterwards wins the lottery and gets $5,000. Out of jealously Marcus informs authorities that McTeague had been practicing dentistry without a license and McTeague and Trina become impovershed. While living in squalor, McTeague degenerates into a violent alcoholic and Trina becomes obsessed with her gold coins, refusing to spend any of them despite how poor she and her husband become. Eventually McTeague murders Trina for the gold and runs away to Death Valley. Marcus pursues McTeague and catches up to him in Death Valley for the film's final sequence.

Greed is a unique film due to its original, never seen version being just as famous (if not more) than the existing released version. Originally over eight hours long, Greed was ultimately edited against Stroheim's wishes to about two-and-a-half hours, and the full-length version is a lost film. Stroheim shot over 85 hours of footage and obsessed over accuracy during the filming. Stroheim and his cast and crew spent two months shooting on location in Death Valley for the film's final sequence and the majority of the cast and crew became ill during production.